Bedding Dust - help

[SunnyLizB]

We recently bought some pine bedding by mistake. Not only are the peices huge and a bit rough, we didn't realize it was pine. Now our guinea pig, Ceasar, is sneezing like crazy and even the occasional cough. He has a runny nose as well. Having him in a separate room while we tried to air this one out seemed to help a bit, but not much. I've also put a cup of steaming water near his cage to see if that helps.

Do you guys have any way we could help this? We also have another guinea pig, TJ, but the bedding doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much.

 

[Wiebke]

We recently bought some pine bedding by mistake. Not only are the peices huge and a bit rough, we didn't realize it was pine. Now our guinea pig, Ceasar, is sneezing like crazy and even the occasional cough. He has a runny nose as well. Having him in a separate room while we tried to air this one out seemed to help a bit, but not much. I've also put a cup of steaming water near his cage to see if that helps.

Do you guys have any way we could help this? We also have another guinea pig, TJ, but the bedding doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much.

Hi!

Please get rid of the pine bedding ASAP and research for other bedding types. There are more options than just wood shavings - in a pinch, some towels will do the trick.

If you have a sensitive piggy, then it is worth looking around for alternative options. Like with humans, some piggies react much more strongly to potential trigger products or ingredients. It is going to take several days for the reaction to die down fully. Just be patient and remove the trigger product asap.

Please do not separate your piggies; it is stressful for them. you are not dealing with an infectious issue after all.
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[Eva121]

If the bedding is bothering your piggy that much you should change it. Dusty bedding can sometimes cause a lung infection so I would change it soon. You could change it to fleece which is particularly cheap and soft and very easy to clean or you could use paper bedding instead.

 

[SunnyLizB]

Our guinea pigs are already separated due to the fact that they quite literally hate eachother. (We've tried many times to get them to be within the same area but they instantly start fighting. They are perfectly fine with other pigs on play dates though.)

But thank you for the feedback! I'll change the bedding to fleece.