Potentially Dangerous Cage Accessories And Toys

Stayc1989 said:
I must add that the dried corn on the cobbs have become stuck on my guinea pigs 2 bottom teeth before, It happened to my Jerry years ago so I never bought them again and we recieved some as Christmas presents so I put them in the cages when I was supervising the guineas and a piece of corn became stuck ony francis's bottom teeth too so please be aware of this happening if your unsure of what I mean I will upload a picture of them so please be aware of this View attachment 41723
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Ahgg I don't use these, if you shake the packet & look at the bottom of the packet, I found loads of creepy things
 
yup just got my pig recently and glad i made a hay bag instead with two holes more than big enough for him, it also sits on the bottom of his cage instead of really "hanging" find him sleeping safely in there all the time
 
Hello my fellow piggie lovers!
So something very frightening happened the other day and I want to share it with you all!
Attached is an image of the toy that almost blinded my poor boy Benji...

Came home to find Benji (acting normal) but had a completely clouded over eye! :( I'm new to the town I live in so I didnt know of any vets open late in the area (it was 8:30pm). While Mom was looking for an emergency vet open late, I was checking over Benji. Thats when I noticed something in the back corner of his eye... A hair? Quickly I call Mom over and told her to grab tweezers to pull the "hair" out.... A 1inch chunk of Twine from a "guinea pig friendly chew toy" was pulled from his eye. We quickly rushed him to a vet who took amazing care of him. $200 worth of eye drops and 7 days later Benji is making a slow recovery and cloudiness is almost clear... DR. Ben said had he been left an hour later, he might have lost his eye...

So Story summary, DO NOT USE TWINED TOYS! i was only out of the house for 2 hours tops and thats how much damage it did :(
pPETNA-5175070_main_enh.webp
 
Benji&Nia said:
Hello my fellow piggie lovers!
So something very frightening happened the other day and I want to share it with you all!
Attached is an image of the toy that almost blinded my poor boy Benji...

Came home to find Benji (acting normal) but had a completely clouded over eye! :( I'm new to the town I live in so I didnt know of any vets open late in the area (it was 8:30pm). While Mom was looking for an emergency vet open late, I was checking over Benji. Thats when I noticed something in the back corner of his eye... A hair? Quickly I call Mom over and told her to grab tweezers to pull the "hair" out.... A 1inch chunk of Twine from a "guinea pig friendly chew toy" was pulled from his eye. We quickly rushed him to a vet who took amazing care of him. $200 worth of eye drops and 7 days later Benji is making a slow recovery and cloudiness is almost clear... DR. Ben said had he been left an hour later, he might have lost his eye...

So Story summary, DO NOT USE TWINED TOYS! i was only out of the house for 2 hours tops and thats how much damage it did :(
View attachment 46440
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Glad to here Benji is on his way to full health
 
I always remove the twine that is on an alfalfa ring as it doesn't look safe to me
I also remove the twine from the wilco dandelion sticks and the carrot ones as that doesn't look safe iether...
 
Hi, I've heard that hammocks are bad for piggies as they could popcorn & get there feet trapped. They also say that you must expose you're Guinea pig to exhaust fumes. So I've had to stop putting there heads in the exhaust pipe. Surely people peeps know that lol.
 
This thread is terrifying.
I'm now surveying my cage wondering if I should take out the hay rack. It's just a plain black one with straight bars, no grids, and it's secured to the bars, I thought it was fine, but I don't know now..
Also, most of the cage grids are covered as the correx is quite high, but I'd recently added a grid to section off the sleeping area, and now i'm wondering if they might try to stick their heads through it >.<
 
this thread isn'the meant to terrify anyone - just help you make informed decisions about what cage accessories to get.
 
We don't mean to terrify anybody; but we want to alert owners to potential risks and if possible prevent unnecessary deaths.
There are many gimmicks for sale in pet shops that are aimed at inexerienced and thoughtless owners. It is not easy for any new owner to see why or whether there is a potential issue with a particular piece of equipment. Guinea pigs are also amazingly inventive (and greedy!) when it comes to discovering any weak points!
 
Sorry, my post was badly worded. I meant that it was terrifying that there's so many items out there which can potentially cause harm.I know you don't post to intentionally scare, just warn, which is needed. I guess it's the same with kids toys and other things, a small chance of injury but still a chance, it's quite a shock to see the pictures though. Will have this thread in the back of my mind when I purchase cage accessories from now on. Thanks all. (I also laughed at the pun, Hehe)
 
RavenRed said:
This thread is terrifying.
I'm now surveying my cage wondering if I should take out the hay rack. It's just a plain black one with straight bars, no grids, and it's secured to the bars, I thought it was fine, but I don't know now..
Also, most of the cage grids are covered as the correx is quite high, but I'd recently added a grid to section off the sleeping area, and now i'm wondering if they might try to stick their heads through it >.<
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This is why I purchased a large nylon pen instead of the DIY one my OH made. I had visions of my babies sticking their heads through the wire and getting stuck...or worse...suffocating to death.
 
PiggyOwner said:
A photo is being shared on FB of a guinea pig with it's head stuck in a veggie ball

View attachment 41042

I would like to remind people of 2 old threads too

Hay/veggie Balls - Warning.

Hay Rack Warning



We have also had reported incidents of guinea pigs getting their heads stuck in Guinea Pig Toys such as loofah rings and toilet roll tubes. . This is easily solved by splitting the ring before using.
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This happened to one of my guineas too, thankfully I was in the room and noticed and got her out. Terrible that they still sell these.
 
I did get one of those hay wreath thingies which you can hang in the cage. They look like big, green donut shaped hay balls with a hole in the middle.

Smudge did a bum wriggle and lunged at it, trying to go through it. She might have gotten stuck if I had not been there to sort it out.

The hay wreath is still in the cage, but as a pile of loose hay...
 
Oh dear Lord, I was considering that hay ball, now I'm worried to death about my hay feeder:mal:As for the treat ball, we've got one coming today :o should I use? Bin? I suppose it depends on how sturdy it is. Now I'm worried about my poor boys getting their heads stuck. Looking at the rack, I don't think their heads would fit through in the first place. Oh what to do, what to do...
 
TheCavySlave said:
The thought of anyone using things like harnesses or exercise balls for their piggies makes me shudder.
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I wanted to buy the G Force DVD (animated guinea pig film) for my children as never I've seen it. Didn't realise till I googled it that the guinea pigs in the film are in exercise balls. So decided against it.
 
Is this toy safe? I'm seeing positive review from guinea pig owners, and nothing explicitly stating guinea pigs shouldn't have it or that it's dangerous.

medium-1-pack-3-5-diameter-walnut-treat-inside-.jpg

"Made of all natural wood and contains almond nut" from the description.
Inside, there's a wooden ball, the material is not specified on the store page, though.
 
To be honest, I have no experience with this one. Generally, most wooden chewing toys end up being ignored.
 
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