Are my guinea pigs ok if they don't drink water?

Anbear171

Anbear171

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 23, 2018
Messages
21
Reaction score
13
Points
75
Location
Ireland
I am feeding my guinea pigs a normal diet which I have done research on and even though I've had them for over a year they have never really drank much water. They will occasionally drink some but I it takes them well over a week or two to finish the water bottle. I have tried bowls and bottles and neither make them drink more. They have lots of watery veggies and I wondered is it ok if they don't drink water and eat these. They have never shown any signs of illness, they were always like this. Is it normal?
 
Do you give them fresh water everyday? It’s best to give them fresh water daily rather than waiting for them to finish the bottle. I’m sure if you do this and give vegetables they will be getting their water.
 
Guineautopia said:
Do you give them fresh water everyday? It’s best to give them fresh water daily rather than waiting for them to finish the bottle. I’m sure if you do this and give vegetables they will be getting their water.
Click to expand...
Yes I do by putting small amounts in each day. I keep track of how much they drink each day and some days they don't drink anything. Is this bad?
 
They will drink what they need but you need to be changing all the water not just topping up what's there. Have you ever drunk water that's started to go stale? It's foul and I wouldn't be surprised if that were discouraging them from drinking too
 
Lady Kelly said:
They will drink what they need but you need to be changing all the water not just topping up what's there. Have you ever drunk water that's started to go stale? It's foul and I wouldn't be surprised if that were discouraging them from drinking too
Click to expand...
No I don't top it up, I empty it out each morning and put 60ml of water in it. It is easier for me to keep track that way. My guinea pigs never drink more that 10 or 20mls.
 
Anbear171 said:
No I don't top it up, I empty it out each morning and put 60ml of water in it. It is easier for me to keep track that way. My guinea pigs never drink more that 10 or 20mls.
Click to expand...

My mistake I was confused by the comment on how long it took to finish a bottle :)) as long as they know how to do, and do drink from, the water bottle I don't think you have too much to worry about
 
Lady Kelly said:
My mistake I was confused by the comment on how long it took to finish a bottle :)) as long as they know how to do, and do drink from, the water bottle I don't think you have too much to worry about
Click to expand...
No worries thanks for the help the reason I said that was because I was adding up how much water they drink in a day to see how long it would actually take to empty the bottle. Also do you think it could be the taste of the water? I use filtered water from an American fridge.
 
Ours don't drink a vast amount, we feed the veggies straight after washing... Their water consumption goes up a little more in summer months as it is hotter
 
Anbear171 said:
No worries thanks for the help the reason I said that was because I was adding up how much water they drink in a day to see how long it would actually take to empty the bottle. Also do you think it could be the taste of the water? I use filtered water from an American fridge.
Click to expand...

Ours would take forever... It depends on the pigs. Some of our previous girls were huge drinkers.... Cookie used to go for drinks in between eating pellets. I rarely see ours at bottle now.

Perhaps - but i doubt it. Could try tap water and see if any difference.

Is it one of those fridges that cools the water also? very cool
 
Yea I find mine drink in fits and spurts. Sudden warm spell and a 3rd of the bottle will be gone while I'm at work. I don't know if the taste would affect it, it would be good for them to get used to filtered water so I wouldn't change it
 
I also find my guinea pigs drinking less water. My guinea pigs get veggies 3 times a day, so I am guessing they get enough water from their veggies 3 times a day that they don’t need to drink a lot of water.

Both my Finn and Lara get herbs daily as well, like cilantro, parsley, fresh grass and etc.
They also get different fruits throughout the week.

I believe veggies and fruits are made up of water. Mine do get fresh water also.
 
Velvet is the only big drinker of water of my 5. If I hear the water bottle I can almost always know which piggy will be there! They all get the same veggies too. I think it just depends on the piggy.
 
I don't think it is much of a worry. I am not an experienced owner of guinea pigs like many in this forum. But I adopted them almost a year back. I have two cage housing one with two boys and another with two girl. Since it is summer I observe the boys drinking more than the girl. I am really changing water every 12 hours once. It gets empty so soon now a days. But when I adopted them they never drank much water. I suppose they got all the water they require from the vegetables. It depends on each piggy the amount of water they need. But I feel if they are still drinking 10 or 20 ml from their bottle, then not to worry. I suppose your a good mommy giving them juicy vegetable where they get all the water from.
Will you luck for healthy and happy piggies.
 
it’s ok, mine barely drink as they get a lot of water through their veg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top