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New pigs - not drinking much. Need to worry?

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shinydriver

shinydriver

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Hi

We've had our new pigs for nearly 48 hours from Teresa and they seem to be doing absolutely fine but they are not drinking much. (I'll ring Teresa if I get worried, a the sec they are fine and I don't want to bother her if I'm worrying for nothing)

They are happy enough, if shy (its far noisier with a toddler about!) and have eaten leads of hay & fresh veg. I think I read somewhere that some pigs get all their water from food?

So do I need to worry? They are pooing lots from the state of the cage this morning but as I'm leaving to settle I haven't checked for urine (they are on fleece & towels with a litter tray with megazorb & hay with food bowls on top.

I have added a second bottle so there is choice if they are feeling shy. They water is fresh and I'm pretty sure there was nothing wrong with first bottle...

So does anyone else have non drinking piggies?
 
Don't worry, I often find that piggies don't seem to drink much for the first day or two after moving, so as long as they have watery veg (cucumber is good) they will be fine :)
 
Hi. I bought a 16 week old female piggie on Saturday and she has not drank anything yet either. I've used a little bowl, together with the existing bottle in the cage. Her veg always has a residue of water on it, so I'm not going to worry to much for now. My last dear little Daisy hardly touched the water for 2-3 weeks at a time. I'm hoping that it is something not to worry about too much. Good luck. XX
 
I'll take a look at that link, thanks all. Cowslip did try the water botle on Saturday night when she was being nosy over the side of the cage!

I haven't got cucumber so will grab some later. They have had a little bit of everything else due to their diet being controlled by an over enthusiastic 3 3/4 year old!
 
I have had my piggies for 6 weeks now and they have never used their water bottle, it's changed everyday and is working properly but they just don't bother- i think they get enough from the beg i give them by the looks of it.
 
When your piggies have got used to you, you can try and teach them by moving the ball of the bottle to teach them the sound they should be making when drinking from the bottle.
 
Mum was using the water bottle last night. Her technigue is, erm 'interesting' -she tries to use it like a teat and the whole bottom of the metal goes in her mouth!

Anyway, cucumber... wow! They can smell it from a mile off! It got wheeks :))
 
Just an update to say thanks. They seem to be drinking fine now. I guess it was just a settling in thing.

Dehydration is one of the things I worry about with my children too!
 
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