# How much water do tiels need in a day?



## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

My Maggie has obvious brain damage from a big seizure. We've been dealing with this about 2 weeks now and it isn't fun, but we manage day to day. The biggest issue is that she seems to have "forgotten" how to drink. She will not use her waterbottle at all, and I don't think she uses the dish I have given her, at least not very much. She cannot climb any longer, so she lives on the bottom of her cage on towels. She will sometimes take a sip or two from a cup outside her cage or from a faucet, but it's not nearly enough. I have been giving her water a droplet at a time from a syringe, and this seems to work ok. She doesn't love the process but she's a good sport about it and swallows just fine. 

However, it's occurred to me that I really have no idea just how much water I should be giving her. I've been giving her a few drops from the syringe 2-3 times a day, probably 1-2 drops per squirt, and 3-4 squirts per time. Usually I do this once in the morning, once when I get off work at 5 and once before bed. If she seems to need or want more I give her more. If she drinks a bit by herself I give her less. Just after this all happened, somone kindly gave me a recipe for an electrolyte mix, which I gave her once a day for the first week, but I've discontinued that because I have no clue what that would do to her long-term. She seems to be able to poop easily, and the poop is wet, though not runny. I've been so frantic to just keep her hydrated that I haven't really thought about how much water I should be giving her, or how often to keep her at a "normal" level. Now that it's apparent her condition is permanent, I really need to figure out the best way to care for her in this situation. She means the world to me, and though this turn of events was pretty horrible, we're just going to keep moving forward, and accept that sometimes things don't turn out the way you'd like, but you have to adapt and keep on living. 

Anyone know how much water a cockatiel normally drinks in a day, and how much they drink at a time? Thank you so much for any help. Maggie needs it!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Poor maggie  some of my tiels can drink little and others can drink alot it really depends on the tiel


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Cockatiels do not need that much water, they can live on a couple teaspoons a day, and if she is drinking on her own I'd say forcing her to drink from a syringe is overkill.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

I don't think she's drinking on her own at all now. There is a tiny chance that she occasionally sips from the dish, but on the rare instances where she drinks when I offer her water in a cup or from the faucet, she doesn't so much drink as go through the motions of drinking. It's like she knows she wants to and should drink, but the water doesn't go down her throat or even into her mouth. Poor little girl.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Since she's pooping easily and the poop is wet but not runny, it sounds like you're giving her the perfect amount of water.

It's not really possible for anyone to tell you the exact amount of water a bird needs, because that would depend on the bird's activity level and health status plus the temperature and humidity conditions.


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