# Emma has very watery poop



## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

Emma is doing very well, with absolutely no overt stress symptoms after her long trip here, but she has very watery poop. By watery, I mean that it is definitely NOT diarrhea (I know what this looks like from my experiences with Maggie eating something that didn't agree with her), but just the greenish/brown fecal part looking relatively normal and surrounded by lots of clear-ish or green/yellow-ish liquid "water." There's usually between a few drops of liquid (enough to soak through a shirt) to maybe almost 3/4 of a teaspoon (enough to make a big puddle or splash). This is something I noticed from day one, and asked the vet about when we went in for her checkup on the 23rd. He said it's something that can be relatively common with young and/or stressed birds and should fade within a few weeks. He's running some basic new bird tests for common issues to make sure she doesn't have anything but he doubts that they'll come back positive (I should hear back from him within the next week). I thought I'd ask, though, does anyone else know anything about this? 

I'll try to get pictures of it tomorrow if she'll oblige and poop on a hard surface so I can show the volume of liquid. She's perfectly healthy and eating well. She does seem to drink a lot, compared to Maggie or Trix. I know there's some variation within individual birds' poop types, but I have no knowledge about babies vs. adults...is this normal? Is she just figuring out how much she needs to drink or maybe she's confused about it? Will it sort itself out soon? It doesn't seem to be a serious issue for her (just rather icky for me and my family!) but I'd love to get some more info.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

it would be great to see any photo you can give us, especially if the background is on white, so if you have plain white computer paper, that would be awesome (so we can see any colour differences in the urine and urates)

it may be because she drinks more, and it could be stress.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

She may just like drinking. I used to get freaked out by Roo having very watery poop in the afternoons, but then I figured out that she plays with her water dish when the sun shines on it a certain way. I think as long as the urine is clear and the tests come back normal, I wouldn't worry about it. She may also have some amount of metabolic stress from her new environment, even if she's not feeling it emotionally. You know how when we travel, sometimes we feel a bit off physically, even if we're not stressed per se? Could be similar with her.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

enigma731 said:


> I think as long as the urine is clear and the tests come back normal, I wouldn't worry about it. She may also have some amount of metabolic stress from her new environment, even if she's not feeling it emotionally. You know how when we travel, sometimes we feel a bit off physically, even if we're not stressed per se? Could be similar with her.


This is what I'm suspecting. She just seems to really like to drink a lot, which I assume could be just something she does that may or may not change, or, like you said, something her body is telling her to do. I do really, really hope it changes! She managed to poop off the table tonight and when it hit, it had about a 12 inch splash zone, plus ran down the table leg and hit the table surface too. Not every poop is like that, which is another reason I'm leaning toward it being a result of how much she had to drink that particular time, but wow. I feel like I've seen a lot of bird poop in the last 8 years, but Emma's still manages to impress me. 

I will try to get a good picture of it tomorrow. I'm sure she'll go on the table while she eats her breakfast, so I'll try to aim her at a piece of paper. This isn't something that I suspect is going to be a serious health problem or anything, but I just want to get all the input I can on it early, just in case, so thanks for the input! I want to be overly-cautious and as well informed as possible with anything health related!


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## leeisme (Feb 4, 2011)

Hi elinore. I am sorry this is happening with Emma. Let me know how this turns out. While I still had her sister, Jingles (she left on the 23rd), she would sit on my shoulder and this didn't happen with her. I've never noticed Emma to be a big drinker. In fact even when she ate the dry veggie sticks, she didn't really overly drink. I hop[e all comes out ok with the vet results. Again, keep me informed please


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I hope the test results come out okay. I just traveled with my tiel and he had very watery poops from the stress. They returned to normal though in a day or two. Hopefully Emma is just still settling in.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

Success! She finally pooped on a hard surface! She did one on the floor 20 minutes ago, which I promptly stepped in, of course lol, but it wasn't as watery as usual, but this one, is pretty liquidy. She did have a drink between the less liquid one and the more liquid one, so I'm really thinking it's directly related to the amount of liquid she takes in, not something like sickness that makes the poop weird. I wonder if she's just a little confused as to how much water she needs to be drinking. I would think, if this is the case, that it would right itself with time. The vet certainly wasn't concerned about it, and she did poop in front of him so he saw what it's like. 

