Reference Should I put Vitamin C drops in Water or can I put Tang in the water?

[ava&lilly]

yes, i know i have read it... i change their water EVERY morning and the actually drink the same amount as they did before i gave it to them, maybe even more

 

[daftscotslass]

You cannot possibly monitor the exact amount they are getting, either. Do your pigs a favour and ditch the drops. They prefer veggies.

 

[OzzyLama]

Hi.
Thanks for posting this thread, it is very useful information.
Well I was wondering if it is okay to use urine deodorizer in my guinea pigs water. It is said to deodorize the stool, urine and body odors. I havent tried it yet, but I was wondering if this would harm my guinea pigs want to eat, diet or anything like that. Thanks for reading my post!
-Jackie

 

[daftscotslass]

Never heard of it but wouldn't touch it. Their urine should not smell strongly anyway. Are you sure it's not meant for putting on areas in your house where pets have urinated accidentally rather than in their water?!

 

[kathrynj]

Ava consider this, you put the drops in the water, IF they drink it as much as they would water, the VITAMIN C content rapidly degrades, so it ends up being little more than flavoured water, with very minimal if any vitamin C. Why would you waste your money on drops?

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

That stuff is pretty useless and likely wouldn't work. Guinea pig poop and pee should not smell strongly unless they are getting poor diet or are ill.

 

[misskam]

Mine wont eat veggies. I have tried. Any advice?

I dont quite know if you have tried this, you probably have. I put my piggy on my lap and feed it a carrot or a vegetable of some sort. Otherwise try feeding it different sorts of vegetable or fruit. Im new at the guinea pig stuff, but i thought i sounded pretty good answering that!

 

[KinderCavy]

uhhh i wouldnt

 

[Bubbles & Pinky]

We are fairly new to cavys. We were using vitamin drops until I read they weren't nessesary (we feed a variety of fresh veggies and fruits) and could cause our cavys to drink less. We stopped using the drops in the water for a few days and it seemed they were actually drinking less than when the vitamins were in the water. Any suggestions? For the time being we have gone back to drops.
Thanks.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

We are fairly new to cavys. We were using vitamin drops until I read they weren't nessesary (we feed a variety of fresh veggies and fruits) and could cause our cavys to drink less. We stopped using the drops in the water for a few days and it seemed they were actually drinking less than when the vitamins were in the water. Any suggestions? For the time being we have gone back to drops.
Thanks.

Yeah, stop using the drops again. It will take them a bit to get used to the taste of the plain water vs. the water with the drops. In the meantime, just make sure to wet the veggies a little first. They will get the water they need and if that's not enough they will drink their water from the water bottle.

 

[Jeeves]

We live in Australia and because the standard of pellets is apparently pretty poor our vet said we should supplement their diet with childrens chewable vitamin C dissolved in water.
we do feed them fresh vegetables too, but the vet said it is impossible to overdose on vitamin C so strongly advised supplementing their diet.
I have been dissolving 1 500mg tablet in tap water and syringing in to two pigs lasting for 10 days.
I use this method as it would be too tricky to cut up a tablet into 10 pieces. So besides the fact that they absolutely love the taste of it, is this totally pointless after the first day?
Also I leave the dissolved mixture in the fridge so it is in the dark most of the time. I've also heard that if i use boiled water it has no chlorine so the vitamin C will not degrade, would this be better?

sorry for the long question but i just want to do the right thing for my dependants.
Thanks for any help

 

[Ly&Pigs]

If your pigs are getting a good variety of veggies, then the supplement is unneeded. While they really can't overdose on C, giving too much for a long period of time then suddenly decreasing it can cause pseudo scurvy.

I've also heard that if i use boiled water it has no chlorine so the vitamin C will not degrade, would this be better?

C will normally degrade as it's exposed to light and air so not sure how true this is.

If you are feeding things like bell peppers (capsicum) and other C enriched veggies such as kale once or twice a week and a broccoli floret once or twice a week, they don't need extra C unless they are ill or not eating.