Drinking too much water ?

[twiams]

Okay so this may sound stupid but my guinea pig Marmite is drinking SO much water and he makes a weird almost in pain sound sometimes. I've taken him to the vets about it before and nothing was really diagnosed as such as the vets seem to start just taken me on a ride for my money.

He's always drank alot more than my other two pigs but sometimes i'm unsure if he's drinking it or just playing with the bottle because he really tugs it and is just such a noisy drinker it wakes me up all the time :x

Medical issues ?
Although this seems likely and alot of things i've read about are pointing too kidney problems he did recently, well a few months ago have a urinary test that showed nothing at all, at the time he had this he wasn't drinking quite as much as he is now but still drinking more than i personally think is 'normal' and this odd squeaky squeal was also still present.
He's been tested for diabetes and he also had a course of anti-biotics which turned into a nightmare as i wasn't given a pro biotic and he stopped eating then the vet decided he has teeth issues because he wasn't eating even though the no eating thing was un-related problem and caused by the stupid vet :{

Boredom ?
I'm not sure if it's true or not but i've heard bored guinea's can sometimes play/tug on there bottle if they're bored and/or lonely. He is a loan boar and i've attempted pairing him before at a rescue and unfortunately before i could bring the other piggy home he was adopted and my boyfriend is really against the idea as he'd like to wait till we move out before anymore pets. rolleyes But if it is boredom then it wouldn't explain the squeak unless he just has problems pooping but that would be back to medical right ?

Wrong diet ?
Marmite is probably the fussiest pig under the sun and his usual favourites, or things he'll accept are:
Carrots (one every other day or so)
Celery (one stalk each day)
Tomato (one cherry every other day)
Yellow Pepper (quarter every day)
Cucumber (small chunk every day)
I try lettuces but with romaine i can only find bags of two and he will eat two leaves and then not any for the rest of the week and by the time i can get him interested it's gone off. I've tried living lettuce but he only really likes the red stuff and i can't seem to find that on it's own.
Then he has a mix of fruit every now and then such as nectarine apple and melon. Maybe a chunk a week of either fruit depending whats in the house occasionally a bit more.
He guts burgess tasty nuggets available all day everyday as i do that with all 3 of my pigs.
He has unlimited meadow hay and gets a variety of treats such as birch bark herbage and timothy hay aswell as burgess leafy mix things !

If anyone could give there feedback or maybe some advice on what they think it could be or what I'm doing wrong i'd be very grateful ! :x

 

[PAMELAKT]

Mmmm I'm not sure - my boys always barely drank at all which didn't worry me as I read on here they get water through their veg. But I got a new boy Billy a few weeks ago and he drinks loads, he is a little monkey though & is very active so its either something to do or because he runs about like a nutter half the time!

I notice that my older boy Rodney drinks a little bit more now becuase Billy does rolleyes but not a great deal.

Maybe some are just different to others... is marmite quite active? I have one very active pig & one lazy one so it would probably explain the difference between mine...

I sympathise with the trying to sleep part - I never heard a peep out of my other boys but since getting Billy he is constantly thumping about, biting things drinking & generally being a menace, and the drinking added on top of that makes for a very disturbed sleep @)

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

there are several reasons he could be drinking a lot. if as you say he has always drank more than your other pigs it may just be the way he is. it may also be that he is not drinking as much as you think as all that tugging at his bottle could be causing water to dribble out too. does the area under his bottle get wet? some piggies do seem to like to play with their bottles.

does he eat a lot of dry food and hay? if so he may just be drinking a lot as this makes him thirsty.

the noise you describe is a bit of a worry. if his drinking is due to a health reason kidneys and bladder issues are the most common causes. often piggies with kidney issues will also start to lose weight despite eating well. a cavy savvy vet should be able to scan (concious) his kidneys to look for abnormalities.

it sounds like you are feeding him a good diet. one thing i would include if you dont already are pears as they ( especially the skins) are good for kidneys ...obviously not too much tho as they are a fruit. I used to have a piggy called Douglas who developed kidney diesease and i started feeding him pear as i had heard was good and in time he went off all his food ... except for the pear.

hopefully your boy is just a piggy who likes to drink and play with his bottle ... and give you something to worry about!