Eating Fleece?

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Little Ones

Little Ones

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One of my Guinea pigs has started eating the fleece, don't know why but he just does. Today we made a fleece forest and he's been munching on the strips and making them turn green. Is eating fleece bad for him? How do I get him to stop - if that's even possible?
 
I'm no expert but i wouldn't have thought it'll do him much good! If he's swallowing it, i would be worried it might cause a blockage. It might be an idea to take down the fleece forest and tuck the fleece tightly down at the sides to reduce the chances of him being able to grab any to chew.

And provide massive heaps of hay.
 
tabelmabel said:
I'm no expert but i wouldn't have thought it'll do him much good! If he's swallowing it, i would be worried it might cause a blockage. It might be an idea to take down the fleece forest and tuck the fleece tightly down at the sides to reduce the chances of him being able to grab any to chew.

And provide massive heaps of hay.
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He is swallowing it, not sure what the appeal is. If he carries on, I'm going to take the forest down tomorrow. It's such a shame though, they both like sitting inside of it :( he does actually have really soft poos today - don't know whether that could be the cause, he's been on antibiotics for six weeks and never had a problem with soft poos until today.
 
Maybe he is trying to sort out a stomach problem?
Does he have access to unlimited clean hay?
Maybe try putting in a couple of empty cardboard rolls too (toilet rolls).
 
Swissgreys said:
Maybe he is trying to sort out a stomach problem?
Does he have access to unlimited clean hay?
Maybe try putting in a couple of empty cardboard rolls too (toilet rolls).
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Yes they have all the hay they could ever ask for. Both of them have phases where they stop eating the hay and recently they've stopped, we've tried four different brands and at the beginning they eat it like wildfire then they only eat a bit of it. His favourite chew are willow sticks and he has plenty of those and gnaws on them a lot.
 
I have fleece in my pigs cage as well, but he does not eat it. Make sure your guinea pig has enough fresh hay everyday and sticks to chew on. If he is not swallowing the fleece, he may just be doing it because he likes it.
 
happy_piggy said:
I have fleece in my pigs cage as well, but he does not eat it. Make sure your guinea pig has enough fresh hay everyday and sticks to chew on. If he is not swallowing the fleece, he may just be doing it because he likes it.
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He has both hay and chews. He's not spitting it out so I imagine he is swallowing it.
 
Just check he is passing poos regularly,is it worth a vet check if he is eating fleece?maybe a foraging area with cardboard and hay may help.sometimes if piggies lack roughage they like cardboard,willow houses, if your piggies are young sometimes they chew items as a way of learning about there environment.otherwise i feel i cannot add any light on this .:)
 
eileen said:
Just check he is passing poos regularly,is it worth a vet check if he is eating fleece?maybe a foraging area with cardboard and hay may help.sometimes if piggies lack roughage they like cardboard,willow houses, if your piggies are young sometimes they chew items as a way of learning about there environment.otherwise i feel i cannot add any light on this .:)
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He's pooling fine, they have have bags and toilet tubes stuffed with hay. They don't really enjoy eating cardboard but he eats his willow sticks and willow ball on the regular, we also can't really lay hay about as my other pig has a cauliflower willy so it gets stuck there which isn't good. They aren't young either, they're 2. They hardly eat their hay no matter what brand it is, we're going to try orchard grass and see if they eat that. But honestly I'm not sure why the fleece has taken a tasty appeal.
 
You are doing all you can,willow toys/homes are a great idea.Mine love orchard grass,ive yet to meet a piggy that doesnt!i purchase mine from the hay experts on line ,they do big boxes which work out cheaper,but still expensive,but i have 20 piggies.Hope the fleece eater grows out of the habit,just check there poos are ok.:tu:
 
My guinea pig has a Play Barn (from petsmart) and he spends a lot of time in it chewing hay, and the barn is also okay for him to chew. Something like that may distract him for the fleece. :)
 
I thought it was just my pigs that destroyed their fleece beds. I would say give him some cardboard to chew on and see if this helps. Maybe also a tube made of seagrass or willow or hyacinth, mine love to chew these tubes and it seems to stop them getting bored.
 
My two will occasionally nibble at their fleece snuggle sacks. I cant tell if they are swallowing it but they seem alrite and currently zooming around their cage wheeking for dinner. Where do you get these willow sticks from?
 
Hank288 said:
Also as a thought have you tried readigrass (or something similar), it is basically freeze dried grass. I have one pig who will not eat hay, she only eats a little timothy hay each day, but she will tuck into the freeze dried grass.
There are other brands, like burgess forage excel http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/supa-forage-excel-natural-grass-1kg
Or a brand called Graze on.
Friendship Estates - ReadiGrass - The Natural Part of Your Horse's Diet
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I'll try all options, I suspect one of my pigs might be allergic to hay after having URI symptoms for seven weeks so I'll look at those now :)
Kylie80 said:
My two will occasionally nibble at their fleece snuggle sacks. I cant tell if they are swallowing it but they seem alrite and currently zooming around their cage wheeking for dinner. Where do you get these willow sticks from?
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I live in the UK, so I'm not sure they'll have this shop in Australia but I got mine in from The Range, the pack came with lots of willow sticks tied together and a willow ball.
 
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