drinking more than usual

[jesse1234]

My guinea pig Oswald has a 4 oz water bottle, and it seems like he could go through about 2 a day. I read that sometimes changes in temperature could cause this, and this weekend Iw as away and had a friend watch him and I had the air conditioning on at 73 degrees fahrenheit (22.778 degrees celsius) which is a normal temperature for him, I just wanted to make sure it would be stable for while I was gone. He's had the AC on for him most of the summer as well, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. This water bottle doesn't leak, and I have watched him go to the bottle himself and heard him drinking. I read a lot about it and 8oz doesn't seem like a ridiculously high intake, but it seems like more based on how much he drank previously. I should note also though that he had a much bigger water bottle before, like maybe 4x as big as the one he has now, so it was harder to gauge that, but the one he has now he has had for a few weeks and he usually 1/2 or 3/4 a day. I've only been back for one day to see how much he's actually drinking but I am going to be home all day to see how much he is actually going through. He's acting completely fine in every other way. I filled the bottle up completely at about 1 or 2 am, and then at noon it was nearly empty, so I will see if this is a pattern. I filled it completely up at noon, so I will update accordingly. Has anybody had any similar experiences?

 

[PurpleGiraffe]

Does Oswald have another guinea pig that he lives with?
If he seems fine in every other way and there’s nothing else worrying I think it’s okay, but I would keep an eye on him to be sure. Some guinea pigs drink more than others, and with the larger bottle he could have also been drinking the same amount he does now but it’ll be more noticeable from his newer smaller bottle. There could also be a bottle leak, some bottles drip constantly or some drip every so often which makes it hard to notice. Sometimes guinea pigs like to mess about with the bottle and that can also cause it to leak, one of mine used to look like he was taking a drink from the bottle but he was actually making it drip.

 

[Wiebke]

My guinea pig Oswald has a 4 oz water bottle, and it seems like he could go through about 2 a day. I read that sometimes changes in temperature could cause this, and this weekend Iw as away and had a friend watch him and I had the air conditioning on at 73 degrees fahrenheit (22.778 degrees celsius) which is a normal temperature for him, I just wanted to make sure it would be stable for while I was gone. He's had the AC on for him most of the summer as well, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. This water bottle doesn't leak, and I have watched him go to the bottle himself and heard him drinking. I read a lot about it and 8oz doesn't seem like a ridiculously high intake, but it seems like more based on how much he drank previously. I should note also though that he had a much bigger water bottle before, like maybe 4x as big as the one he has now, so it was harder to gauge that, but the one he has now he has had for a few weeks and he usually 1/2 or 3/4 a day. I've only been back for one day to see how much he's actually drinking but I am going to be home all day to see how much he is actually going through. He's acting completely fine in every other way. I filled the bottle up completely at about 1 or 2 am, and then at noon it was nearly empty, so I will see if this is a pattern. I filled it completely up at noon, so I will update accordingly. Has anybody had any similar experiences?

Hi!

If you are in doubt, please have Oswald vet checked; especially if the increased drinking is connected with a stready ongoing weight loss.
If not, just keep him under observation and weigh him regularly.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

It can be that he may not have been fed the same or as regularly in your absence.

120 ml is however a rather small hamster-sized water bottle; piggies drinking up 300 ml or even beyond regularly (i.e. more than double) can be perfectly healthy.
All About Drinking And Bottles

 

[jesse1234]

does anybody have recommendations for bigger water bottles that don't leak? the reason he has the smaller one is because the big one leaked like crazy and saturated all his blankets.

 

[jesse1234]

also oswald is a solo pig. i've tried having him have mates but he is not friendly with any of them. he's a happy guy and gets a lot of interaction with people and the family dog so it doesn't concern me much. he's a happy little guy.