Thirsty guinea pig

[Orangeyish]

I wonder if anyone can advise… I have a 4+ year old guinea pig (his brother died earlier this year, but he has been fine since then and thrived as a singleton…) who recently seems to have been drinking much more water…. He is constantly drinking from his water bottle. Nothing has changed, diet exactly the same, still squeaky and eating, no change in his cage conditions or his poops…. I don’t feel I should take him to the vet as there is nothing wrong with him.

Anything I should look out for? Or be aware of? I may be fussing over nothing, but it is a fairly noticeable change…

many thanks!

Hi, he needs a Guinea pig savvy vet - he could have kidney disease or diabetes or any other disease that causes excess thirst.

Thanks HaagenYAAS…. Would there not be any other symptoms? He is still eating, hopping, purring, thriving, hasn’t lost weight etc. The first sign that his brother wasn’t well was that he stopped squeaking….

Our vet is good and knows G pigs… perhaps I ought to take him in to be checked over…. I suppose they would do blood tests?

It could also be cushings disease - in animals that can present as severe thirst

We had a guinea pig last year who seemed perfectly healthy but was drinking much more water than the others (and was also weeing a lot more). Unfortunately, she suddenly died without any warning - but in hindsight, she was drinking more and more before her death. If we had a piggy with similar symptoms now, I would certainly take it to the vet. Good luck!

Did you find an answer to your piggies thirst ?
I know mine rarely used a water bottle as they got moisture from vegetables but I still dutifully cleaned and filled them daily .
One of our boys liked to chew the water spout at 3am probably hoping if he woke me up I'd be persuaded to go to the fridge for him

Any change in their eating or drinking, poohing or peeing habits is a flag to be investigated

We have had a couple of guineas who just love to chew on the spout rather than being thirsty. Could it be that?