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Soft Hay Brands? Ulcer In Eye

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LizzyHoy

LizzyHoy

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Hi all,

My guinea pig Denise had to go to the vets as I noticed she was closing her eye and it had a bit of a film over it. It turned out she had quite a long piece of hay (about 1cm) stuck under her upper eyelid - it was so far in I hadn't actually seen it myself, it was only when the vet started looking for it. The vet put dye in which showed she has an ulcer. I've been given some drops to put on twice a day.

The vet advised having softer bedding (in terms of the type of hay). I'm not sure where to look - I currently use the average Pets at Home hay. Do you have any recommendations for softer hay?

(Denise made a horrible noise when the vet got the hay out, and it's making me sad to look at her partially closed eye! She seems ok in herself though, her behaviour and eating is normal.)

Thank you!
 
I use Timothy hay but not sure if that's the one you've been buying from pets at home? I used meadow hay for a bit that was also quite soft though it made Mo sneeze a little too often
 
Oxbow orchard grass tends to be really soft, though it does depend on the time of year.
 
Hey, thanks for the advice everyone.

I usually get the standard Pets at Home hay, not the timothy hay, although I have had that in the past. Regarding the hay that's cut short to prevent pokes - the biggest concern is smallish bits getting stuck under her eyelids, so I'm not sure if short hay would change that.

I'll see what's available - I haven't got a very big budget but hopefully there will be something from your suggestions that's reasonably priced or on offer!
 
Does anyone have tips on how to prevent ulcers in the future, apart from buying softer hay?
 
If you have a B&M near you then they have good quality, soft and cheap hay. They have a very good supplier at the moment, and my local guinea pig rescue recommends it to people who are adopting. They sell meadow and timothy hay at very reasonable prices. ☺
 
*kate* said:
I think any type and any length of hay can get caught in a piggies eye! even the tiniest bit will cause irritation and ulceration.
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:agr: I find the Alfalfa Timothy brand is too stalky to use as a bedding hay .

The soft hay from Dust Free Hay is usually good
French Hay


LizzyHoy said:
Does anyone have tips on how to prevent ulcers in the future, apart from buying softer hay?
Click to expand...


The only other thing I can think of is to use a hay bag.
 
I have had lots of Guinea pigs in my lifetime and a hay poke has only ever happened once. It's just an unfortunate accident. Unless your hay is really spikey then I wouldn't worry too much. Hope your wee one is better soon.
 
Thanks for the additional advice everyone! I'll have a look if there's a B & M nearby. It's good to have a range of recommended brands to look out for.

I'm pleased to hear that hay pokes are relatively rare. Come to think of it I haven't had anything like this before in about 15 years of owning guinea pigs. I think I just got a bit scared by the noise she made when the vet pulled the hay out! Denise's eye is looking much better after only 3 doses of the drops, which is a relief!
 
I also use the hay from the range. It's not as nice as the B&M hay (according to my lot) and is the same price, but I can always guarantee that the range has it in stock
 
I've been getting the Nature's Own hay recently and it's soft enough for my two to repeatedly fall asleep in it. Used to love the Burgess stuff too (and the boys still do) but the last few bags I've had from them haven't really been good enough.

If you're okay with having your hay delivered there's a number of places to buy hay online, and definitely a better selection than I've ever seen in P@H. Convincing picky piggies to eat it, however...that's another story!
 
I get my hay from the farm in bales. I got it from there years ago when I had Lenny & Gizmo and no problems with hay pokes in 5 years... I have now had 3 hay pokes in just over a year now. The hay is nice and soft. Just unfortunate accidents.
 
LizzyHoy said:
Thanks for the additional advice everyone! I'll have a look if there's a B & M nearby. It's good to have a range of recommended brands to look out for.

I'm pleased to hear that hay pokes are relatively rare. Come to think of it I haven't had anything like this before in about 15 years of owning guinea pigs. I think I just got a bit scared by the noise she made when the vet pulled the hay out! Denise's eye is looking much better after only 3 doses of the drops, which is a relief!
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Yeah Peanut squealed loudly too when his was pulled out by the vet. It only took a few days to look healed. But I continued the course of treatment.
 
Thanks everyone. I hadn't heard of The Range before but it seems there is one in my area.

I'm happy to buy hay online, so I'll look there too.

Betsy said:
I get my hay from the farm in bales. I got it from there years ago when I had Lenny & Gizmo and no problems with hay pokes in 5 years... I have now had 3 hay pokes in just over a year now. The hay is nice and soft. Just unfortunate accidents.
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Julie M said:
Yeah Peanut squealed loudly too when his was pulled out by the vet. It only took a few days to look healed. But I continued the course of treatment.
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To people who have had hay pokes - have you found any link with age? Denise isn't especially old (4 years) but she is starting to show her age a bit.
 
LizzyHoy said:
Thanks everyone. I hadn't heard of The Range before but it seems there is one in my area.

I'm happy to buy hay online, so I'll look there too.





To people who have had hay pokes - have you found any link with age? Denise isn't especially old (4 years) but she is starting to show her age a bit.
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Peanut isn't even 2 yet. He's quite long haired and (I mean this in the nicest possible way) a bit crazy/dopey. I now keep his "fringe" cut shorter incase hay got tangled in there.
 
LizzyHoy said:
Thanks everyone. I hadn't heard of The Range before but it seems there is one in my area.

I'm happy to buy hay online, so I'll look there too.





To people who have had hay pokes - have you found any link with age? Denise isn't especially old (4 years) but she is starting to show her age a bit.
Click to expand...

I haven't noticed a link- mine have been a mix of ages. I think it's just an unfortunate accident.
George lost his eye to his three years ago but he's still going strong now at 7 having lost most of his vision in the other one too.
 
LizzyHoy said:
Thanks everyone. I hadn't heard of The Range before but it seems there is one in my area.

I'm happy to buy hay online, so I'll look there too.





To people who have had hay pokes - have you found any link with age? Denise isn't especially old (4 years) but she is starting to show her age a bit.
Click to expand...

I haven't found a link with hay pokes and age. In fact poor Christian had hay poke at only 5 days old! He was on newspaper and sawdust in the 'nursery cage' and the hay was in a hay bale on the side of the cage. He was being a bit inquisitive I suppose as he, his brother and sister would regularly jump into it to have a good rootle around.
 
The only time mine ever had an eye poke was years ago when I used normal farm hay in vast quantities where they could crawl in under it. Sadly although that encourages normal foraging at the time we had a lot of eye injuries being reported on the forum & a lot of piggies having eyes removed, so I decided I would have a hay tray, the hay is loose in the tray (I also used the Timothy hay from Alfalfa King). I always would decant some hay from the bag into a bin bag first, gave it a good shake so all the teeny bits or dusty bits fell to the bottom. I would give my piggies the clean stuff from the top. I never had one pig have an eye poke or dust in their eyes after that. I never used hay racks either as the small bits can drop out from them into their eyes.
 
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