She just pooped again! I'll add that picture onto this post. The first one had some white urate present, but I can't see any in the second one. Is this due to the frequency of the poops?

Diet-wise, she's currently eating about half mixed seeds and half pellets. The pellets are a mix of Zupreem Natural Cockatiel, Zupreem Fruitblend Cockatiel, and Zupreem Fruitblend Parakeet. She seems to like them all equally. Getting her to eat the pellets was not even remotely an issue. She loves them! She also gets some cheerios or the veggie sticks treat, and yesterday she started trying fresh food all at once so I think we'll be able to add fresh veggies without any problems. I think the poop in the pictures is more green because this morning she was eating mainly seeds, but when she eats pellets her poop is more brownish.

...and she just pooped again. She saw a chickadee on the feeder and it scared it right out of her lol. This one has definite urates at the bottom.

Ok, the pictures should be of the three recent poops in sequential order. I added a pic of her old poop on paper towel, which I put into her cage a few days ago to see the poop clearly.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

looks like watery poop from stress, i dont see too much to be concerned about unless this doesnt stop in a few weeks. the urine is tinged yellow. which might indicate a problem, urine should be clear.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I have read that birds who eat a higher proportion of pellets may drink more due to the pellets being dry. Maybe that's part of it?


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

DallyTsuka said:


> looks like watery poop from stress, i dont see too much to be concerned about unless this doesnt stop in a few weeks. the urine is tinged yellow. which might indicate a problem, urine should be clear.


That's exactly what I'm thinking. I'm not sure if the urine is colored itself or if it is just colored because of the colored poop. The urine's color is dependent on the fecal color, so perhaps it is just taking on the color of the feces, which varies from green to reddish-brown. I know the vet is for sure testing for Psittacosis and other "common" illnesses, so hopefully we can rule those out when he calls, which should be soon. I will definitely be talking to him about this in detail.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

enigma731 said:


> I have read that birds who eat a higher proportion of pellets may drink more due to the pellets being dry. Maybe that's part of it?


That could definitely be true. She eats quite a few pellets, and they're relatively new to her diet, so maybe she's just overcompensating with the drinking. She certainly isn't showing any other symptoms that might indicate sickness, so I'm crossing my fingers it's just a temporary, behavioral type of thing. 

I hope I'm just doing the "new mom" thing and worrying about nothing, but I'd rather worry without cause than miss something important!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

To me it looks like the urine is tinged because the fecal matter isn't very well formed and is bleeding into it, like you said. If you look closely, the color tinge is more prominent right around the fecal matter, which I think suggests it's bleeding outward. Of course, if the urine gets more discolored, you would want to check it out.

I have also read that colored pellets can sometimes discolor urine. Check out the pics here: http://www.mickaboo.org/newsletter/jan11/poop.html


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

I agree completely. I think the urine is being colored by the feces. I looked closely when one splashed and only the urine that landed with the feces was colored. The splashed drops of it were completely clear. The vet called last night and all her tests came back fine. We'll go back in February to have baseline bloodwork done so I'll talk to him again then. Sounds like she's just drinking more than she needs to be and she'll probably figure it all out soon


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I'm glad to hear you got good news from the vet!


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## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

Great news Elimore,glad that Emma is doing good.


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## leeisme (Feb 4, 2011)

elinore said:


> The vet called last night and all her tests came back fine. We'll go back in February to have baseline bloodwork done so I'll talk to him again then.


I'm so glad everything turned out all right. I was afraid she'd gotten sick while traveling. I know how nervous you were. Especially since opening up your heart to Emma after Maggie.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

She is healthy as can be! I think her poop has gotten less watery already in the past few days. It's clearly dependent on how much she drinks, but most of the time it's relatively "normal" consistency or only slightly more watery. I'm sure it will fade with time. Meanwhile, she's just the perfect little baby, and has been discovering the joys of fresh veggies and apples which is hilarious. She's always so surprised when she takes a bite of something new and it tastes good. She seems to think it should be icky, so she gets very excited when she likes it lol! We couldn't be happier!!!


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