Vitamin C Drops

[Hermes]

I don't use vitamin/mineral supplements for my guinea pigs, I do however use them for my rats as a sort of cover-all as they have a homemade diet (this is common practice in the rat community).

I'm just wondering why for guinea pigs vitamin C supplements added to water are considered to be innapropriate/ineffective/possibly even dangerous, based on what I've read on here. The two main arguments I've come across are that it evaporates or that it makes the guinea pigs less likely to drink the water.

Vitamin C is unstable in solution but it doesn't evaporate, it oxidises when exposed to heat, light and air. The rate of oxidation obviously varies in accordance with the above parameters but given the necessary regularity of water changes this would be almost negligible.

I can understand it being an issue if they don't want to drink it - obviously they're not going to gain the benefit of it. But that doesn't automatically mean it shouldn't be tried. My rats go nuts for their supplement. If there's a concern about not drinking enough water then two bottles can easily be supplied - I put the vitamin supplement in a mouse water bottle and have large bottles for plain water - and intake can be monitored.

The only real argument I can see is not being able to monitor dosage precisely, particularly with multiple guineas and the fact that it's unnecessary anyway given a suitable diet of hay, veg and pellets.

I'm not making a case for the use of vitamin drops, I'm questioning the misinformation - where did it come from?

 

[Wiebke]

The main reason is that piggies drink noticeably less water when you add additives; their individual water intake varies enormously from several 100ml to not or drinking very little anyway, so adding anything to water is not a very efficient way of medicating/supplementing guinea pigs, even more so as they are group animals.

I also find that plastic bottles have a tendency to go green much more quickly, even within a day depending on the weather and light levels. I have yet to find a glass bottle that doesn't leak badly quite quickly - and it is not for lack of trying.

 

[Jerrybelly]

I'm not sure of the 'science' behind this view, but my pigs drank noticeably less water with vitamin c added (in my naive, pre-Forum days). On several occasions I noticed them walking to the bottle with the intention of drinking, but walking away after they had approached the spout. This is all the information I need to know.

 

[Amanda1801]

The vitamin C won't last in the bottle, as you say, it's not stabilised so it seems like a pointless endeavour. If fed a good quality dry food and/or a variety of fresh veg (with at least one serving of a high vit C vegetable a day), they shouldn't need supplementing. Their daily requirement is only 10mg/kg/day. In times of stress and/or illness though, this requirement increases 10 fold to 100mg/kg/day, ad this is when you need to supplement, either with a suitable food (critical care has a high vitamin C content), or with a supplement (I personally use oxbow daily C tablets, which 6/7 of my pigs will eat from my hand!).

 

[Hermes]

Thanks for the replies - I think this is the information that should be promoted.

Wiebke - I know what you mean about the algae and gunge building up in the bottle, it's why I use a small bottle for my rats. I also have a superpet glass bottle for my rats (the one with the little duck in) and I've not had a problem with leaking, only the spout being on the wrong way (it has a flat side). I found the plastic bottles leaked all the time! I would have thought it'd be one you've tried already but worth a go if you haven't.

 

[Goth Mummy]

Thank you to Hermes for asking a question that i have been wondering about for some time!