Drinking question

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Mon59

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi.

This is a bit basic but concerning me…

I have two sows for the past 12 months. One drinks regularly from her water bottle and has wet bedding . The other one hardly drinks at all (in fact never seem drinking) but has somewhat wet bedding ..less so. they have separate water bottles and the non drinker water is hardly touched When I replenish daily.

both poo entirely normal consistency .

both have a good cup full of fresh veg daily and otherwise hay.

both good weights and healthy .

bit of a mystery for the non drinker . Should I be concerned especially with hot weather approaching?
 
Meant to say they are separated by a grill so I can tell who is drinking….

One is regularly seen at the bottle. especially after dry food and hay. As you would expect..

the other one not at all.. …a mystery.
 
Thank you very much for the link.

The individual need differs enormously from drinking nothing at all or very rarely to drinking quite a lot on a regular basis (up to and even over 300ml in a day). Both extremes can still be perfectly healthy and don’t seem to be connected with health problems like kidney failure or diabetes if they are part of their normal behaviour. Urine consistency can accordingly range from being very concentrated to watery, depending on the individual intake and not be a sign of problems if it is the guinea pig's "normal".

This seems to answer it …but can’t be good for her kidneys! She is also more fond of dry pellets which I strictly limit to a tablespoon throughout the day .
 
I don't think it hurts them, they get fluid from their veg. As long as it's old behaviour and not something new to her I wouldn't worry. They seem to know what they need.
 
My Rainbow piggy :yikes: :yikes: DA BOSS:yikes::yikes: Velvet used to drink loads of water where her friend The Ever Beautiful Betsy 🌈 hardly drank anything at all.
 
Lexa drinks considerably more than Latte, and both are healthy.
Latte has a 8oz/236ml bottle and drinks about a third to half of a bottle a day, and Lexa's has to switch a 16oz/473ml bottle if the house is warmer (usually actually winter, since we have A/C) in order to make it through a day. Lexa is very furry. Neither pig is diabetic ... we've had a diabetic piggy before.
Lexa also soils her cage much more quickly and heavily. Her paper (base layer, under towels and fleece) will have gotten wet all over by cage cleaning; Latte's paper is dry except for her favorite corners (though it's usually missing there anyways, since she rips it out) ... I let her rearrange her fleece as she likes, since her towels are never damp.

It's all about what's normal for each piggy.
 
Mon59 said:
Hi.

This is a bit basic but concerning me…

I have two sows for the past 12 months. One drinks regularly from her water bottle and has wet bedding . The other one hardly drinks at all (in fact never seem drinking) but has somewhat wet bedding ..less so. they have separate water bottles and the non drinker water is hardly touched When I replenish daily.

both poo entirely normal consistency .

both have a good cup full of fresh veg daily and otherwise hay.

both good weights and healthy .

bit of a mystery for the non drinker . Should I be concerned especially with hot weather approaching?
Click to expand...
My 2 piggies have 2 bottles that they share. Usually they will both only drink from one or the other for a while. Maybe try letting allowing them both to choose freely which bottle they want to drink from and make sure you clean the mouth pieces good if they aren't drinking from it with a bottle brush and test that the cap is working and seal is in place
 
Many thanks for the replies. Interesting that they vary so much whilst staying healthy.

Maria (who drinks very little), is bigger and much more robust than Olivia. Same age. They are separated by a partition so I know who drinks what. I had 4 originally together, but had trouble rebonding them after two died so left them separated, which they seem to like?

I clean the bottles and tubes daily. In this hot weather they have both stopped drinking much now which is odd, but they do get regular Lettuce and Cucumber in small quantities so perhaps that's enough?

Both are alert and happy so perhaps all is normal.
 
If they are receiving more wet or watery vegetables, that can reduce their drinking, since they are getting their fluids from the vegetables. Cucumber has a high water content, so if that has been increased, that would certainly reduce regular water consumption.
 
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