Switched from water bowl to bottle - now I live in stinky pee city!

[TwigAndZig]

For several years we had a ceramic water bowl for Twig and Brownie. We tried a water bottle once, but they ignored it. They didn't drink a ton from the bowl, and the water got poopy every few days, which was not ideal. When Brownie died and Ziggy moved in, the poop in the water bowl increased significantly. Ziggy is a real poop machine. It got to the point where it was really grossing me out.

I decided to try a bottle again. At first it was fantastic. No gross water bowl. We were thrilled to see the water bottle emptying every few days. After maybe a week, though, we noticed that their pen smelled far worse. There was way more pee. The pigs themselves started smelling bad for the first time ever. Today (it's been a few months now), I can actually smell the piggie pee from the next room over. I went to clean up, and there was basically a layer of poo-mud in one corner of their pen.

I need brilliant advice! Can I only give them the water a few times a day?

(side note: maybe related, but maybe not. Twig used to be a big fatty. Over the past few months she has lost a lot of weight. She's not emaciated, but she's not our thicc eggplant anymore.)

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

What you are describing sounds to be a cage maintenance issue.
It’s not to do with using a bowl or a bottle and you should never restrict their access to water.

First, water -
They need fresh water constantly available to them 24/7.
You need to empty, clean and refill the bottle every single day whether they have drunk it or not.
A bowl is going to be harder maintenance and will get poops and hay in it but it should never become a problem because the bowl needs to be emptied, cleaned and refilled once a day.
In warm conditions, whether the use or a bowl or a bottle, water will need to be kept fresh and cool so water can need to be thrown away and refilled a couple of times a day.

I’ve added a guide below for further information

All About Drinking, Bottles and Dehydration

Now to Cage maintenance -
A full cage clean can be needed every couple of days or once every 5-7 days - It depends on what type of bedding you are using as they can have differing levels of maintenance.
Regardless of the type of bedding you use or the full clean routine, you still need to spot clean to remove all poops and any wet areas of bedding and wet hay every day, sometimes it can need to be done twice a day. (Again it depends on what type of bedding you use as to how this needs to be done). Wet hay is notorious for causing smells.

If you would like further advice here then do give us details of your set up, cleaning schedule, bedding type, perhaps even pictures of your cage etc

The weight loss -
If your piggy has lost a lot of weight then this is a medical issue and she needs to see a vet urgently. It means she is not eating enough hay so it is essential you get to the bottom of why that has happened.
Anything more than 50g of weight loss is concerning.

You should weigh your piggies every week as part of routine care to monitor hay intake.
When you become concerned about health, their hay intake, any symptoms or weight loss of 50g or more than you need to switch to daily weight checks and prepare to step in with syringe feeding.

This is what you now should do: switch to daily weight checks; step in with syringe feeding to stabilise her and stop any further weight loss; and see a vet.
Hay intake cannot be gauged by eye so the daily weight checks are essential for you to know you what she is eating independently but also to ensure you are syringe feeding her enough. She needs at least 60ml per day but the actual amount needed is gauged by the daily weight checks.

Where water intake might come into it is if she has had a change from her normal drinking habits. If you can confirm that she alone is drinking and urinating excessively as well as suffering weight loss then that can be significant for certain medical conditions.

How old is she?

I’ve added guides below to help further with this but we can of course answer any questions you may have.

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/weight-monitoring-and-management.171577/
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Truffolo]

I clean and refill.my water bottles twice a day. They are a harbour for infections and need to be kept very clean.

 

[ChupaChups]

We change our water bottles daily, with a bit of a wash. Once or twice a weak I run them under boiling water in the kettle to kill anything nasty. For two adult piggies we have two bottles, usually they are either almost empty or 1/3 full by the end of the day. During summer I used to refill them twice a day. However, no specific smell issues - sure they pee a ton but mostly in the sleeping area, so they have an extra bubble matt on top of the fleece, or in the hay tray which gets chucked out daily.
if you are having smell issues, you might want to deodorise the room they are in, dried coffe grounds, soda - those are good and safe for humans and pigs. Dried herbs/ flowers can also help to mask the smell (or I am just delusional and don't realise it just smells like pee and flowers now .. xD)

 

[ChupaChups]

A full cage clean can be needed every couple of days or once every 5-7 days - It depends on what type of bedding you are using as they can have differing levels of maintenance.

How are you reaching 5-7 days until a ful clean? we can't go a day without shaking things out, moving the mats around. We change the fleece 2-3 days.

 

[Piggies&buns]

How are you reaching 5-7 days until a ful clean? we can't go a day without shaking things out, moving the mats around. We change the fleece 2-3 days.

As I said, it depends on the type of bedding being used! Fleece is going to need to be changed more often (probably won’t go more than a couple of days) whereas disposable can go longer as it’s much easier to remove isolated wet areas without needing to change everything.

I don’t use fleece. My boys live in a shed on snowflake softchip bedding and hay. I only need to use a small scoop to remove a couple of wet areas of bedding and hay daily and the rest of the cage remains perfectly fine for a week until I do the next full clean.

 

[Janey]

@TwigAndZig - just wondering how you’re getting on and if you’ve had any success in trying different things?