From:
s.m.owens@rogers.com
Date: 2005-01-13 23:28:56 UTC
Subject: RE: Distilled water vs. spring/tap
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7568816.1105658936426.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
> Am I understanding right that the aim of that approach was to remove EXCESS mineral intake in hopes of easing the work of the kidneys (i.e. that essential minerals were replaced in the diet to a certain extent)?
I believe that is the aim. This is exactly what's said on the website:
**For drinking water, distilled water is recommended because tap water and bottled water with added minerals can be hard on the kidneys.**
> In relation to clorine mentioned: my memory may be faulty but doesn't most chlorine bubble out in not too long a time if water is allowed to sit in a bowl? I suspect heating would speed that process.
Not sure. But there are alot of cities that use excessive amounts of chlorine in their water. Mine would be one. There are days when the water actually smells like bleach. You couldn't pay me enough to drink tap water anymore, nor do I give it to my "pets". Yet there are other cities or towns where the water "seems" to be ok.
> Do you recall if the article you read specifically mention which components of tap water vs. distilled water were harder to process when pronounced kidney disease is present? This was a human health article, right? Do you remember where the article was?
Not a human health article. It was based on diabetes/CRF in cats. I didn't figure something like water and kidney functions would differ that greatly species to species. If it's hard on a cat's kidneys, well.....
http://www.petdiabetes.org/chronic_renal_failure.htm
> When Hilbert had his we were told to go to bottled water (not distilled but bottled) but that was due to a pH concern mostly in his case. Going to bottled water is mentioned in a number of the pieces I read on uroliths. Our crew can be back on tap water now, BTW.
Bottled spring water does have added minerals. If anything, I would agree with MC and purchase a home filter to eliminate "excessive" amounts in the water. The filter (about $10 here) doesn't remove EVERYTHING, but does make a difference.
In the end I personally wouldn't make this type of change in their water until I've researched as much as I could, discussed it with my vet and was confident it was the right thing for the little one at the time.