How Much Water Do Guinea Pigs Drink A Day?

Water is an essential part of the diet for a guinea pig, and therefore they require an unlimited supply of water every day.

You must always make sure there’s a constant supply of clean and fresh water to your guinea pigs at all times. But how much water do guinea pigs drink a day? Well, guinea pigs generally drink up to 80-100 mls of water per day.

In today’s article, we’ll be looking more in-depth into guinea pigs’ water drinking habits – and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss any of the detail.

Let’s quickly get started!

How Much Water Do Guinea Pigs Drink Every Day?

Guinea pigs can comfortably drink between 50ml to over 300ml of water every day.

Guinea pigs need a supply of fresh and clean water continuously. However, the quantity of water consumed by guinea pigs varies for every single guinea pig. You should always make sure that your guinea pig has a supply of fresh water all the time.

The way guinea pigs consume water is also dependent on their body weight. Usually, about 20% of the value of guinea pigs is the amount of water they consume daily.

Both factors can be just fine as it all depends on one guinea pig to another. The consumption of water by them relies on a lot of factors like:

• Weather conditions
• Indoor heating/cooling
• Diet etc.

So, it is acceptable even if your Guinea pig is drinking 60-70 ml of water or 300ml of water until and unless that is their regular consumption.

But, if you see any significant change in water consumption, then you must immediately try to know the cause of the same and fix it.

Read Also: What Do Guinea Pigs Like to Drink?

Best Way to Provide Water for Your Guinea pig

Make sure to provide your guinea pig with constant water in a way they acknowledge it, and they can have access to it at all times.

There are several ways to provide your guinea pig with fresh water, but the choice of it will be dependent upon your guinea pig preference. You need to do some trials and see which system do they prefer the most.

How to Know The Amount of Water Guinea Pigs Are Drinking

The most natural way to know the amount of water guinea pigs are drinking is by using a bottle to feed them the water. In most cases, your guinea pig water consumption will remain consistent.

Although some factors like weather change and change in temperature may bring a small change gradually, if you refill the water can daily on a schedule, you will monitor the water consumption of your guinea pig.

It is very vital you follow this quite closely as any essential change in water consumption is the starting sign of sickness in a guinea pig.

If you observe that your guinea pig has a substantial change in water consumption, it’s best to take the pet to the vet.

Guinea Pig Drinking Too Much Water?

The most recommended way of consuming water by a guinea pig is usually 20% of its body weight. Now, this may depend from pig to pig. Some take around 50-60 ml daily, while some also take 200-300 ml.

It is acceptable if the consumption is usual. But sometimes, there are notable changes in water consumption. If you notice a high intake of water from your guinea pig, it may be because of the following reasons:-

If there’s a change in the diet of your guinea pig, it may trigger some unusual behavior. Sometimes when there is a change in diet, it can lead to more water consumption than earlier.

If you feed your guinea pigs more veggies rich in the water earlier, then any change in that can cause more water intake. Just the same way, the consumption of more hay increases water intake.

When there is a change in temperature, this can also sometimes cause some change. If you notice any temperature change, then it might be the reason for more water consumption. As heat increases, the want for water usually goes up too.

Sometimes dental issues, Bladder stones, urinary tract infections, etc. may also lead to more consumption of water.

Diabetes is also a factor that causes an increase in water intake. You need to carry out a blood test in guinea pigs for detecting the same.

Serious health complications like kidney failure and digestive disorders can also cause an increase in water intake.

If you notice any notable increase in the way your guinea pigs consume water and you are unable to detect the reason, then it’s best to take them to a vet doctor pretty soon.

You could be with them for a day or two and keep a close eye on any other health issue symptoms. But the best would be to take them to the vet as soon as possible.

Guinea Pig Drinking Too Less Water?

Sometimes we feel that our pet might not be drinking enough water. But that can be caused by so many factors. Sometimes it can be a regular change whereas sometimes a serious one.

Listed below are few basic things to notice if your guinea pig is drinking less water than usual:-

When there is a change in the diet mostly to more vegetables and fruits, this can lead to less water consumption.

