Rescue parakeet

[abbycaru]

Hello! I recently rescued a parakeet (She is probably around three months old.) and her name is Mavi. She, unfortunately, was born with scoliosis, though, it's as if she's perfectly fine! She runs around and plays just like a normal parakeet would. To her, nothing is wrong. She does run out of breath quite easily and that is because her spine is weighing down on her and that makes it difficult to breathe sometimes. I just stopped feeding her the baby formula a few days ago as she stopped showing interest in it. She eats normal food and fruits and veggies now, but there is one problem. She will not drink water unless I am holding the cup for her. She also has perfectly healthy poop, but it gets stuck to her vent. I remember reading that that could be a sign of dehydration. I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about why poop would be getting stuck there, and if anyone has any suggestions on how I could get her to drink by herself.
Thanks!

[Dragonlady2]

She may be getting her fluids from her fresh food so the water intake may not be as problematic. As to the poop on the vent, does she sit on the bottom of the cage or sit low on her perch?

[abbycaru]

She does stay mainly on the bottom of the cage as well as her flat perches. She can't really climb up very high so every perch she has is low to the ground.

[Dragonlady2]

She probably can't drop her poop away from her vent. You should be prepared to clean her off regularly. Are you able to put a shelf or perch close to the bottom of the cage?

[abbycaru]

Yup, she's actually got a few there already.

[Lady]

Hi Abby,
Congratulations on your new bird Mavi!!