Do not use distilled water?

[tcraighenry]

how often should i change the water in my chins bottle should i just wait until its low? I really dont know

We completely change out the water once a day and top up during the mornings. We wash the bottles with part vinegar/part water solution once per week. (And add rice kernels we shake up to scrub the bottle.)

 

[deliamaj]

i am really confused now. i get my drinking water from the bottle fill up station at ultra foods. i have no idea if this water is distilled or purified or osmosised (pretty sure that's not a real word). i don't know how to find out either.

my bottled water right now is nestle pure life which says "purified using reverse osmosis or distillation and enhanced with a balance of minerals for taste." that's not real helpful since it seems that osmosis water is good and distilled is not ... to tell the truth i don't have the vaguest idea what reverse osmosis even is, and since i've been on this website for like 6 hours i'm not up to looking it up just now ...

if someone could specify a brand of water that is chinchilla safe i would feel much less confused. walmart has baby nursery water, if it's good for babies is it good for chins?
if not, what do you long time chin owners use?

Dani

 

[becky12883]

The water you get at the fill up station in the grocery store is probably filtered by reverse osmosis and is fine for the chins. The nursery water is distilled and has fluoride added, so I wouldn't use that.

 

[Cat75]

if someone could specify a brand of water that is chinchilla safe i would feel much less confused. walmart has baby nursery water, if it's good for babies is it good for chins?
if not, what do you long time chin owners use? Dani

We use Hinckley Springs purified water. I know walmart sells purified bottled water also. As mentioned I would not use the nursery water because the added fluoride in it. Most fill station state somewhere on it how it's filtered however you can never tell when the filter was last changed in them.

 

[Bouncer36]

Can you give spring water

 

[nikkik0720]

I was using water from our fridge. It has a filter in the fridge itself, as well as one where the water line meets the fridge. The filter in the fridge is no good anymore, and its ridiculously expensive to try to replace, and a replacement isn't even guaranteed as the model we need is no longer made. My dad said it will be fine since there is the main filter, but I'm not convinced. I had filled up a gallon jug (previously had the Walmart Nursery Water in it, but that is long gone), and after 2-3 days, the water had a weird smell. I will not give my chins that water. So I have been filling their water bottles up with bottled water (Walmart's brand, Great Value).

How can I convince my dad that it is not okay, and to either a) buy a new filter, b) buy a filtered pitcher (like the PUR brand), or c) buy a filter that connects to the tap? I tried to bring up all the different 'bad' points, especially since my mom drinks the tap water (it's municipal water) and I'm pretty sure they only filter out the major contaminants, and they add Fluoride.

Any ideas?

 

[Amy555]

Shortly after I got my boys they had a health scare. They had wet gross poops and got very lethargic and stopped eating. I took them to the doctors and got medicine and hand fed them back to health - but they had contracted giardia (Search the forums about it) which is a yucky bacterial parasite that caused the flare up that they got from me giving them tap water.

But as Oprah says, when you know better, you do better. Ever since then I buy them their own gallon jug of "Drinking Water" from the grocery store. It usually costs less than a dollar, make sure to read the fine print so its reverse osmosis, and I haven't had a problem in the years since.

So I would say, the cost of the filtered pitcher or special water versus the cost of a doctors visit with any xrays or culture tests, medicines, special foods theres no question. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[nikkik0720]

I gave up on getting my dad to get a new filter/better filter.
Instead, I went to Walmart and looked through the aisle with bottled water. I found a gallon labeled Drinking Water. I looked at the label and it is reverse osmosis.
It was only $0.88 and it has a green label and cap. It's Walmart's brand.

 

[Amy555]

Perfect! It doesnt need to be expensive or complicated to give your chins everything they need. Glad you were able to find a solution!