Ideas to battle dehydration when parent lives in assisted living?

Yeah! Your mother can have an IV like Ringer Lactate the same thing that are given to the patient who suffer dehydration from intense vomiting and diarrhea. You can also make sure she drinks water every 2 to 3 hours that has Oral Rehydration Solution just to prevent her from dehydrating.

vhope, have you talked with the staff at the facility where Mom is? Do they have any suggestions that they could help with?
Does Mom like fruit? That is a good way to get additional fluid -- watermelon, peaches, grapes, oranges, pineapple, just about any fruit will help with hydration, fresh frozen, or canned. Does she like milk-shakes/smoothies? Could she use the extra calories/nutrition from these items? Does the ALF serve soup often? Does she eat that?
She doesn't need to get all her fluid by drinking water. In fact, if she is drinking 4 cups of water a day, that is about 3.5 cups more than my mother gets! My mom drinks coffee, tea, eats soups, loves fruit, and generally gets much of her fluid from food.
If your mother is showing symptoms you've associated with dehydration in the past, perhaps having her checked by the ALF's nurse would be a good idea. Maybe those symptoms are about dehydration, and maybe something else is going on.
Good luck! Come back and let us know how this works out!

If your mother is under the care of an AL, it seems it is on their shoulders if their residents are being admitted for dehydration, unless she has been running a fever or had diarrhea. Maybe the doctor can order an ongoing count of her intake of fluids. Also is she on a water pill?

Maybe it's the taste of whatever she's got in the fridge to drink. I'd try different beverages to see which ones appeal to her more. Does she prefer warm or cool? We are actually limited to 4 or 5 glasses a day, due to congestive heart conditions, and we're always having to prompt her to drink. Often some of the resistance comes from, as Edna says, "It'll make me have to pee." If she still has most of her cognition, you might remind her, "This is to keep you healthy." Whatever you do, don't make it a threat, like, "if you don't, you'll end up in the hospital again, do you want that?" Most elders I know simply get more resistant.

If it's about the flavors, you can try the calorie free flavor enhancers; make some tea, in advance, to add ice or pop in the microwave (depending on her preferences), exchange part of her meal with a shake or smoothy. Clear liquids are best, but when dehydrated, getting them to intake ANY liquid is a good thing. You an add gelatin to every meal ("there's ALWAYS room for jello!!") Snack on frozen pops: fruit pops, koolaid pops (you can even find some of the electrolyte frozen pops for kids; a word of caution here, elders should generally have about half of what we give active kids if the elder has any heart issues).

Have her try drinking from something with a straw (I love our kiddie cups that have a built in straw .. cheap and we number the container so we/she knows how many she's had that day). Bartenders have known for decades that adding a straw makes them drink more/faster.

Hope that helps a little.

Oh, and yeah .. you can get an IV, but most likely it will have to be monitored by a visiting nurse, and I doubt it's a 'plug in for refill' .. in my experience it's a persistent IV, usually short term, monitored by the visiting RN, who will end up having to take a blood test to determine her hydration levels.

Thanks for your responses. My mom has a small refrigerator in her room, filled with bottles of water--the small size as well and this was previously successful but not any more. I meant reminder notes for my mother to read in various places in her room. Hmm, so you think it would be possible for my mother to periodically go to the doctor/hospital for an IV? My mother also uses a walker and is able to dress herself.

Notes from family won't get it done, but written orders from a doctor for an electrolyte drink will. Any IV fluids, such as a bag of Ringer's Lactate would also be ordered by the MD. Give him a call.

My MIL is 91 and has her wits, but a pitcher of water looked daunting to her. I bought her the tiny bottled waters that you get at the grocery store. Make sure they are the ones that you can re-fill. My last batch wasn't. Then, I fill 6 of those, for her. It doesn't look like such a huge amnt. of water to her.