• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Kaytee Hay Causing Breathing Problems?

Status
Not open for further replies.
cinn&sugarmybbs

cinn&sugarmybbs

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
27
Reaction score
5
Points
75
Location
New York
Hi my 4 guinea pigs have been having a URI for months now. They are on Bactrim now so I want to see if that helps....

Any idea if the URI keeps coming back because of cheap kaytee hay?

I am going to switch hay, which brands are best?

Thanks guys didnt know if this happend to anyone else:)
 
A lot of members here are in the UK but hopefully some US members will respond. Have you tried Oxbow hay? Hay doesn't tend to cause URI but can cause an allergic reaction or sneezing due to dust.
 
I see that the same brand sells items with a different quality of product. You should not consider the price of the hay, but the presence of dust and the taste of the piggies. I bought 3-4 different brands, they were cheap and are equally very good and appreciated by the piggies. But in one of the bags (same brand of another one) I found shorter strings and a great waste.
If you buy the hay online you just have to try.
URI maybe is coming back because piggies' immunitary system is now a bit down, consider that the medicines are not "water". Have you considered to increase the amount of vit C? are your piggies getting a supplement? during stressful period their vit C requirement is higher.
 
A URI may keep on returning because the antibiotic used to treat isn't a good match (we went through this with Hadley not long ago... she improved on the initial antibiotic, but had symptoms resume twice after finishing the course. We then switched antibiotics after the second recurrence and that time the treatment was successful.) Hay shouldn't cause URIs, but dusty hay may irritate the noses on some pigs. I've used a variety of hays (Kaytee included) and have not found that the quality varies all that much. I have had some bags that have more dust than others in a variety of brands.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone

Yea I'm just getting worried because they keep breathing fast hopefully this antibiotic will work
 
I am using some Kaytee's timothy hay at the moment. I dont find it to be all that dusty (there are dustier brands) but I will not buy it again as it much stalkier than other timothy hay brands and I have scratched myself a few times with it so I seem to be getting the hay poke injuries instead of the piggies thankfully.
 
I am also currently using Kaytee timothy hay. I don't find it very dusty but there is a lot of waste since my piggy doesn't like the tough pieces, and there are a lot of those. I don't think that the hay would be causing a recurring uri though.
 
I have used Kaytee on and off for years and the quality does seem to vary greatly, I find it also depends on the time of year.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top