Water bottles v bowls. My experiment.

[Guinea Slave]

Hi

I was talking to my lovely vet the other day and we were musing about how to get guineas to drink more to protect against stones etc. i also watched one of my girls one day when it was hot drinking from one of the botles, it looked so much like hard work and unnatural it got me thinking. having six guineas of varying ages and personalities I thought I would experiment by offering them some options.

I put three options in their cage, a standard ball bearings type bottle, an ezi filla, and a basic water bowl (the sort you fix to the side of a cage for birds to stop it being tipped up).

Interestingly over the last two weeks, the ball bearing bottle came last and was untouched. The Ezi filla is preferred by all, but the bowl is almost equal now in terms of volume drunk and I have noticed it gaining in popularity amongst them as they learn.

My feelings are that the bowl must be much more comfortable for them and more natural. If it encourages them to drink more (which I am convinced it is) then perhaps we should be offering our guineas (well all animals) this option? I have done the same with my hamster and she just uses the bowl now and does not even bother with the bottle.

Interesting isn't it?

Be good to hear any others experiences?

 

[twiams]

I’d always be careful with bowls, especially in winter, as to drink from it the animal will be getting the front of it’s face quite wet and damp, if they were outside or in a cold room they could easily catch a bit of a chill like this ?

Nice to hear of someone else’s experience though

 

[Amanda1801]

Mine all have bowls and the sippy bottles. They much prefer the bowls as its more natural!

 

[Bekki]

Mine love bowls and if they didnt insist on turning them into poo, hay and mess stew they would have them all the time, they get a bowl in their run and whilst they're in hutches outside they dont have bowls as there is nowhere to hang it away from the hay.

 

[Mrs Sport_Billy]

Megan has a bowl as she can't tilt her head to drink from a bottle. But the girls have bottles. The problem with megs bowl is it needs washing 3 times a day as she just keeps turning it into poo milkshake!

 

[Guinea Slave]

I’d always be careful with bowls, especially in winter, as to drink from it the animal will be getting the front of it’s face quite wet and damp, if they were outside or in a cold room they could easily catch a bit of a chill like this ?

Nice to hear of someone else’s experience though

Hiya, mine are in a heated shed so not an issues. However they don't dip their noses in, they just delicately 'lap' the water up, not seen them get wet at all. Maybe it depends on the height of the bowl? Theirs is about an inch off the ground so they don't need to move much.

 

[Guinea Slave]

Poo soup. Eeeeeooooooouuu! That made me laugh. Mine did that with a bowl on the floor but I bought one of those bird bowls which just mounts on the side of the cage and they keep it really clean. It's also not in a busy area so that tends to work. They did used to use the old bowl as a paddling pool and toilet so I completely understand!

Great comments, really interesting to see what people do. Thanks

 

[Guinea pig slave]

I had an interesting conversation with a Vet about bottles etc. she was researching piggies/rabbits who had bottles and had discovered that some had dental issues (not proven) but she believed it could play a part...
All our piggies have glass bottles and are at nose height so they don't have to hold their head in unnatural positions Bowls get debris in or tipped over regardless of how heavy they are. I've got a fear of them drowning too mallethead :{

 

[Stewybus]

I've tried bowls before but they just seem to get messed up with hay & poo. The idea of having a fixed one attached to the cage sounds good so I will give it a try.

 

[Hermes]

I use a coop cup (one of the ones that hooks on the side of the cage) and I find it far preferable to a water bottle. It does sometimes get hay and poop flicked into it (I have no idea how!) but it's easy to see if it's dirty and easy to clean and change. I change it daily anyway and it takes all of 30 seconds so I don't find that off-putting, bottles take longer to clean and refill daily. The other issue I had with bottles is that one of my pigs liked to just swing on them and empty them everywhere soaking himself in the process, he's a lot tidier with a bowl!