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Piggies allergic to hay!

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took louis and charlie to the vets yesterday afternoon as Louis was making that funny noise again while eating and cleaning and charlie was too and sneezing and the girls are sneezing too - she again examined them both, but said they both look nice and well, clear eyes, nothing on the chest or anything, but she said she is wondering whether they are allergic to the hay i feed them! having meadow hay and to be honest to me it doesnt look dusty at all and smells fresh, but she i need to dry dampen the hay then feed it to them...I am doing this with them all. I just wondered if anyone else has had this problem with hay? think I might be a bit of a nightmare though cose when I go back to work Tuesday I only do their hay once in the morning and then again at nite, which means they will have damp hay all day until i come home- I usually order from dust free hay, but haven't for a while, but I will have to Monday.
 
Yesterday morning i noticed that my Joe was weezing so i took him straight to the vet and they diagnosed a URI. I have got him and his cage mate Jimmy inside to keep an eye on Joe. I decided to use fleece for the bedding and have put their Hay in a rack.

This am Joes weezing has stopped after one dose of Baytril antibiotics. I'm wondering if the fact he is off Hay as a bedding has helped.

He does sneeze quite a bit especially when i have just cleaned them out. I'm wondering if Joe like yours is allergic to Hay too.

The vet said to dampen down his Hay. Like you though I'm worried about Damp Hay.

I will be interested to hear if anyone else has a piggy allergic to Hay or could it be that we have got a bad batch of hay thats a bit dusty?

Lindsay x
 
did your vets say that his chest sound weezy too? mine wasn't any signs of that yesterday, but she said if they still the same in a few days, then she might start giving them baytril. Mine don't sleep on any hay, they have towels and fleece and just hay for eating. I think if I can order from dust free hay as soon as i can I will, maybe it's just this hay i have at the moment, but as you said, its giving them damp hay for the time being,which i am a bit worried about!
 
wales1000 said:
did your vets say that his chest sound weezy too? mine wasn't any signs of that yesterday, but she said if they still the same in a few days, then she might start giving them baytril. Mine don't sleep on any hay, they have towels and fleece and just hay for eating. I think if I can order from dust free hay as soon as i can I will, maybe it's just this hay i have at the moment, but as you said, its giving them damp hay for the time being,which i am a bit worried about!

Yes she sounded his chest and said that he was weezy on his chest. You would never believe anything was wrong with him though yesterday he sounded like a little old man that had been smoking for 50 yrs today no sound at all just the odd sneeze. I'm convinved its something to do with the Hay.

Let me know how yours get on.

Lindsay
 
yes it does sound like it could be the hay. I brought a few bags of meadow hay from the local pet shop, its smells fresh and not dusty and it's the only hay i have been able to find that the piggies will actually eat! Though they will eat the dust free hay so I'll have to ordered that.

I will let you know how the piggies get on Lindsay, thanks.
 
Yeah my Ginger appeared to have an allergy to meadow hay as she got older.
 
Our Huxley is allergic to hay we think - he always had a very snuffly nose and crusts round his nostrils and mouth, he went to the vets a few times and they listened to his chest, which always sounded clear, but he still sounded rattly to me. He was that bad I was putting Vicks by his cage to help him breathe. We got him some different bedding, and a corner thing (think it is supposed to be a corner litter tray!) where we put hay for him to eat so its just in one place and not by his bed, and the improvement was instant. He has been fine ever since! We keep him on newspaper, carefresh and paper bedding in his pigloo. He is naughty and uses his bedroom as a toilet too so it needs changing every day or every other day, but he has not wheezed or snuffled since. He was so poorly in the petshop - he was on sawdust and hay - he must have always struggled with it. Poor little mite! I am so glad he is OK now, he is so tame and a little poppet.
I would seriously stop using the hay completely as bedding and see what happens. Hope Louis and Charlie are OK! (BTW I don't like the sound of them sleeping on damp hay - that can't be good for them surely?)
 
What about hay cubes? They wouldn't be dusty I don't think. Pudsey is allergic to woodshavings but he has been ok with hay thankfully. :)
 
Just a thought - wood shavings/sawdust can cause respiratiory problems in some gps.
 
yes i use the same as u, towels, fleece and vetbed - charlie is still sneezing, but louis is fine now. I have got some dried grass here at work, but i forgot to bring it home for the weekend, so think I will give charlie more grass than hay and see how he does over the next day or so - am going to order some hay from dust free hay now...
 
Watch the amount of grass you give him. If you give too much it can cause soft poops.
 
My Iris used to sneeze alot because of the hay i think. the rescue didnt put it all over the floor like i do so i put it down to that but kept an eye on her. her eyes were clear and she was eating well. she was fine after all and she doesnt sneeze anymore.

Maybe its because of the summer coming and the pollen etc. but check with a vet if your really worried or she shows any signs of illness!

:) i hope they stop sneezing soon
 
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