water question!!!

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Often, bottled water is just tap water that's been stolen from some community somewhere (or from the third world...) and stuck in a bottle with a label, shipped a stupid distance, and sold at an incredible markup. I have SERIOUS issues with the bottled water industry, if you couldn't tell. Generally normal bottled water is no higher quality than tap water (often because it literally IS tap water). I would say distilled is probably better if you HAVE to give packaged water of some kind. Always watch the expiration dates on water in plastic bottles/jugs - that date is when the company expects the plastic that makes up the bottle will begin to degrade into the water, and therefore introduce nasty nasty chemicals into it which wouldn't be good for any living creature's system.
 
I've been told that distilled water isn't good for chins. I use reverse osmosis water. I have a filter on my sink
 
Do not use distilled water. Do you know people who drink distilled water all the time? No, because it is not healthy for people. Distilled water will draw out minerals (diffusion) from the intestinal tract and cause problems. Just get a good filtered water. Reverse osmosis as stated above is fine. I use a countertop filter that goes through two cartridges. Mainly just make sure it takes most of the microbes out.
 
Do not use distilled water. Do you know people who drink distilled water all the time? No, because it is not healthy for people. Distilled water will draw out minerals (diffusion) from the intestinal tract and cause problems. Just get a good filtered water. Reverse osmosis as stated above is fine. I use a countertop filter that goes through two cartridges. Mainly just make sure it takes most of the microbes out.


Just out of curiosity, how does distilled water DO that? The only thing that's been done is boiling the water and recollecting the steam to remove contaminants. I'm not trying to say anyone's wrong but I've never heard of that being a problem before or causing loss of minerals and now I'm curious! I wouldn't think it would be too much different from normal water, just with fewer contaminants/bacteria....
 
When DO water is boiled off, no minerals are found in the collected, condensed steam. It's the same thing as rain cloud formation....no minerals. Otherwise, the majority of rainclouds forming over the ocean would have salt minerals in them....good thing for people they aren't! :) Think about it, the main use for DO water in the home is for use in irons, so one doesn't get mineral build up. To my knowledge, the main reason DO water is in grocery stores is for irons....
 
I don't know the science of it but I had a biology professor tell me that distilled water is not healthy to drink. Whether that is really the case or not, I am not sure, but I am positive that reverse osmosis water is healthy to drink so I would rather give my chins something that I am CERTAIN is safe, rather than something I do not know much about. Thats just my opinion though, plus reverse osmosis water is just as readily available
 
i use a Pur water filter on my sink. It filters out a lot of stuff as well as one main problem for chins; Giardia, a microbial cyst.
 
Reverse osmosis also takes absolutely everything out of the water though, or that was what I was told in my chem class, so you'd think it would present the same problems as distilled..... I know with some kinds of plants they say its better to use distilled water than tap water due to the fact that tap water has chlorine and sometimes fluoride that can damage the plants. I also used distilled for cleaning my eyebrow piercing. Didn't know it was even used in irons! Here the only option for RO is a filtration system as far as I know, and from what I've seen they tend to be horribly expensive. I've never seen it offered in any other form...
 
RO water is forced under pressure through a semipermeable membrane which allows water and depending on the design, some minerals depending on size. You are correct, generally RO water can only be had through purchase of an expensive filter, then again, a vet bill for giardia or crypto is probably more expensive....just a thought.
 
I just use reverse osmosis water. I think that should be fine. It cost me 99 cents for my first gallon and then to refill it's only 25 cents.
 
reverse osmosis can be purchased at the grocery store or at some pet stores, some will even fill your own container (a pet store by me fills any container for 49 cents. It is not terribly expensive. Some of the jugs at the grocery store with the spigot that people will put in their fridges actually say "purified by reverse osmosis" on them. Only around $3, thats what I buy
 
Distilled and RO can draw minerals and salts out of the body causing deficiencies. It is not suggested to be drank by human or animal. It also tastes like whatever is growing in your mouth or you last ate because it has no flavor of it's own. We use RO filtered bottled water that has salts and minerals added back in. In particular Dasani brand because that's what we like to drink anyway. Spring water contains more bacteria than tapwater and tapwater or well water can contain too much heavy metals. Check the label for RO plus salts (usually some form of potassium) and minerals (usually calcium carbonate).
 
I used to give R/O, but after tasting it is was NASTY, I give Alhambra water now, the water intake increased by 50%, I will just deal with giardia or whatever IF it happens but I would rather have the benefit of more water drank than a maybe maybe chin gets giardia. Chins need to have water they will actually drink enough of.
 
Mine must be the reverse osmosis filtered drinking water with added salts and minerals because the bottles I buy for them taste just fine, like typical drinking water. It just says "filtered by reverse osmosis" on the jug
 

Latest posts

Back
Top