Bottled water or tap water?

**Cinnamon Bear** · 04-01-2017, 02:22 PM

Which is best? Tap water, Brita water filtered water (carbon filter) or bottled water.

I drink bottled water recently, lots of it. It tastes better too vs Brita or tap water. Should I give my hammys bottled water too?

That Brita water that I used to drink tastes terrible compared to brand name bottled water like Dasani or Poland Springs for example.

Also, if I feed them room temperature bottled water then how often should the bottles/bowls be refilled? I'm going with every other day right now.

Any thoughts on this subject? I fed Izzy bottled water for the first time last night. Someone said the chlorine in water used to keep water purified is good for the hamsters which is obviously not true. Common sense, yet tap water is loaded with chlorine.

AmityvilleHams · 04-01-2017, 03:02 PM

It all depends on the water!Some tap water may have chlorine which as you know is not good,so filtered water would be the best choice over regular tap water.However,bottled water with no minerals and such could be equal or even better.

Bottles really don't need to be refilled constantly unlike bowls which at least should be refilled daily.They might drip a bit without refilling,but keeping them constantly filled is honestly wasting water when as long as the drips are very small and get absorbed into the substrate there is nothing wrong with a minimally dripping bottle.

I think water preference varies person to person,but the big problem with bottled water is a lot of brands do add minerals so you must be careful

Gemma_xo · 04-01-2017, 03:03 PM

I've been arguing this with myself for a little while now too.

I give my two tap water, but I change it every other day (but with that, they have the 75ml bottles, so I tend not to fill it all the way to the top because it's frequently changed, and because it's the smallest bottle I don't have much of an issue refilling it), currently Pixie's is being changed twice a day, she's on Baytril where I have to change her water twice a day, but that's a minor issue.

Pixie and Tinkerbell both drink plenty water, but the way I see it is I use a filter jug so should I be using that for them too? I drink tap water also because I'm too lazy to get the jug out of the fridge half the time and it's not done me any harm so I assumed it wont do them any harm, but I still can't help but think would filter be better?

The last I knew (well because I dropped an old filter whilst changing it) the filter jug "insides" was just charcoal to make it as "naturally" filtered as possible? I'm 100% sure there's other chemicals and whatnot in there, but I mainly saw a charcoal looking substance when it hit my floor and broke open (no idea how, either my floor was having a really hard day or the filter hit it at such an angle it stood no chance because from what I've seen of mine (not Brita) they're tough to get into!), so again, my question is- would it harm them having filtered? Only issue I have there is that my jug lives in the fridge, I don't want to be giving my girlies cold cold water when the tap water is never anywhere near as cold.

AmityvilleHams · 04-01-2017, 03:06 PM

It won't harm them to have filtered water if and only if it is safely filtered.Cold water is usually not an issue

However,the potential serious health problems that would develop over time with tap water are much more concerning than merely using cold water.

You won't see instant health problems from most things.That's why it would be all too easy to assume unsafe preservatives(BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin known to cause cancer)would be perfectly fine,since they don't immediately cause damage,but just because the damage isn't instant doesn't mean it is safe.

Drago · 04-01-2017, 03:06 PM

Personally, I always support using tap water over bottled as it's just as safe as bottled, if not more! Tap water must be regulated by your town, bottled water isn't, and the filter will also help remove any other issues. The reason I don't support bottled water is that it's simply no better than tap, and the companies sell the water for up to 8x its actual price! Plus the chemicals used in the plastic have shown to cause cancers in mice and rats when tested

I wouldn't worry about using the tap at all, it will be perfectly fine, and if chlorine is an issue, leave a bucket of water out overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate

best wishes

AmityvilleHams · 04-01-2017, 03:09 PM

Tap water is no safer than bottled sometimes

However,in a lot of cases it is far more dangerous.Saying that it's simply no better than tap is a bit silly though,considering bottled water can be superior.Filtered is sometimes the best of all,but I definitely wouldn't use tap regardless of sourcing.It's just too risky when a simple investment is all it takes to make something completely safe.

**Cinnamon Bear** · 04-01-2017, 05:38 PM

This is off subject a little but did u know that we are supposed to drink 1/2 your body weight in oz /day!

So if you weigh 100 lbs, then you drink 50 oz water each day. Most bottled water is 16.9 oz so that's 3 bottles of water.

A 24 pack of Dasani cost $6.50 at the Dollar store. So that would last you 8 days. So every 8 days you would need another 24 pack.

So you would need three 24 packs per month & if you paid $6.50 each, that would cost you $19.50 plus tax.

That could get expensive. So the more you weigh the higher your bottled water bill will be LOL

dreamtree1234 · 04-01-2017, 10:36 PM

I give both Eros and Snickers distilled, bottled water. This is because the water in the area where we live is considered very hard which drastically increases the chances of having kidney stones. Therefore, I believe that it is safer for mine to drink this type instead of using the tap water. I don't even drink tap water where I live, so I don't feel comfortable taking the chance on my animals either. I suppose it just depends on where you live and how safe that tap water is for drinking. Each of us may have our own opinion based on the facts that we are given and our beliefs in which facts are the best supported by statistics. Ultimately, it is your decision, and I know you will do the right thing for your pet.

As far as how often do I change and/or refill Eros's water bottle, I do this whenever it is getting low. This tends to happen approx. every other day or so. Her bottle doesn't leak except for the occasional tiny drip once every long while and there is a lot of bedding under the area never gets wet.

**Cinnamon Bear** · 04-02-2017, 03:10 AM

True is depends on where you live. And a personal decision, I was just wondering what other people do. It could be expensive to water all my hammys with bottled water but like you say, you don't have to water them as often. That's a good idea

I don't trust the water where I live as well.

AmityvilleHams · 04-02-2017, 04:05 AM

I had some more time to think about this,and there is definitely a lot to consider.I'd still say that tap water is never a good choice though,and it really shouldn't be used for pets.

If bottled water causes cancer,hamster bottles would do the same.I'd have to say that point is invalid,after thinking about it for a while!

As for chlorine it isn't the only issue as mentioned,so simply evaporating the water isn't enough.You'd need really good filtration,so in turn this means absolutely no tap water unless properly filtered(not evaporation,that is not good enough)

A lot of times going cheap can be a terrible idea.Sure it might save you money initially,but it certainly isn't saving money when it eventually ends up leaving you with a seriously ill hamster and a ridiculous vet bill or even worse a potentially dead pet(and this goes for many pets including dogs and cats)

It is a worst case scenario view,but just because it doesn't always happen doesn't mean we should simply look the other way instead of always providing the absolute highest standard of care!