# Male 'tiel drinking A LOT of water.



## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

*Male `tiel drinking A LOT of water.*

Over the past 2 or so days I've noticed Henry's water consumption has increased dramatically. Instead of the usual 2 sips he takes about 5 - 7 sips in one sitting, making a little cough/hiccup when he's done. He has been making regular visits to the largest water bowl and repeating the process every hour or so. During the day his droppings are frequent and consist of pure water with a little bit of green solid poop in the mix. During the night his droppings appear normal but can sometimes be a little more liquidy than usual. I've just taken the larger water bowl out of the cage (there's a small one in there up higher) and replaced it with a damp mix of Gold N' Fruit condition food and water. His behaviour is normal otherwise -- he is eating well, doing lots of singing, displaying and being sweet. Honey (his cagemate) has normal droppings.

What should I do!? Should I be concerned? His poops have been perfectly normal up until a couple of days ago. Could a change of diet be an influence? He's recently taken a liking to pellets.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Birds that eat pellets will drink more water, I would say this is what has upped his water intake.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Renae said:


> Birds that eat pellets will drink more water, I would say this is what has upped his water intake.


Okay phew, so it can be normal. He has also started chewing on the cuttlebone more and eating the strawberry mineral block. When I got him he would only eat seed and now he eats anything, even his vegies.

I'm not very confident about the all-water droppings though, it's kind of scary. Could something be wrong? If he's fine, will it clear up as he adjusts to his new diet?


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## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

are you feeding him zupreem fruit blend pellets?? I don't want to scare you, but if you are I would stop IMMEDIATELY!! Julio almost died from them.. I fed him those pellets for 2 years, then there was a recall that "didn't effect" the parakeet size... well over the course of a month he became extremely lethargic, weak to the point of falling over after trying to fly from his cage to the couch (10 feet), drinking water constantly, and SUPER huge, watery, red poop  I took him off of it and literally within 48 hours he was back to normal. The recall was because of an "overdose" of calcium in the pellet blend. It obviously DID effect the parakeet size because every symptom he had was the same as what the Brand listed on their recall page.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

JuliosMom said:


> are you feeding him zupreem fruit blend pellets??


Nope, I'm feeding Kaytee rainbow pellets mixed with Harrison's natural. They seem to prefer the coloured ones more though, but they do eat both.

Gosh! Sorry to hear that happened to Julio. Very traumatic, glad he's alright.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

The droppings do sound unusual. If they don't normalize in a day or two, I would get a vet check.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

He passed a few regular droppings this afternoon. I'll examine his overnight droppings tomorrow first thing. I hope it's just the diet change.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Is being caged with Honey new? That could do it too if the watery droppings coincided.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Yup I've only just put them together recently. Honey's poops are normal though.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Right, but since stress can cause watery poops, it's possible that the adjustment of being put with her is causing them.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Ah ok. Perhaps he's sensing that she's in pain/under stress so he's feeling stressed also. Honey's had a lot of problems with her wing, it's only just coming right.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Henry's droppings are close to normal today -- still liquidy, but forming an almost solid round shape now. I was out most of the day so I couldn't be there to monitor his water consumption but by the look of his poops things are improving. Thank goodness!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I'm very glad to hear that there is an improvement!! I hope Henry continues to improve and gets more solid droppings soon!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Today they are very watery again, and last night's droppings were watery, too. He's eating a lot (mostly seed mix and pellets) so it's weird that there's so much water in them. I'm not sure if I'm to leave him as he is and hope it gets better on its own or rush him to the vet. I've put the big water bowl back in, should I take it out again?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Henry's poops aren't getting any better, going to have to take him for a checkup I think :frown:


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Oh no... I hope that the vet can prescribe you something. Poor Henry, is it just the poops or any other changes? I hope he's ok.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Yeah, at this point I would be getting a checkup. Keep us posted!


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Not to derail the thread, but I wonder if I should be concerned about Freya's poops? She's always had watery ones. But she seems extremely healthy...


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

*Kiwi* - just the poops, no other changes.

Yup, I'm going to take him as soon as I can. It's concerning me too much just to leave it, and if there wasn't a problem his poops should be normal like Honey's. Hopefully I can get an appointment with the most experienced vet -- sometimes I feel that the others don't take me seriously enough.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I would probably ask for a gram stain and also a CBC/chem panel to check blood counts and organ function.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Okay I'll write that down. Thanks for your help.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Update: I can't get Henry to the vet till next week. Meanwhile I've taken out the rainbow pellets and replaced them with natural ones to see if that may improve anything. Waiting to see.


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Has there been any improvement on Henry? I would take a lot of pictures of the poops to show the worst and any improvement on his condition. They can seem like they feel better right when you get them into the vet and it's good to have the pictures then.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Yup I've taken pictures, it's pretty gross so I won't post them here. The overnight ones tend to look the worst. I think he has diarrhea, his poops almost never form solid shapes and they're very different to my other 'tiels droppings. However, today they were almost normal, he'd been eating plenty of the Harrison's pellets and Gold N' Fruit mix so that might've helped, there was still an excess amount of water though. I'll try get him to the vet sometime early next week, until then all I can do it wait :frown:.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Poops were so close to being normal yesterday! All from omitting the rainbow pellets and providing plenty of natural ones. My mum thinks that was the only problem, but I'm still determined to get Henry to the vet.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Henry's droppings are completely normal today. I can't tell them apart from Honey's. He's drinking much less water, only 1 or 2 gulps now. I'm stumped as to why he's suddenly improved without being treated. Perhaps there wasn't a major problem after all. I'm thinking it might have been the big changes in his life. First moving in with me, then the upgrade to the huge flight cage, then Honey as his cage-mate who he's always trying to impress. And before that, moving from the breeder's place to the petshop -- that would've been stressful. I remember seeing him the first week he arrived at the petshop and he was circling the cage trying to get out. The next week he was comfortable, then all shaken up again from me bringing him home, so it's understandable. Oh, and there's also been his diet change from plain old seed to an exciting variety, and the omitting of pellets that didn't seem to be agreeing with him: no more extra-dry rainbow pellets and plenty of Gold N' Fruit and Harrison's. Now he has a permanent routine and home and he's bonding with Honey, perhaps after all this (which took place over a short couple of months) he's finally settled in?


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I'm so glad his droppings are getting back to normal

They have such a sweet caring mom!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Thank you Baruch. I'm trying. Henry's getting better by the day.


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## RiverSong (Apr 13, 2013)

Are you still taking him to the vet?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I don't know, I'm undecided. He seems to be back to normal.


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Maybe the new pellets just agree with him better? 

I'm glad he's feeling better now.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks Kiwi  yeah that's what I think it was mostly down to. Easily fixed. Hooray!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Yay Henry! I hope he stays well now!


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