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Water filters

Scrappy's Little Helper

Scrappy's Little Helper

Mama Doe
Hi all :wave:

As I live in quite a hard water area I've been using low calcium bottled water for the boys as I'm a bit worried about the calcium levels from the tap water. However I've been wondering if a water filter might be a good investment instead. I'm thinking specifically of the Brita type jugs? Am I right in thinking that they filter out the calcium (or would I need to get a specific type?). I've never used them myself so I'm not 100% sure how they work, ie whether the water is filtered using chemicals that may be safe for us but could be potentially harmful for buns?

TIA :wave:
 
We use are in a very hard water area and now use a Brita type jug.
We used to descale the kettle once a week! We now have to do it once every 1~2 months.
Our bunnies have the filtered water, I sort of assumed it would be okay for them. I will be watching this thread closely
 
Brita filters do reduce the calcium down but nothing like a low calcium water. My guess is that they might halve it, depending on the calcium content to start with.
 
Brita's own site says this about the calcium:

It removes temporary hardness or limescale which is not a good source of dietary calcium. This will not have a significant effect on the calcium intake of those on a normal diet.

So it seems to remove the limescale but not significantly alter the calcium level... If I have understood correctly :D
 
Ok, I've just put my postcode into Thames Water's site and it comes out at 264ppm. According to the chart that puts it at the lower end of hard. Halving it with a filter (to 132ppm) would put it around the higher end of soft/lower end of medium. Hopefully there are some water experts on RU who'll be able to say whether that's an ok calcium level or I should stick to bottled water.
 
MightyMax said:
Brita's own site says this about the calcium:

It removes temporary hardness or limescale which is not a good source of dietary calcium. This will not have a significant effect on the calcium intake of those on a normal diet.

So it seems to remove the limescale but not significantly alter the calcium level... If I have understood correctly :D
Click to expand...

Ha! We cross posted! :lol: Thanks Mighty Max, that's really useful. Sounds like a filter might not be as useful as I'd hoped!
 
If they don't have a known problem, I'd have thought that would be OK. I think bunnies have a bit more tolerance to calcium than guinea pigs.
 
MightyMax said:
Well I tried to do some research, and came up with all sorts of stuff about bacteria and Brita filters :shock:

So you might want to look into it a bit more perhaps x
Click to expand...

I must admit, I've just switched my hamster on to bottled water, because she had a persistent infection and I suddenly wondered if it had anything to do with the Brita filter. There is something to be said for the water out of the tap being fresher than filtered.

Our water is classed as 'very hard'. The guinea pigs are on Deeside, which is a really low calcium water (didn't stop Ruby from getting kidney and bladder stones though!), but the hamster gets a cheaper water.
 
Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Ok, I've just put my postcode into Thames Water's site and it comes out at 264ppm. According to the chart that puts it at the lower end of hard. Halving it with a filter (to 132ppm) would put it around the higher end of soft/lower end of medium. Hopefully there are some water experts on RU who'll be able to say whether that's an ok calcium level or I should stick to bottled water.
Click to expand...

Just noticed you're in London too Scrappy :wave:

I put my postcode in and we have 248 ppm. Described on the site as HARD WATER.

Also saw the reports of two bacteria in the water samples :shock:

Not happy reading, but thankfully I have a water filter system, and the buns are healthy and not absorbing rubbish :lol:
 
SarahP said:
I must admit, I've just switched my hamster on to bottled water, because she had a persistent infection and I suddenly wondered if it had anything to do with the Brita filter. There is something to be said for the water out of the tap being fresher than filtered.

Our water is classed as 'very hard'. The guinea pigs are on Deeside, which is a really low calcium water (didn't stop Ruby from getting kidney and bladder stones though!), but the hamster gets a cheaper water.
Click to expand...

I won't tell your hamster what you said there :lol:
 
MightyMax said:
Just noticed you're in London too Scrappy :wave:

I put my postcode in and we have 248 ppm. Described on the site as HARD WATER.