When the guinea pig is in a cold environment, water consumption usually goes down.

The taste of water can be changed either due to some added chemicals like chlorine etc. or due to added supplements by you as a pet owner, which is a fundamental issue that causes less water consumption.

Diseases like Mouth infection, Dental overgrowth, Pneumonia, or respiratory problems can sometimes cause less water consumption.

Again, I would recommend you take your guinea pig to the vet if you are not able to understand the cause. But for the time being, provide them with veggies that are water-rich such as cucumber, celery will fulfill their hydration needs.

Read Also: How Long Can Guinea Pigs Go Without Hay?

How Long Can Guinea Pigs Go Without Water?

A Guinea pig can comfortably stay up to 8-12 hours without drinking water. Sometimes, they are seen staying up to 48 hours without water, provided it has enough vegetables to eat.

Most of the requirements found in the water of guinea pigs tend to be fulfilled by fresh veggies. So if you feed your guinea pig a lot of water-rich veggies, they can stay for a day or two without water too.

Although we strongly recommend having access to fresh and clean water all the time. If a guinea pig doesn’t have access to enough water to drink for more than 24 hours, it might cause a medical condition such as dehydration and liver problems.

Also, consuming hay makes them thirstier, so if only a diet that contains only hay is served to them with no water, then it may lead to a problematic situation.

Guinea Pig Not Drinking Water at All | What to do

Sometimes it is considered quite normal or natural for a guinea pig not to drink water at all. If you have fed your guinea pig some good fresh water-rich veggies like cucumber etc. which have a high degree of fluids, it will quench its thirst for water.

You may notice whenever your guinea pigs take vegetables, their thirst for fluid goes down. This is quite natural, and you should not be worried much in such a case.

But, if you notice some sudden changes in water consumption without any change in diet, then you must look to make a further inquiry.

If your Guinea pig is no longer active as usual, having its eyes closed more, If your guinea pigs are not responding well and also there has been a change in their diet, then something surely is going wrong. If you notice any of the above symptoms, you must visit your vet as early as possible.

Sometimes the issue of your guinea pig not drinking water could also be because of these reasons:-

• The water can nozzle is surrounded up with some uneaten food or any other particles. And they are unable to drink from it.
• The water has a high amount of chlorine or some chemical that is causing the issue.
• The bottle is not properly cleaned and rinsed, leading to low water quality, thus avoiding the water.

How to Teach Your Guinea Pig to Drink From the Bottle

When the Guinea pigs are younger, they tend to drink water from the bowls rather than bottles. It is always advisable to train them to drink from bottles as it is more hygienic.

You shouldn’t be worried because they will learn to feed on bottles by watching their parents and elders do the same. You can work on this procedure by placing a small ceramic container just below the tip of the bottle.

It Is highly recommended that you change the water 3-4 times daily because many feces and dirt will accumulate.

After some time, you can start by placing some pieces of cucumber on the nozzles or anything else they like to feed on just to make them try it. Usually, within several weeks, your guinea pigs will get used to it and will start drinking water from it.

As a substitute, you can take the bottle in hand and put some treat in the nozzle and bring it near its mouth to get them started.

Do not force this procedure upon your guinea pig as this may lead to even further worse situation in time to come. You will also expose them to a whole lot of stress by doing so, which is not what we want to do.

We want a positive result and reinforcement and not the negative one. Please always fill fresh and clean water every day in the bottle even when not used. Not filling it with fresh and clean water daily will result in algae formation.

Read Also: Is Spruce Good For Guinea Pigs?

Conclusion

Because guinea pigs eat so much dry, fibrous food, they require an unlimited supply of water to keep their digestive tract functioning properly. It’s best to ensure your guinea pig always has access to water.

As you must have seen while going through this article, we discussed ways by which water can always be made available to your guinea pig, so I advise you to follow those ways always to make water available to your pet.

Because water is a fundamental necessity for guinea pigs, so how much water guinea pigs need a day is unlimited; they should always be provided with water.