Giving Pets Water Shouldn’t Be Controversial
Fighting for those who cannot speak
My sister has decided to get guinea pigs. This is not good news. When she announced this the first time, maybe a decade ago, I was delighted. I thought they would enjoy keeping guinea pigs and the critters would be well looked after.
That quickly turned to despair when my mum said my sister was not providing her guinea pigs with drinking water — or any water — because she believed they didn’t need it and got enough water from their food. I was horrified. I would never deny a pet a drink.
Pressure was placed on my sister, who didn’t want to buy a drinking water bottle, which at the time cost about £1, because she seemed to begrudge spending any money on her pets. Besides, any bowl would do, just as long as they had a source of water.
Anyway, drinking water was put in place, but the critters had been without access to water for a month by then, and had essentially been trained to manage without it. You might think they’d be gasping, but they seemed to have no appetite for water by then.
So, apparently they can survive without water, but surviving isn’t thriving, and I imagine the transition was unpleasant for them, to say the least.
