They ate part of the hay bag.

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xPiggiesx

Post   » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:09 pm


I turned around just now to see that part of the bag the hay is in was poking into their cage, I pulled it away, and realized they had been eating it, what should I be looking for/should I be worried?

mags
Glad to Support

Post   » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:51 pm


That exact thing happened to us a few months ago. I'd say my piggie ate about 2-quarter size pieces of the plastic bag and I was pretty worried. I gave her extra veggies right away and made sure she had a lot of hay & fresh water, and everything was fine. She seemed to have no ill-effect, and I keep the bag much farther away now inside a cardboard box.

But that was just my experience. Someone else may have some more qualified advice for you. Hope it works out ok.

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Slinky

Post   » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:22 am


I wouldn't be too worried.

We've all had coroplast chewers, and they seem to pass that plastic without a problem.

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crazycheryl

Post   » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:52 pm


I had a bag of pellets leaning against the grids and my fatty-girl, Chihiro, had chewed a nice little hole and was happily munching away on them. No ill effects and this was a couple of weeks ago.

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Barbara Osborn
Supporter from '05 - '12

Post   » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:42 pm


Once when staying with my daughter, we folded up the Coleman camping mattress for the day. That night we couldn't figure out why it would not inflate.

The mattress had been put too close to the GP cage and Randy had chewed a hole in the plastic camping mattress. No harm done to the pig, just our backs ached in the morning from being on a hard floor.

Randy eats coroplast, no harm done.

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meggielou

Post   » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:42 pm


Same thing here. May is a fiend for any type of plastic and we've had a few incidents even though I try to be really careful. She's consumed a few pieces of a grocery bag, coroplast, and part of a food dish. She ended up being fine. Crazy pigs.

I remember reading that someone had given their pig mineral oil after a similar incident. I can't find it now, but maybe someone that's more experienced will chime in.

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kalspach

Post   » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:38 pm


Meggie, One of my pigs ate a LARGE section of his hay bag after I mistakenly set it on top of his cage not realizing he would stand on his hind legs and nibble at plastic when there was plenty of fresh hay available. There was at least 12 sq in missing from the bag. I of course freaked out, upped his hay and veggies, and also gave him some mineral oil to help grease things up.

Everything turned out fine, continued eating, drinking, pooping normally, the odd thing was I never saw any of the bag come back out... This has now been over a year ago and he continues to be a happy healthy senior pig. I've got to assume he digested the plastic somehow?

One thing I did find in my research about mineral oil was that you should not give it right after the object is ingested because it can form a "protective coating" around the object and any blockages making it even harder for the pig to break them up and to pass them along. You want to wait long enough for the items to pass through their stomach and into their intestines, and then the mineral oil helps them slide through the rest of the way.

If anyone is having this problem I would re-research the mineral oil thing. I don't remember any of the exact amounts or time periods, but it did seem to work well with my guy.

Charybdis

Post   » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:45 pm


Acorn eats any piece of plastic that lands near his cage. It's not good, but he is still o.k. I second just making sure the poops keep coming.

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Regiane
Cavy Slave Since '08

Post   » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:59 pm


When I clean the "litterbox" of my girls, I usually hang a plastic bag beside the cage. They will chew the bag in a blink of an eye if I get distracted.

Why do pigs love plastic?

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:49 pm


LINKS - When Non-Food Items Are Eaten:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=118

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rshevin

Post   » Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:58 pm


Basically:
don't panic, watch them, don't let it happen again :)

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GuineaPiggin

Post   » Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:51 am


Anyone else notice the date of the original post? I was about to respond then realized the last post before kalspach was back in April of '08. o.0

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