Drinking.......

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Teejay

Teejay

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hi all, well, I seem to have a problem with my boys not drinking......they've never drunk very much anyway, but now they don't seem to be drinking at all.

They have had three different bottles so far.....the first one was too heavy for the bottle holder when it had any water in it (:{) and just slipped onto the floor, the second one leaked the entire contents of the (large) bottle all over the floor of the cage overnight one night (:() and now we have a Sippi bottle.

The Sippi bottle works slightly differently to a regular 'ballbearing' bottle, but they both seem to work on a very similar principle, so I didn't think the piggies would have any trouble in figuring it out. However, they don't appear to have taken any water from the bottle for about three days now.

Last night, I put a tiny spot of honey on the Sippi drinking spout, and Pudding had a lick of it (not sure he got any water though)....so I popped a little bowl of water in the cage overnight.....I saw Pudding have a drink from that.

What to do? I'm not overly concerned, cos I know that they get lots of water from their veggies, and neither of the piggies look unwell, sluggish or dehydrated, but it's still a worry. Is it normal?

I don't really want to leave a water bowl in the cage permanently (I can forsee a wet accident!), and I can't get to the pet shop to get another bottle until the weekend.

Tracey
 
some pigs just generally don't drink alot especially if they're being given veg that has a reasonable amount of water content.
 
Hi Hannah, that's what I was thinking. They do regularly have lettuce, cucumber and the occasional cherry tomato (all of which seem to have a high water content). They've also had a few blueberries and grapes this week, which must also be quite high in water. Tracey x
 
my two barely touch their water, I've put a bowl of water in their this morning to see if they drink from that instead but try to make sure they have some celery or cucumber everyday for water
 
Oh, and today, I've actually tied a long stem of parsley round the Sippi's spout....let's see if that tempts them to drink from it! The things we do, eh.....!
 
Hi Lady Kelly....well, my two fussy so-and-so's have decided they no longer like celery.......sigh.......so that's one 'watery' veg off the list! Tracey x
 
Well if they are being fed cucumber, lettuce etc then they would be getting water from that obviously - maybe just try and give them veg that hasn't got much water in it over the next few days and see whether they seem more inclined to drink from their bottle.
 
Hi dominic, that's good to know....I'm not worrying too much, they're both bright, active and seem happy and well, I'm just suffering from a case of 'new piggy slave' jitters, I suspect! LOL! Tracey
 
Ours have never drank much if at all from thier bottle.
We give them watery veg and make sure thier leaves are wet when we feed them. there is a thread somewhere about glass bottles, as these are supposed to encourage them to drink more than the plastic. We got one but it was too big and heavy!
As long as they are weeing I wouldnt think that they are dehydrated and will be getting all they need from thier food.
 
Our Dylan never seemed to touch his water when he was in his own cage until recently. I worried for a while but it never seemed to hold him back. Now that he's in with our two pogettes he freely drinks from both water bottles. He also makes such a racket about it that he seems to be saying "Look at me! Aren't I clever drinking my water!". Seemingly not realising that the other four have been doing it for months! Daft wee pog!:))
 
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