Piggie Post - Small Pet Select Hay Review

Greetings

I hope everyone has had a great "wheek-end". Today I have a very special post for y'all! A few wheeks back my guinea pigs were asked to be, well, guinea pigs for Small Pet Select, an up and coming hay supplier. They wheeked with excitement over getting to try some tasty new hay! 

For those of you who don't know, piggies need to nom on hay around the clock. They need a constant supply of it. It helps with their digestive systems and their teeth. I buy 25 pounds of hay every two months or so, just to give y'all an idea of how much these little squirts consume. 

First off... my review! 

 

I'm a graphic designer so I started drooling as soon as I saw their website. They took the time to make site pretty and functional, which I realllllyyy appreciate. Once their box of hay arrived I started drooling again because they took the time to design to their packaging. Then I opened the box to find a handwritten letter using their customized stationary. I have to give massive kudos to companies that understand that graphic design is important. Now, on to the hay itself. The quality of the hay was excellent, it was green and it smells fresh. It's nice and soft which is fabulous. It is a million times better than any hay you could ever buy in a store. Also, if any of my readers are buying their hay from a store STAHP! Store bought hay (like Oxbow or Kaytee) is hard and terrible, not to mention your pig can get a wicked eye-poke from it. I also like how the box that the hay comes in can be used to store the hay as well. The hay I currently buy comes in a garbage bag. I also approve of how you can buy Small Pet Select Hay in bulk. For anyone with a multiple pigs, buying your supplies in bulk is a MUST. The price of their hay is fair and comparable to the other leading hay retailers. 

So does Small Pet Select have the owner's approval... HELL TO THE YES! But do the piggies like it? 

Mama, Frida, Nellie, & Maggie got to nom on the hay first. When they normally eat hay, they eat it like it's laced with crack. When I gave them the Small Pet Select hay they acted like it was laced with a Charlie Sheen amount of drugs. It was a hay frenzy. The happies were off the charts! Nellie was particularly fond of the new hay. She was shoving other pigs in order to get more of it!

 

Aggie was next to sample the new hay. Aggie is weird. She cautiously waddled to the hay, took a nibble, and ran to the other side of her cage and hid. She doesn't appear to particularly care for her new hay. Me thinks she is reaaaaaaallllllyyyyyyyy fond of the stuffI usually use (she inhales that stuff). 

I've been using the Small Pet Select hay for a few days with them to see how they act once the newness of the amazing hay wears off. The Quartet continues to consume copious amounts of hay and they are all very content piggies. Mama Pig loves her hay so much that she sleeps either next to the hay or with her head in the hay. Aggie is still weird, she eats the hay, but she doesn't love it. 

Overall: Four out of five pigs agree, Small Pet Select Hay is one of the best hays around! FOUR STARS! 

Piggie's Tippies - If you have piggies or any small animal that consumes hay... this stuff is freakin' delicious! 

Eye Carumba!

Salutations!

I hope all my crippled comrades had a lovely "Oh right, today's Thursday" day. Crippie's day was certainly interesting to say the least. I spent most of my day taking care of the piggies. I gave Mama Pig a quick once over and she seems to have fully recovered. Mama Pig is going to be 5 soon, and thus she'll be a "senior pig". I'm going to do everything in my power to keep her here for as long as humanly possible, but I'll do a post on senior piggies another day.

Keeping your piggies healthy is a challenge. Apart from the whole "you need an exotic vet" thing, it can be very hard to tell when your pig is sick. Why? Because they hide it like nobody's business. Piggies are animals of prey, so their instinct is to hide whatever ails them so that predators won't see them and think "LUNCHTIME"! Vigilance is key with piggies. You have to know them, what their normals are, how guinea pigs are supposed to be. If your pig is acting "weird" chances are something is wrong. If something is slightly wrong with your pigs appearance, something is wrong. If anything is out of the ordinary... something is probably wrong.

Why am I going on like this? Welllllllllllllll... earlier today all of my pigs were happy. They were in watermelon induced food comas and everything seemed fine. Tonight they got their salads... Aggie starts wheeking and everyone else follows. They all eat their salads without issues. About two hours later I take Aggie out for cuddles. She seems perfectly fine... at first. As soon as looked at her face I knew something was wrong. Her eye was cloudy. The first thing I did was checked her eye in different lights, and it was definitely cloudy. Then I gave Aggie a once over, and I check her for signs of pain. I opened and closed her eyes without any issue. She didn't seem to be in pain, but she could've been hiding it (and probably was). Next I took a really good look at her eyes. Aggie's eyes are black and their eyes are normally clear and bright. Her eye was without a doubt cloudy and the parts of her eye that were supposed to be white were red.

At this point I know what the problem is... Aggie got hay stuck in her eye. Upon closer inspection I found the piece of hay and removed it. It wasn't an easy thing to do, but I put her on her back, I let her fight me for a minute, once she realized that she couldn't win she let me remove the hay. I used a tissue and my fingernails to carefully extract the inch long piece of hay from her eye. I then cleaned her eye, gave her some pain medication, and most importantly some watermelon because Aggie likes to eat her feelings.

Hay pokes are a somewhat common problem for piggies. They eat hay all day, every day. Aggie love her hay and dives into it as soon as I bring it to her. Frankly, I'm surprised she's managed this long without getting a hay poke.

Well, now that she's been poked, here's what were are going to do... Aggie NEEDS to go to the vet ASAP. The vet will prescribe either drops or an ointment for her. We'll treat her, and she'll be better in a week or two. It is essential that you take your pig to the vet for this issue. If not your pig will develop a nasty eye infection, go blind in that eye, or possibly lose the eye.

We are going to call the vet first thing in the morning, in the meantime Aggie is stoned off her chubby little ass. She is quite content with the world and thinks everything is pretty. Here are a few pictures so that other piggie owners will know what an eye injury looks like (the photos aren't graphic or anything)

Her good eye. Black, clear, and bright. (Also slightly glassy from being stoned)

The bad eye. Grey, cloudy, weird texture on eye, slightly closed

Close up, you can see the general area effected

Crippie's Tippie - Stay informed about general pig illnesses, I knew this was a hay poke and I began treating her immediately. For more information about piggies and eye issues go to http://www.guinealynx.info/eyes.html