HELP - I am allergic to new GPs

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Magpie

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We bought home 4 Guinea Pigs yesterday. All going well until this morning I spot cleaned them and my chest got very tight, I was wheezing and heavy breathing. I had to use my son's asthma inhaler, even though I don't have asthma myself.
My eyes are streaming since. My nose is blocked and running.

What can I do?
 
I’m sorry to hear that.
Some people find it’s actually the hay that is the issue rather than the piggies themselves (although of course it could be the piggies).

Antihistamines, avoiding hay, or even avoiding being the one to care for the piggies if it turns out the be the piggies themselves.
Perhaps you could speak to a pharmacist or doctor to see if they have any suggestions also - the wheezing is of course concerning (some just find their skin gets itchy)


As an aside (but it could be important) - if all the piggies are living in the same cage, are they all female?
If they are male, are they in two separate cages?
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m sorry to hear that.
Some people find it’s actually the hay that is the issue rather than the piggies themselves (although of course it could be the piggies).

Antihistamines, avoiding hay, or even avoiding being the one to care for the piggies if it turns out the be the piggies themselves.
Perhaps you could speak to a pharmacist or doctor to see if they have any suggestions also - the wheezing is of course concerning (some just find their skin gets itchy)


As an aside (but it could be important) - if all the piggies are living in the same cage, are they all female?
If they are male, are they in two separate cages?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. All piggies are female.
 
Sometimes people are allergic to the hay or bedding more than the guinea pigs themselves- it can be hard to figure out which it is since they tend to carry hay particles on them too. If it's the hay, you may be able to minimize symptoms by wearing a N95 mask when cleaning... back before paper bedding was readily sold I had pet hedgehogs on aspen bedding and gradually developed an allergy to aspen... wearing a mask and rubber gloves to clean the cage helped a lot, as well as delegating anything like cleaning that dislodged dust into the air. You might want to try an antihistamine and delegating anything that throws hay dust into the air. If it's the pigs themselves, a mask while handling them might help, as well as a daily antihistamine.

Good luck!
 
Hello,

As already mentioned it could be the hay or bedding rather than the guinea pigs themselves, especially since the symptoms hit when you were spot cleaning.

A Youtuber I watch is allergic to one type of hay, they changed the hay type and was fine.
What type of bedding are you using?
As well as talking to your local pharmacist, I'd look at seeing if different bedding and/or hay help.
Good luck.
 
I'm allergic to Timothy hay, so I switched to Orchard, which almost completely cleared my allergies. Maybe you could try this if that's your case. 💗
 
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