Hay poke and hay racks

Jamjarpigs

Jamjarpigs

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi,

My sow has just come back from the vet, having had a bit of haypoke last night. Not too concerned because we've dealt with this many times before and our vet is great, but just wondered if anyone has noticed a correlation in eye injuries from using hay racks vs ground feeding. We switched to using a feeder a couple of months ago maybe- and have two haypoke injuries since! Maybe just a coincidence and poor Olive is unlucky. Our hay is quite soft but long strands- meadow hay from www.hay-and-straw.co.uk so not a really sharp pokey hay to cause this!

I'll attatch a photo of poor little mite's eye, mostly becsuse she is very cute and everyone likes pictures

IMG-20200606-WA0004.webp
 
I’ve been lucky so far as none of mine have had hay poke. The boys used to have a hay bag but they’re all now ground fed - in a litter tray. I don’t tend to buy the stalky one now because of the fear of hay poke!

Hope you get an answer. And yes she is super cute:wub:
 
My 8 piggies have never had a haypoke although I have had 2 hooman haypoke injuries myself which is very embarassing to explain at the emergency eye clinic! We always have hay on the floor or in hay trays the piggies can climb into, no racks, and if I put hay in a treat bag or cardboard box I know the piggies will shove their face in without looking then I only use soft meadow hay or readigrass. But a lot of it is just luck and completely random I think! Piggies need and love hay and dont have proper eyelids so its just a matter of time until one gets a haypoke!
 
She’s beautiful.
I’ve never used a hay rack but always plonked piles of hay on the floor for them.
Despite frequency hay diving and burrowing I don’t have too many problems with hay poke.
Micah’s more of a worry because he has dodgy eyes.
I buy soft meadow hay too
 
Never had haypoke in all previous piggies. Luna has managed it once but that's it. I guess it's whether your piggies had the sense to close their eyes when burrowing in hay.
 
I use a large hay rack because my boys are fussy about eating it once it's been on the floor and I don't want to be throwing too much hay away. But I sometimes give them a tray of hay to play with during floor time and that is where one of them got hay poke quite badly. we get our hay from pets at home so it can be quite pokey sometimes but i don't think that was the case the time that he did get hay poke.
 
I also just put piles on the floor, in cardboard boxes, trays etc. Only had haypoke with my past piggy Sheepy, then he went on to have cataracts. And obviously I’ve had a chinchilla and Jess the pig that've lost eyes (from different issues). So I’m rather paranoid with eyes these days and find that the best way for us! :roll::doh:

What a beautiful girl :luv:
 
One of my girls got haypoke twice while I was using hay bags where she would stuff her face right into them. After that I have switched them to standard hay racks where they cannot get their faces in there, and have not had an issue. So I personally will not be using hay bags again and also would not recommend it to other piggy owners if they are able to fit their head inside the hole.
 
I’ve used hay racks, hay bags, hay trays, hay scattered on the floor and only one of my boys ever had haypokes. My late Honey was a teddy and had countless hay pokes over his 4 and a half years of life. The rim around his eye was a lot different to my other pigs. Normally, the rim is quite defined and comes out a little further than the actual eye - if that makes sense. Whereas Honey’s rim was quite flat in comparison so seemed like it didn’t provide as much protection against hay strands. Usually when pigs get hay on their eye, it sits across the rim so doesn’t poke it. Whereas, with Honey, hay would just get him in the eye a lot as the eye rim didn’t provide much protection. It could be that your pig is the same, especially as she looks to be a teddy. Some pigs are just more unfortunate than others with hay pokes!
 
One of mine Peanut has had a lot of injuries we think were due to hay. I've lost count a bit but I think 3 eyes, 3 nose bleeds, 1 chest abscess and 1 cheek abscess. I used to give them very soft hay in paper bags and boxes but I have stopped doing this. I now spread the meadow hay on the floor of the cage, at least twice a day they get a handful of sharp timothy hay put very flat on the fleece, any left overs are removed out of harms way! Peanut hasn't had a hay poke with this method, the vet thinks it must be the way he goes into the hay that causes the pokes as the others have not had a problem. Two weeks ago Rusty had a nose bleed that was probably caused by a hay poke. :hb:
 
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