|
Post by mustelidmusk on May 19, 2008 8:52:06 GMT -5
Hi,
Ijust wanted to add this this recommendationabout iving your ferret tap water...Most ferret owners in our area give their ferrets bottled water because our water supply (Boulder, CO) contains giardia.
It's my understanding that many water supplies do carry a small amount of giardia, but it can really cause prblems for some pets in our - especially smaller ones!
My first two ferrets had BIG poroblems with giardia. My current ferrets went through only one treatment, and the tiny amount of tap water they may get exposed to doesn't bother them.
So....even if your tap water is OK, you may want to use bottled water if you travel with your ferrets since water supplies vary across the country- therecould be something other than giardia in the water that your ferret is not used to.
-jennifer
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on May 19, 2008 9:05:16 GMT -5
Thanks for bringing this up, Jennifer Luckily, one of the things covered by the HF website when it opens in august, is water. The site will cover: tap water, well water, bottled water, filtered water, etc. This is a seldom talked about topic, but it's actually very important.
|
|
|
Post by tss on May 19, 2008 10:14:40 GMT -5
I always use tap water but there isn't anything wrong with it here. When I go to my cousins I pack extra tap water because she has well water that is believed to have a ton of bacteria in it.
|
|
|
Post by stinkweasels on May 19, 2008 10:51:08 GMT -5
The problem with most bottled water is it is actually just tap water. Mainly the ones bottled by Pepsi, Coke, and store brands. I use twice filtered water from my fridge Reverse osmosis filter then charcoal filter
|
|
|
Post by amyandfuzzies6 on May 19, 2008 15:07:48 GMT -5
I forget which brand it was but within the last year they just broke a news story on one of the bottled filtered water companies that was selling tap water Soooooooo, that's when we ALL started drinking bottled spring water. A reverse osmosis water filter is on my wish list for someday Our tap water hear smells like wet dog I can only drink it if it's ice cold and certainly wouldn't expect my ferts to want it at room temp - yuck!
|
|
|
Post by mangekyousharingan on May 19, 2008 23:04:06 GMT -5
A good way to bring down the chlorine levels in your tap water is to put the water into the refrigerator. Chlorine evaporates quickly, so this is one way to make tap water that much safer. It is, of course, VERY important to check the water's source. Take what your neighbors say with a grain of salt, as people will often exaggerate or even outright lie (as strange as that is). This is NOT to say that all tap water is good, but be sure to do thorough research before making your decision. Remember, there are also rumors that many bottled waters are no different then tap water. Reverse osmosis and charcoal filters seem to be a good way to go for those of you worried about your tap water. If your residence is a permanent one (e.g. a house), this would be a sound investment, and would certainly save you money (assuming this change led you to drink more water and less soda, beer, etc.). This would also be a money saver since you would no longer have to purchase bottled water, save for on trips.
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on May 19, 2008 23:38:22 GMT -5
The bottled water I use is El Dorado Springs water . El Dorado Springs is about 10 miles away from us up El Dorado Canyon canyon, whch is in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. It's supposed to be really healthy (while my husband and Iare drinking giardia and cryptosporidium Ya know, it just stinks because we have very little knowledge about the products we use...even we read up on stuff
|
|
|
Post by pear2apple on May 30, 2008 8:29:24 GMT -5
How am I supposed to know if my water has Giardia in it? And how is this safe for me to drink?
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on May 30, 2008 8:44:53 GMT -5
Honestly I don't know. I would think that boiling water and then cooling it in the fridge might help. Anyone know?
|
|
|
Post by jennifer5799 on May 30, 2008 10:42:26 GMT -5
Usually if you go to your city's website you can find the water reports. I don't know how detailed they are, I know back in Pasadena where we own our house, they mailed us a copy every year and it was pretty detailed. We had "superior" ranked water so I never worried about it. Here we have to drink mostly bottled water, even though we cook and such with tap water, because the, um, crap I don't remember - calcium, maybe? Not sure, something here is too high in the water that can cause serious long term issues and everyone has RO systems in their houses.
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on May 30, 2008 11:00:14 GMT -5
Thanks for getting on that one, Jenn. I personally had no clue.
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on May 30, 2008 14:01:03 GMT -5
The tough part about the water reports and info from the city is that there's commonly a lot of "interesting" stuff in tap water. Its normal and somewhat desireable to have some of these bugs in your gut so your immune system can manage these "cooties" when they're present in reasonable quantities in your system.
The question is...how much giardia is too much for a human (adult vs. child?) what about a ferret? So, in some ways, those reports are somewhat useless unless you have either perfect water - or your brats keep getting reinfected with something and you can't find a source for infection (like an aquarium)
Also, the water quality can vary as well....and all immune systems are different!
I know, great non-answer - just what you like to hear. Unfortunately, most things in life fall into grey areas.
-jennifer
|
|
|
Post by amyandfuzzies6 on Jun 13, 2008 13:28:48 GMT -5
I think I figured out why our tap H20 smelled like wet dog! We had a slow leak in the water main for our townhouse building. This past Monday it broke and started gushing! Lord knows how long the leaks been there and seeping... It was the most amazing sight. I had gone home during my lunch hour to check on the babies (of course) and while I was walking out to my car I caught water bubbling up out of the ground. Before I knew it, it was gushing and raising the cement! Our city workers were absolutely amazing though. They came out and worked for over 14 hours during storms and everything so we all had water to show with in the morning
|
|