My Piggies Will Not Drink Water

[Cheeky Piggies]

I have had several attempts to get my two piggy girls to drink water, l have tried various feeding bottles and several types of bowls, which they promptly start using as a toilet, the bottles get attacked and demounted from the side of the cage, where they proceed to spill their contents everywhere. They prefare to gain their fluids from juicy fruits and vegetables, melon, tomatoes and cucumber being firm favourites which they get a daily supply of, along with other veggies as and when available, although they are not over keen on carrots.
They also have the Kibble type dry food and fresh hay, l would like to try them on fresh grass, but as our lawn also contains some green lawn weeds, I'm unsure if it would be safe to let them nibble some when the better weather arrives.

They are six months old now, and appear to be thriving well, but l do worry about their refusal to drink water.

 

[lawz]

how long have you had them?
fruits and tomatoes should be given sparingly as they can cause sores on lips etc.
could they be drinking and you just not noticing?

 

[Cheeky Piggies]

They are six months old, l have tried many ways of getting them to drink water, but they just refuse and get rather agressive towards any kind of plastic water bottle l try. They will drink apple juice if dripped into their mouths from a small pipette, but they flatly refuse to drink water.

 

[TAN]

Looks like you will have to but lots of cucumbers then - some piggies just arn't great drinkers - my Bumble isnt - where as 2 of my old ladies are - I wouldnt worry.

 

[VickiA]

Over the years I've noticed that the intake of water really varies from piggy to piggy. Some of my piggies have been big drinkers and others have drunk little. If you're concerned you could wash all veg before giving to them and leaving them wet. But the important thing is simply to notice changes in eating/ drinking patterns that might indicate a problem. As long as your piggies are weeing and pooping ok I'd not be too worried.

 

[Cheeky Piggies]

Yes indeed, there pee corner is always wet when l clean them out, and their poop is firm and normal, although its sometimes on the pink side due to the amount of tomatoes they eat, the vine ripened variety being their favorites. I do wash all their fruit and veg before they eat it, mainly to wash off any harmful crop sprays that may have been used, they also love corn on the cob, outer leaves and all, so l could try soking the whole cob in water before l give it to them to try and soak up some water. One will lick apple juice from the palm of my hand, but the other will only take it if dripped into her mouth from a baby meds syringe, but is quite happy for me to do so. Many years ago l ended up nursing one of my daughters piggies back to health after she damaged her jaw jumping down out of the hutch stack onto concrete, we fed her the strained heinz pure fruit and veg babyfoods through a syringe whilst she was healing, and after a couple of weeks of around the clock care, she recovered and went on to live onto the age of 7, and still has her piggy grave in our garden today. She was a Sheltie, and l am now on the look out to buy another one like her to add to my new coloney today.

 

[Deleted member 114675]

She was a Sheltie, and l am now on the look out to buy another one like her to add to my new coloney today.

Welcome to the forum @Cheeky Piggies . Where are you based ? We have members all over the world is it is handy to know what country you live in - and county if you are happy to tell us.

I notice you are thinking of getting another guinea pig . If you live near a rescue, it is well worth seeing if they have any as they can help with bonding,

 

[Doragon]

I had some Guinea's that really didn't drink, ever! They got most of it from their veg.

As the others have said, just make sure that their poos are properly formed and there is urine in the hutch - keep water around though in case they're being sneaky about it! If worried, maybe just an extra slice of cucumber for fluid!

 

[Caron's Cavies]

Even if you feel they are not using the water bottle to drink from at the moment it is important to always have it there with fresh water each day.

Do you use tap water as they may prefer bottled water which smells less like chemicals.

Also I use a glass water bottle for some of mine who used to chew the plastic bottles. The bottle is glass and the nozzle is metal so that may stop them from trying to damage it instead of drinking from it.

I would also recommend watching how many tomatoes they get as it can cause sores around the mouth.

xx

 

[cavy clicker]

If they're getting their fluids from their food then I doubt they'd want to drink if they didn't need to. I wouldn't worry about it unless you're feeding them dry foods and they still aren't drinking. I had the same thing, then noticed that they were drinking a lot through a dry spell

 

[Cheeky Piggies]

Thankyou all for the advice, l tried swoping their daily tomato this morning for a carrot, you would not believe the noisey complaints l got, followed by them standing on their hind legs in their cage watching every move l made in the kitchen, until my husband came in to see what all the squeeling was about, then instantly gave in and they got their own way. I'm on the look out for a water feeder that is totally leak proof, and that includes when its been knocked off onto its side, as it is, once they have knocked it down, they head but and push the bottle around the floor of their cage until the shavings and newspaper are soaked, full bottle and clean flooring=about 4hrs max before it needs replacing and cleaning out again, so l have given up on bottles for the time being. I'm now thinking of trying a parrot pot, the type that hook up high enough on the side of the cage bars to stop them from using it as a toilet. Both my girls are born ballerinas they love to stand on their hind legs and watch what is going on, so a waterpot at around front paw height clipped firmly to the side of their cage would probably be ok and stop them using every ground level drinking bowl as a toilet!

I'm from Derbyshire Uk btw, l did have a go at doing my avatar yesterday, but could not find the right buttons to update it. I have had a look at rescue piggies but I'm quite some distance from most of the rescue centres. I'm thinking of looking for a pair of bonded Sheltie Boars, as they were my late daughters favourite breed of piggies.

 

[piggieminder]

Have you tried attaching the bottles on the outside of the cage. Mine haven't been able to get them off yet!

 

[anyar.dris]

All my girls don't drink from the water bottle. They get their liquid intake from cucumber and lettuce. They used to drink from the bottle when they were still babies, but not when they grew up. The water bottle just hang there in their house untouched all the time!

 

[Cheeky Piggies]

Well as a final attempt to get them to drink water l have just ordered a parrot pot from amazon that firmly bolts onto the side of the cage, and at a height that they cannot sit on to use it as a toilet!

Nice to know that my piggies are not the only ones to refuse water, they have half a cucumber between them most days, plus lettuce, melon, tomatoes, carrots and hay. They do have piggie kibble, but will only eat about a dessertspoonfull between them each day. I think that they are about fully grown now, they are from the same hobby breeder and born within a few days of eachother, although the tri-colour piggie has always been the smaller of the two.