Asthma triggered by bedding

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geordiepaul2001

Hi all,

my wife has asthma and the guinea pigs did not seem to be a trigger on their plastic cage, with woodshavings as bedding etc.
We have recently built a c&c cage and now use cardboard, towel and fleece for the flooring/bedding.
It seems to be triggering her asthma and brought on a dry cough for over a month.
Does this sound right?, what else could I use as bedding/flooring?

Hope someone can help.

Paul
 
Hi Paul,

Could the guineas themselves be a trigger? Sometimes guinea pig hair or urine can be an allergen and affect asthma sufferers. It is odd that she wasn't affected by woodshavings as that's another common allergen!

Also, the hay - what type of hay do you give your guineas, and how (e.g. in a hay rack, in a litter tray etc.)? Timothy hay is notorious among allergy sufferers for aggravating symptoms.
 
It doesn't sound like it could be that bedding to me . . . but you could try using shredded paper and that's good for allergy sufferers.

Did you switch brands of hay? I'm allergic to the last bag of hay I bought, can't wait for it to be finished! At least my pets are outdoors so it only affects me when I'm outside, and for a while afterwards. But I had two of the pigs in college one day for a presentation, and they had hay, and I was sneezing all day!

My friend is allergic to her guinea pigs, but she doesn't get a cough or anything, just a rash if she touches them.
 
I'm asthmatic and my main problem is the hay. Some hays are better than others - particularly dust extracted ones. You can also get little compact bales that mean you're not pulling handfulls of hay out of a bag and getting dust everywhere.

Generally all our animals are kept in a single room at the back of the house, my husband feeds and cleans them out and this helps a lot. But obviously not everyone has a room that they can give over to their pets. It also means they don't get as much interaction. I have my new piggies quarantining in the lounge a the moment and I'm going to be really sad to move them into the rodent room.

It's also worth your wife getting an asthma check as it's possible that her medications could be improved.

Paula
 
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