Bird poop consistency

[thelonelysnake]

I just brought my young CAG home four days ago. So far, he's been an absolute dream to have in the family. But I've noticed that his poop is watery sometimes? The vet gave him a checkup before I brought him home and said everything is fine but sometimes Draco's poop is a little watery. Usually when he first wakes up or after he drinks a lot. The rest of the time its solid-ish, normal poop. Is this wateriness something I should worry about or is it just from drinking water? Should I go back to the vet?

[Harpmaker]

Unlike mammals, birds do not have separate liquid and solid waste elimination. There should always be some of each in their droppings, depending on what they have been eating. Water and fruit make it liquid, pellets can make it nearly solid. Both are normal.

Birds do not eliminate at night, so first thing in the morning they discharge hours worth of wastes--a LOT more than any other time. This can make it appear to be more liquid than a small amount on an absorbent surface.

[thelonelysnake]

Alright. I own tons of reptiles so I'm used to the "same hole for everything" deal, I was just making sure he was okay because I've read that watery poop can be a sign of illness. Thanks!

[Pajarita]

What's dangerous is diarrhea, not watery poop. Diarrhea is when the feces, the solid part of the poop that looks like a little worm, are not solid and mix with the urine and ureates. Watery poop is something that happens occasionally due to diet or time of the day. As Harpmaker said, the first poop of the morning (bird people call it the 'morning bomb' -LOL) is always large and 'watery' because it has a lot of urine in it. When they eat a lot of certain fruits (like grapes, watermelon, etc), they would have a watery poop after but it goes back to normal immediately after. This is normal and nothing to worry about. Fruits are good for them and watery poop is absolutely normal and not dangerous at all when it's because of them.

Then you have polyuria which is kind of like chronic watery poop because it contains large amounts of urine but, once it dries, you would see the solid poop and a big stain of urine around it. It is also almost always accompanied by polydipsia which means an excessive thirst and consumption of large amounts of water. This is not good and a symptom of disease (could be liver, could be kidney, could be diabetes, could be thyroid, etc.) so an avian vet needs to see the bird and do several tests to figure out what is causing.