Also saw the reports of two bacteria in the water samples :shock:

Not happy reading, but thankfully I have a water filter system, and the buns are healthy and not absorbing rubbish :lol:
Click to expand...

Crumbs! :shock: Well you'll be pleased to know that as I'm the only one drinking the tap water it's just me that will be getting all that lovely extra bacteria :lol: In the meantime I think I'll stick to the bottled water for their Lordships. At least the work out I get lugging it from the supermarket saves me going to the gym :lol:
 
Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Crumbs! :shock: Well you'll be pleased to know that as I'm the only one drinking the tap water it's just me that will be getting all that lovely extra bacteria :lol: In the meantime I think I'll stick to the bottled water for their Lordships. At least the work out I get lugging it from the supermarket saves me going to the gym :lol:
Click to expand...

:lol::lol:
 
248 in mine. I have a Brita filter jug and recently changed my buns over so they also use it. I did see on this video (think it was) from House Rabbit society update that reducing calcium in intake doesn't help with bladder sludge/calcium and that it's more genetic. However London water gets filtered so many times, filtered has got to be better. x ETA: Okay that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiwPqQlvEPI
 
Last edited:
This is my water anylisis is it "good water?" Hardness Level Soft
Hardness Clarke 7.350 Clarke
Aluminium <7.12 200 µg Al/l
Calcium 30.3 mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - Total 0.69 mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free 0.65 mg/l
Coliform bacteria 0 0 number/100ml
Colour <0.975 20 mg/l Pt/Co scale
Conductivity 253 2500 uS/cm at 20oC
Copper <0.0050 2 mg Cu/l
E.coli 0 0 number/100ml
Iron 11.0 200 µg Fe/l
Lead <0.331 10 µg Pb/l
Magnesium 7.40 mg Mg/l
Manganese 1.09 50 µg Mn/l
Nitrate 2.58 50 mg NO3/l
Sodium 20.9 200 mg Na/l
 
Miss Binky Bunny said:
248 in mine. I have a Brita filter jug and recently changed my buns over so they also use it. I did see on this video (think it was) from House Rabbit society update that reducing calcium in intake doesn't help with bladder sludge/calcium and that it's more genetic. However London water gets filtered so many times, filtered has got to be better. x ETA: Okay that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiwPqQlvEPI
Click to expand...

I do think switching to a soft water helps when a rabbit or guinea pig has calcium issues, but it definitely isn't the 'answer' in itself.
 
Pablo2013 said:
This is my water anylisis is it "good water?" Hardness Level Soft
Hardness Clarke 7.350 Clarke
Aluminium <7.12 200 µg Al/l
Calcium 30.3 mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - Total 0.69 mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free 0.65 mg/l
Coliform bacteria 0 0 number/100ml
Colour <0.975 20 mg/l Pt/Co scale
Conductivity 253 2500 uS/cm at 20oC
Copper <0.0050 2 mg Cu/l
E.coli 0 0 number/100ml
Iron 11.0 200 µg Fe/l
Lead <0.331 10 µg Pb/l
Magnesium 7.40 mg Mg/l
Manganese 1.09 50 µg Mn/l
Nitrate 2.58 50 mg NO3/l
Sodium 20.9 200 mg Na/l
Click to expand...

Well you definitely shouldn't need to worry about calcium content there!
 
Miss Binky Bunny said:
248 in mine. I have a Brita filter jug and recently changed my buns over so they also use it. I did see on this video (think it was) from House Rabbit society update that reducing calcium in intake doesn't help with bladder sludge/calcium and that it's more genetic. However London water gets filtered so many times, filtered has got to be better. x ETA: Okay that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean...!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiwPqQlvEPI
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the link, really interesting information. I must admit I always thought that too much calcium meant they were guaranteed to get bladder sludge or some sort of urinary problems at some point. Luckily *touches wood* they haven't had any of those issues so far. It was so much easier having cats, just open a sachet of food twice a day. Now I find I'm scrutinising the composition of everything I give the buns, how much fibre, protein, calcium etc! No wonder my head is always spinning :lol:
 
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