Does it exist?

I've had guinea pigs in the past, and fell in love with 2 today so brought them home, however, when i put their sawdust in the cage, I started to sneeze and now my nose anyes are streaming and I can't top sneezing.

I know its not the Pigs I'm allergic to because when I was giving them a cuddle earlier I was fine, it's just whe I go near the cage that it starts again.

Does antone else suffer from the same, and if so, how do you get around it?

i dont but you dont have to use sawdust i just use paper and hay for my two pigs and they are fine :) heardthat sawdust gives them respiratory probs....do you mean woodshavings? lol i often say sawdust when i mean woodshavings

I had this when I had a rabbit, it was the hay that started me off, but after a year I became allergic to the rabbit too, and then cats. Luckily I'm fine with dogs.

Wood shavings might be better than sawdust anyway, if that does not work paper on it's own will be fine it just will need replacing often.

or try megazorb its a paper based substance.

some people use fleece blankets with an aborbent substance underneath. This link has details:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/bedding/

Thanks for all your replies.... We've spent the morning trying to make sure its the bedding andot the Pigs I'm allergic to - and it's definately the hay... So I guess they won't be having that anymore!

Thought it would most likely be the hay :)

I think they may need a little hay to munch on in their food bowl as I think they need the fibre, though I'm not a piggy person so may be wrong. I'm sure a little in thier bowl will not set you off as they won't be covered in it so you're less likely to react, just a thought.

So what have you decided to call them then?

Now I think about it, I can't remember if my local vet sold Hay that was specifically for people with allergies (I may have dreamt it, but the last time I had Guinea Pigs was around 4 years ago!) Although I'm sure if I get a box of Piriton it will ease the sneezes!

Guinea pigs need hay for their tums hun or they get very poorly have you thought of getting dust free hay .
Piriton is fine but Benydryl is better just as a footnote here as advised by my Gp lol
try here http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/ but please don't stop feeding them hay
try nthis link http://www.cavyspirit.com/care.htm and here http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/hay.html

Cheers Teeny, I got Benydryl earlier, and dust free Hay. Hopefully the 2 will stop me looking like some form of red eyed freak!

We use hay from Norman at the Dust Free Hay company and there is no dust at all comes off of it. It is put through a dust extraction process 14 times and is lovely stuff. Maybe something like that would be possible to use.

Cheers Teeny, I got Benydryl earlier, and dust free Hay. Hopefully the 2 will stop me looking like some form of red eyed freak!


I use it all the time as I am allergic to stuff like megazorb and some small furries , I love them so much I could not stop doing what we do even if I have to take more meds.