Allergic to dried herbs ? Burns Dandelion

[Flinty]

A couple of weeks ago all my piggies started sneezing. A few things happened that day which were different, so I spent a while going through it all in case of allergies- strong new washing powder in the same room as them (not on their bedding), a new bag of carefresh and new dried dandelion leaves which they had never had before. I was sprinkling the leaves in with the piggies' hay box and eventually came to the conclusion that it was the dust from the herbs which was getting up their nose and making them sneeze. Removed the leaves and almost all the sneezing has stopped.

I feel terrible now, but I just found the rest of the bag and thought I could give them a couple of leaves each from my hand, trying to minimise the dust and thinking it would be fine. Low and behold the babies are all sneezing again so that bag is going straight in the bin!

Long story short, has anyone else ever had a problem with piggy allergies, especially with dried herbs? Insight and experience would be great . They've had different dried grasses and herbs in the past and been completely fine so I'm not sure what is different with this and why it seems to be effecting all of them? I am also keeping a close eye for other symptoms in case of UTIs but have found none. Eating, zooming and pooping well.

 

[DM030819]

@Flinty It's very possible. They can be allergic to different bedding and such so different forages might be a cause too.

 

[Swissgreys]

I think it is more likely to be a particularly dusty bag.

All my pigs have a super special hay that they simply love. It is expensive so only fed as a treat, and always in their hay bags to prevent wastage.
They have eaten this stuff for years without incident, and then we had one bag which looked and smelt fine to me, but the pigs started sneezing when I put it in their hay bags and refused to eat it.
I tried again a few days later with the same reaction, so assumed it was a bad bag and threw it away - it never happened again.

Even if one of your pigs were allergic it is unlikely they all would be, so I would dispose of the current bag and maybe try with a different batch or brand.

 

[piggieminder]

I have a piggy with allergies. Some triggers I have found for him are
Some makes of hay
Dried forage
Back to Nature bedding
Carefresh
Possibly damp hay
The end of a bag of nuggets
I make sure all the hay that goes into his hay box is shaken out in the garden, no matter how dust extracted it's supposed to be. His hay is completely renewed daily, usually twice and the box cleaned, he may be a problem with weed on hay/damp/mould. I make sure all the hay he gets comes from the top half of the bag to avoid small bits. I also avoid giving him the last of the nuggets in a bag so he doesn't get any of the powdery bits.
As I sit here typing Caspy is looking at me as if he can read my mind and is say 'yes, I'm a pest aren't I'. He's not he's gorgeous and worth all the trouble to try to stop his snuffles.