[Unusual foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract of 2 miniature pigs]

While diseases caused by foreign bodies are of minor importance in conventionally kept pigs, there is a significantly increased risk for mini pigs kept in residential or garden areas to ingest unsuitable objects and substances. Inaccurate or missing information from pet owners, as well as nonspecific clinical signs complicate diagnostics and may lead to delayed intervention. Especially with biological or natural materials or substances mini pig owners are often unaware that their ingestion may pose a health risk to the omnivorous pig. Therefore, these are often not mentioned in the history.

The following presents and discusses the possibilities and limitations of diagnostics, the transferability of diagnostic and surgical measures from small animal medicine to miniature pigs. Additionally, based on these case reports of intestinal obstruction caused by ingestion of foreign bodies species-specific limitations in mini pigs are illustrated. In both cases, the actual causes of the disorder, here the oral intake of cat litter and peaches, were not mentioned beforehand as they were not classified as a source of danger by the owners. Subsequently, the operative removal of the foreign bodies through gastrostomy or enterotomy was necessary in both minipigs.