Drinking Water

[IkiKolohe]

Aloha,

Ok, so I know I don't want to use just tap water to fill their water bottle. This is what I usually drink, would it work?

https://smile.amazon.com/smartwater-6-ct-1L-Bottle/dp/B00KIG3WPQ/

Or maybe distilling it myself?

https://smile.amazon.com/Pinty-Distiller-Stainless-Internal-Medical/dp/B01ASWWBOC/

Or, would getting it out of my refrigerator that filters the water be sufficient? I change the filter regularly. I want to do what's best for them, but after a new Critter Nation and everything to accessorize it, funds are a little tight!

Mahalo in advance for sharing your knowledge!

~ Tina

 

[Godofgods]

I dont think so. Distilled water is not to good for them iir. Distilled water is different from regular water because they literally take everything out that they can. This in turn often results in the water actually taking nutrients out of the body of a chin.

If your using bottled water you want to go with purified water, not spring or distilled.

Tap water can be ok depending on its content and precautions taken. Youll want a filter on it naturally. And youll want one that also gets giardia specifically.
As for its content, it depends on the type of water you get where you live. The city water i was on in NJ turned out to be very different then the well water here in PA. I had them both tested and found the well water to have much much higher levels of calcium and hardness, etc. As a result i switched mine to purified bottle water.

 

[IkiKolohe]

I dont think so. Distilled water is not to good for them iir. Distilled water is different from regular water because they literally take everything out that they can. This in turn often results in the water actually taking nutrients out of the body of a chin.

If your using bottled water you want to go with purified water, not spring or distilled.

Tap water can be ok depending on its content and precautions taken. Youll want a filter on it naturally. And youll want one that also gets giardia specifically.
As for its content, it depends on the type of water you get where you live. The city water i was on in NJ turned out to be very different then the well water here in PA. I had them both tested and found the well water to have much much higher levels of calcium and hardness, etc. As a result i switched mine to purified bottle water.

I live on the rainy side in Hawai'i, our water is through catchment of rain. So filtered through lava rock and tropical plants... The only other way would be a desalination plant, but pretty sure that's on the other side of the island where it seldom rains.

 

[Amethyst]

If you go with bottled water what you want is something that is reverse osmosis purified water, like Aquafina, or what they commonly sell at places like Walmarts where you refill a jug (if you have those down there). As said the other option is to get a filter that specifically filters out giardia (which is a microbial cyst), those types are the 3 stage (or more) water filters, like these
https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Faucet-Filter-Chrome-FM-3700B/dp/B0009CEKY6/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1472699458&sr=8-26&keywords=3+stage+water+filter for example.

 

[IkiKolohe]

Aloha!!

So would any of these work?

Member's Mark

Pure Life

Penta Ultra​

This is the one I drink personally, it has the BEST taste but would it be ok for chins??

SmartWater​

Or, even better for me really, something like this one?

PUR Dispenser​

Mahalo in advance for any light you can spread!

~ Tina

 

[Amethyst]

The Member's Mark and the Pure Life look ok, I'm not sure about the Penta Ultra, and the SmartWater says distilled with electrolytes added so I'm not so sure that's good or not. As I said before about the filter, it needs to be at least a 3 stage filter, the one you listed is only 2 stage. If you can find one of those pitchers that uses a 3 stage filter that would work.

Another option that might work, since the reason you need a 3 stage filter is to remove any possible microbial cysts (like giardia), is to kill the microbial stuff that might be there by boiling the water then putting it though a pitcher like the one you linked. Obviously let the water cool before pouring it through the filter pitcher though, lol.

 

[Godofgods]

The first two you linked i would say no. Both have minerals added to them which chins shouldnt need.
The Penta one has no real info shown on it so i cant rly say. And if im not sure, then i dont get it myself.
The smart water is distilled so no.

The Pur pitcher filter; maybe. Theres not enough info visible on that page to say. Usually there products list what is filtered on the side of the box, and the only include pics of the front. But i know the Pur faucet filter does filter out garidia. So this one might to. You will have to check. Of course if your tap water has higher levels of minerals/calcium like one would find in well water here, then this will not get all of that.

For bottled, youd be looking for something like this.

Its jsut plain purified drinking water. No minerals or other things added. Not distilled.

 

[IkiKolohe]

Aloha!!!

I ended up going with ICOCO 6 Stage Ceramic Faucet Water Filter Tap Water Filter Water Purifier With 5 Different Faucet Connectors

(Click on image to view on Amazon!)​

I hope that one will work? Amethyst said it needed to be, at least, a 3-stage so I guess my thinking was 6-stages should be that much better than a 3-stage, heh! It won't go in my kitchen sink as my faucet lifts out, but I'm pretty sure I can get it on my bathroom faucet!

Mahalo for your help everyone!!

A hui hou,
~ Tina

 

[Godofgods]

at first glance it would look like a half decent filter. Tho is doesnt mention garidia on there. Only a generic '20 bacterias' type of thing. You may want to contact the manufacturer and ask them.

 

[mercynursie]

I used the pur faucet mount system for years before we moved and installed a undersink system. I swear by them! Water tastes so much different with 3 stage filters that we all drink more water, use it for cooking/instant drinks, and now our dogs and cats too!

 

[IkiKolohe]

I used the pur faucet mount system for years before we moved and installed a undersink system. I swear by them! Water tastes so much different with 3 stage filters that we all drink more water, use it for cooking/instant drinks, and now our dogs and cats too!

Aloha!!!

I refuse to drink water out of my tap, tastes weird... But I will through my fridge - it has a filter but no idea of "stats" on that.

I can just see my dad laughing his *** off when he sees I have a filter on my faucet... He's going to ask what's wrong with my fridge filtered water, I'll mumble something that includes chinchilla and he's going to laugh and reply something along the lines of spoiled rotten rats... *sigh* oh the things we go through for our beloved fuzz balls!! And I don't even HAVE mine yet!!

A hui hou,
~ Tina

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[mercynursie]

Oh yeah. I catch quite a bit of family fun about my "exotic rats". Just to prove that I think it does make a huge difference is 1) our house cats have had no more stones or bladder irritation since I switched to the filtered and my dogs haven't had any more stones. I tried to get my sister to switch her dogs to the filtered water but 3 surgeries and several expensive renal and bladder diets and meds and she still hasn't switched. Her vet even mentioned that it may be of benefit but now the littles are really too old for it to make much difference.The filtered water from the fridge still doesn't taste as good as the 3 stage!