Toys: Warning on toy...

[JessicaS]

Not sure where to put this, but if it is the wrong place, please move it wherever it belongs.

I have another thread in here about the amputation of my piggies leg. Somehow he broke it, pretty badly.

I've been going around and around on this trying to figure out how it happened. The only thing that could have happened is that he must have gotten his leg caught in this little cat toy I had in there for him. I actually saw a picture of a piggy playing with one on a site (may have been here, can't remember) so I got one.

They are the type that are plastic and have large spaces around the plastic sides with the ball/bell inside (it didn't look large enough to grab a leg and break it but apparently it was). That's the best way to explain it I guess. I am hoping to post a pic or link to an example of it (I threw the ones I had away).

But I just wanted to tell others to BEWARE of these type of toys for piggies, my piggy Hershey's had to have his leg amputated because of this. And, of course, I feel like a horrible mommy to have let this happen, but hopefully my mistake can save other piggies.

Don't get those types of toys (they are the most common cheap plastic cat toys). I will post a link to a pic soon.

[LisaHoney]

Thankyou for the heads up!
I feel very sorry for your guinea pig I hope he heals well
You are not a bad guinea pig mommy! You had the intention of providing him with a fun accessory, and accidents happen.

[Beahbeah]

Thank you so much for sharing that. It's too bad that your pig had to get injured in order for the danger of these toys to become known, though. I actually have one of those toys and was filling it with hay, but from now on I will definitely stop using it.

[JessicaS]

Went to a Petco today to take some pics, here are the pics of the bad toys (the other ones that are bad are the ones that do not have the cross pieces, meaning they are just up and down no lines across, I couldn't find them at Petco but you get the idea with these, the up and down ones are the ones that broke Hershey's leg):

[Froggirl009]

I had a toy simalar to this for my guinea pigs! I never posted a picture of it though. As soon as I read this I ran to the cage and threw the toy out. Thank you so much for the warning. I hope your piggy is okay.

[JessicaS]

Thank you. He is actually healing up very nicely and walks around like he had all four legs! But, I have noticed that while he was the dominant piggy before because he was the biggest, his cagemate Reese's seems to have taken over. But Hershey's can hold his own still.

A horrible lesson to learn, but at least with this forum I can warn others.

[Amsley246]

That's terrible! I had those a while ago for my pigs but they never even glanced at the things. I guess they thought they were boring, but it's a good thing they didnt like them or I could have put them in trouble. That's for the post and I hope your little guy is doing ok and keeps up to progress!

[Ly&Pigs]

I'm sorry your pig broke his leg and had to have it amputated. But you stated that you are not sure of the cause so it could be from anything.

I have used toys such as these now for about 4 years and my pigs have never gotten injured from them.

[Jasper_Hale]

Wow! I didn't know those little cat toys could do such a thing! Thank you for letting us all know. I saw those the other day at the petsore and almost got one. I'm very glad I didn't.

I hope you pig is doing better know and will contue to get better day by day.

[Paula]

Jessica, I appreciate your concern and that you feel the need to post a public warning about this, but I think it's a bit irresponsible posting a warning about a type of toy when you yourself admit you don't actually know how the pig's leg was broken.

I find it hard to believe a plastic toy like this could do the kind of catastrophic damage that must have been done to necessitate an amputation. Not saying I don't think it's possible, but I wouldn't think it's probable.

Like I said, I can appreciate your desire to share the concern here, but I really don't know that it's necessary and it certainly isn't a foregone conclusion that this type of toy is in fact what caused the damage to the animal. As Ly pointed out, many, many members have used these types of toys for years without incident.

[ferndalezoo]

I'm sorry to hear about poor Hershey. Glad he's recovering well! It seems unlikely to me though that the toy was the culprit-- Are those holes even big enough to fit a pig's foot through?

[JessicaS]

Irresponsible? Seriously? I hardly think so.

Here’s my reasoning on how Hershey’s broke his leg:

There are no children in my house who could have dropped him, my husband (the only other person in the house) does not even go into the guinea pig room, and I know I didn’t drop him (nor did he jump from my arms into the cage). Also, my dog and cat have NO access to that room, so they did not cause the break.

There’s no way that he could have caught it in the C&C cage he is in, unless somehow he could get his hind leg up higher than the coroplast, which I highly doubt.

His cage mate could not have done it (this was backed up by the vet after seeing both pigs, Reese’s is not heavy enough to have caused that type of damage).

His hidey houses are very light, I highly doubt that they caused the break.

The only other thing in his cage was that cat toy. And if you had read my post completely through you would have seen that the type of toy that was in the cage was the one WITHOUT the cross pieces, which made it large enough for a pig (even an adult size pig) to get his foot caught in. I just couldn’t find that toy at that moment to capture a picture, and said so in the post.

I also asked the vet if he possibly had some type of brittle bone thing, that maybe he just broke his leg because it was weak. The vet said no, that did not happen.

So, by my reasoning, that cat toy is what caused the break.

Just because you have not had this happen to you in four years doesn’t mean it can’t happen. There are plenty of things that have not happened to me but because they haven’t happened to me I don’t say that they are impossible. That’s a pretty closed minded thing to say.

I might have just been unlucky, who knows? Maybe it was a freak accident.

I feel it’s IRRESPONSIBLE to NOT warn anyone, when this type of accident is possible. Just because this warning did not come from you does not mean it is not possible. I’m sure that in your four years of having pigs not every possible thing has happened, doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

To call someone IRRESPONSIBLE because you don’t think something can happen when that person feels it has happened is completely ridiculous. Name calling is completely childish and I would expect more from a moderator on this forum.

Wouldn’t you want to know if there is a possibility that something could harm your pigs? I know I would. If you feel this is impossible then keep your toys, I’m not telling you not to use them. I’m just posting a warning for others based upon MY experience. Which I thought this whole forum is about – educating others.

Apparently it’s not.

[PiggieMamaKelly]

Jessica- I appreciate the warning. Although you do not know for sure that it caused a break, the fact that it is high on your list of possibilities is enough for me to be glad you have mentioned it. I have used these balls before and have seen my pig get a toe caught in one. Although the plastic itself is not heavy enough to break a leg, the way the pig bends and contorts to try and wiggle the foot out seems like it may possibly be able to cause a break.

I am surprised that a moderator would say that because something hasn't happened to their pigs then it isn't possible. That has never been a good enough reason for others to justify something (e.g. "my pigs have been eating kaytee fiesta for years and have never choked on a seed").

[Paula]

Posting a warning on a toy when you yourself say you don't actually know how he broke his leg is a bit irresponsible, yes. It's something that can potentially cause panic where there really might not be cause for any.

And sure, it's fine to post a warning that it *might* have caused the injury. But the warning needs to be taken with a grain of salt if it's only speculation and you don't have definitive proof that it is what happened.

I didn't say it was impossible.

This is actually what I said:

Originally Posted by paula.m.moore

Not saying I don't think it's possible, but I wouldn't think it's probable.

Where and when did I call anyone a name? Where did Ly?

[Seonta]

It really does not help that pictures were posted that weren't the exact toy that caused the problem. I really do not think that attacking the moderators for defending the toy is appropriate.
They haven't locked the thread saying that you're wrong and the point they are trying to make in their posts does make sense.
The point is that you were not there, you may think you know but because you were not there to be sure another person did not get them out of the cage, that they did not jump off of their housing or get it caught some where, or even break it trying to jump over their ceramic bowl (if that is what you have) while running laps, you do not know for sure.
Getting upset for the moderators giving their opinion is useless especially if you're just giving your opinion on how the guinea pig got hurt.