Hello! I recently became an owner of 2 guinea pigs around 2 months ago. I have a concern and was wondering what I should do.
Recently (about a couple days ago) I opened a new bag of hay for my guinea pigs since they just finished a previous bag. It is the same brand of what they have been eating. I noticed almost immediately that they started to sneeze about once of twice a day (they never sneezed much before, maybe once or twice a week). I thought it was something to do with my rooms air so I checked and found nothing. I continued giving them the hay and thought it was just regular sneezing like us humans. It wasn’t until today where I got extremely worried. When I gave them hay in the morning, one of my guinea pigs (who never sneezed) suddenly started sneezing like crazy. She sneezed about 3 times in a row. Obviously it shocked me and I quickly removed the hay. They continued sneezing though and I started panicking and took them out of their home to see what was causing the sneezing. When I moved their bedding around to see the ground I saw so much hay dust. I removed all their bedding and placed a couple towels instead because I was afraid it might be the bedding as well. Right now they have stopped sneezing as much (there is probably still hay dust there) and I don’t know what to do. It is currently 2 in the morning so I am planning on cleaning their home and my room from top to bottom to make sure nothing is left. Right now I don’t think it is the bedding, just the hay but I could be wrong.
Should I take them to the vet? Also, how do I remove all the dust in their hay so this doesn’t happen again?
If while reading this you see I am doing something wrong with raising my guinea pigs then please let me know! I am still learning everyday new things about raising guinea pigs and I want to make sure I don’t do anything I’m not supposed to as an owner.
Recently (about a couple days ago) I opened a new bag of hay for my guinea pigs since they just finished a previous bag. It is the same brand of what they have been eating. I noticed almost immediately that they started to sneeze about once of twice a day (they never sneezed much before, maybe once or twice a week). I thought it was something to do with my rooms air so I checked and found nothing. I continued giving them the hay and thought it was just regular sneezing like us humans. It wasn’t until today where I got extremely worried. When I gave them hay in the morning, one of my guinea pigs (who never sneezed) suddenly started sneezing like crazy. She sneezed about 3 times in a row. Obviously it shocked me and I quickly removed the hay. They continued sneezing though and I started panicking and took them out of their home to see what was causing the sneezing. When I moved their bedding around to see the ground I saw so much hay dust. I removed all their bedding and placed a couple towels instead because I was afraid it might be the bedding as well. Right now they have stopped sneezing as much (there is probably still hay dust there) and I don’t know what to do. It is currently 2 in the morning so I am planning on cleaning their home and my room from top to bottom to make sure nothing is left. Right now I don’t think it is the bedding, just the hay but I could be wrong.
Should I take them to the vet? Also, how do I remove all the dust in their hay so this doesn’t happen again?
If while reading this you see I am doing something wrong with raising my guinea pigs then please let me know! I am still learning everyday new things about raising guinea pigs and I want to make sure I don’t do anything I’m not supposed to as an owner.