Is My Cockatiel Not Drinking Enough Water?

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

So I've noticed something with Cookie's droppings and it looks like he isn't drinking enough water. There is no urine in most of his droppings and it has been like that for a few weeks now. When I first noticed it I tried giving him some water with a spoon. I stopped after a few days thinking that he must have learned to drink water by now (he was still fairly young), then his droppings went back like the way they were before. There is always clean water in his cage. So If he isn't drinking enough water, how can I get him to drink more water? Or will he begin drinking water when he's a little older? He is approximately 2 months 2 weeks old.
Thanks in advance.

 

[SailBoat]

I'm no expert when it comes to younger Parrots.
That said, are you feeding Veggies and other wet foods along with the dry food?
Shortly, one of our members will be along to address your concern in greater depth.

 

[EllenD]

When you say that "there is little to no urine in his droppings", what exactly do you mean? Do you mean actual liquid in his droppings, or do you mean there are no Urates in his droppings?

Birds do not produce "Urine" like other animals and people do, instead they produce Urates as the waste that comes from their Kidneys...And the Urates are the white portion of their droppings. Rarely will you see any actual liquid in your bird's droppings; any time you do see actual liquid in your bird's droppings it will be in-addition to the white Urates also being in the droppings, and the only reason/time you ever see actual liquid in a bird's droppings is when they eat something that contains a ton of liquid in it, such as fresh fruit, certain fresh veggies that contain a lot of water like Celery, or any of the watery lettuces, such as Iceberg Lettuce...Otherwise you're not going to see any actual liquid-portion that comes out with their droppings...

So just to be clear, there are 3 different portions to a bird's droppings:

#1) The feces/solid-waste portion, which is the solid brown/green part of their droppings, which you will typically always see in their droppings.

#2) The Urates, which is the waste that comes from their Kidneys and which is a bird's equivalent to Urine, which you will typically always see in their droppings.

#3) Excess liquid that you can actually see come out with the droppings and appears as clear liquid; this is just excess liquid that the bird has ingested, either by drinking a ton of water directly, or more-commonly by eating a lot of food that contains excess water, such as all fruit, watery veggies, watery lettuces, etc. And even though most droppings contain at least a tiny bit of excess water in them, it's not typically visible in the droppings.

So the bottom-line is that 99% of the time you aren't going to see any actual liquid in your bird's droppings, and will usually only see actual liquid in their droppings directly after they eat fresh fruit, fresh veggies that are watery, watery lettuce, etc. This doesn't mean that your bird is not producing "Urine", as birds don't actually produce liquid Urine, they produce Urates as the waste from their Kidneys, and these Urates are the white portion of a bird's droppings that you usually always see. So as long as your bird's droppings has the white portion to them, the Urates, then your bird is in-fact producing their version of "Urine", and you won't typically see any actual liquid in their droppings at all.

***Also, you won't often see your bird actually drinking water from his bowl, especially if you feed him fresh fruit, fresh veggies, or fresh greens during the day. Birds don't drink much water from their bowls at all throughout the day, and unless you're watching your bird 24/7 you're not often going to catch them drinking from their bowl. Usually they will take a good drink of water out of their bowl first thing in the morning, and then usually before they go to sleep or right after they eat their last meal of the day, with very few drinks in-between. And if you feed them fresh fruit, veggies, or greens during the day then they'll drink even less water, as they're getting quite a bit of hydration from the fresh fruit, veggies, and greens. And don't ever think something is wrong if you don't see the water-level in your bird's water dish go-down througout the day, because they will never drink enough water during the day for the water-level to go down; the only reason you'll see the water-level in their water dish go-down from day to day is due to evaporation, not due to your bird drinking that large an amount of water.

 

[Tami2]

Hello,

When I first brought my Levi home, I noticed the same thing and I was very concerned.
I read that young birds will lap up warm water like nobody's business.
I offered Levi warm water & drank it up like crazy. To this day he prefers his water warm.

Try it, I hope it helps.

 

[wrench13]

The only times we see Salty hit the water bowl is first thing in the morning, and right after our training sessions. The little dictator has to have me hold his water bowl up to his beak and when he is done, he pushes it away. He almost never has excess water inhis poops.

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

When you say that "there is little to no urine in his droppings", what exactly do you mean? Do you mean actual liquid in his droppings, or do you mean there are no Urates in his droppings?

Birds do not produce "Urine" like other animals and people do, instead they produce Urates as the waste that comes from their Kidneys...And the Urates are the white portion of their droppings. Rarely will you see any actual liquid in your bird's droppings; any time you do see actual liquid in your bird's droppings it will be in-addition to the white Urates also being in the droppings, and the only reason/time you ever see actual liquid in a bird's droppings is when they eat something that contains a ton of liquid in it, such as fresh fruit, certain fresh veggies that contain a lot of water like Celery, or any of the watery lettuces, such as Iceberg Lettuce...Otherwise you're not going to see any actual liquid-portion that comes out with their droppings...

So just to be clear, there are 3 different portions to a bird's droppings:

#1) The feces/solid-waste portion, which is the solid brown/green part of their droppings, which you will typically always see in their droppings.

#2) The Urates, which is the waste that comes from their Kidneys and which is a bird's equivalent to Urine, which you will typically always see in their droppings.

#3) Excess liquid that you can actually see come out with the droppings and appears as clear liquid; this is just excess liquid that the bird has ingested, either by drinking a ton of water directly, or more-commonly by eating a lot of food that contains excess water, such as all fruit, watery veggies, watery lettuces, etc. And even though most droppings contain at least a tiny bit of excess water in them, it's not typically visible in the droppings.

So the bottom-line is that 99% of the time you aren't going to see any actual liquid in your bird's droppings, and will usually only see actual liquid in their droppings directly after they eat fresh fruit, fresh veggies that are watery, watery lettuce, etc. This doesn't mean that your bird is not producing "Urine", as birds don't actually produce liquid Urine, they produce Urates as the waste from their Kidneys, and these Urates are the white portion of a bird's droppings that you usually always see. So as long as your bird's droppings has the white portion to them, the Urates, then your bird is in-fact producing their version of "Urine", and you won't typically see any actual liquid in their droppings at all.

***Also, you won't often see your bird actually drinking water from his bowl, especially if you feed him fresh fruit, fresh veggies, or fresh greens during the day. Birds don't drink much water from their bowls at all throughout the day, and unless you're watching your bird 24/7 you're not often going to catch them drinking from their bowl. Usually they will take a good drink of water out of their bowl first thing in the morning, and then usually before they go to sleep or right after they eat their last meal of the day, with very few drinks in-between. And if you feed them fresh fruit, veggies, or greens during the day then they'll drink even less water, as they're getting quite a bit of hydration from the fresh fruit, veggies, and greens. And don't ever think something is wrong if you don't see the water-level in your bird's water dish go-down througout the day, because they will never drink enough water during the day for the water-level to go down; the only reason you'll see the water-level in their water dish go-down from day to day is due to evaporation, not due to your bird drinking that large an amount of water.

Thank you for replying, that really calmed me down. I'm kinda new to keeping a parrot so I might have just over reacted. It's great to know that he's probably doing alright

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Hello,

When I first brought my Levi home, I noticed the same thing and I was very concerned.
I read that young birds will lap up warm water like nobody's business.
I offered Levi warm water & drank it up like crazy. To this day he prefers his water warm.

Try it, I hope it helps.

Thanks,maybe I'll try it today