Vet says not URI but allergy to hay dust!!??

[GracieLollie]

We got a new little girl Abbie who is was 5 weeks old last week when we got her. She was sneezing a lot, then after serveral days it seemed to have gotten even worse. Like 4-5 sneezes every 15-20min and her wiping her nose with her paw. I thought for sure it may be a URI, but the vet says all is fine with her, lungs sound good, no drainage coming out of nose, etc... He said she's allergic to the dust in the Timothy hay. No clue how he determined that it was that and not 50 other things. She is on fleece that we don't use fabric softener on. Nothing weird. I hope she outgrows this as it's still hard to watch her sneeze so much and wipe her nose. Anyone ever heard of this? Any recommendations? We plan to introduce her to Lollie tonight for about 30min in a neutral play area. We are nervous about how they will react to each other. Lollie's 2yrs old, her sister died almost 3 weeks ago.

[bpatters]

Try a different kind of hay. Any long strand grass hay will do -- orchard, meadow, blue, brome.

[Zuidy]

Make sure it is good quality as well. Store bought brands aren't the best you can find.

KMS Hayloft, Grass Hays & Fortified Feeds From the Valleys of the Pacific Northwest sells THE BEST types of all long strand grass hay as bpatters mentioned.

Sweet Meadow Farm - Premium quality hay, pellets, and treats is also just about as good as KMS and may cost less to ship.

[bpatters]

@GracieLollie , you're in prime hay growing country. You should be able to find a local bale for not very much money.

[GracieLollie]

Thanks for the feedback - but Sweet Meadow Farm's website says though that you can give the other hays, but Timothy is a must and should be provided to your pet at all times. I can't subsititue it for anything else can I? If Abbie is indeed allergic to timothy, then she will have to be a sneezing piggie unfortunately, right?

[bpatters]

I don't care what Sweet Meadow Farms site says. They're in the business of selling hay, and timothy is their biggest product. Of course, they're pushing it.

All long strand grass hays have the protein and fiber that pigs need. You can switch with no problem, except that I'd avoid brome if at all possible. It's just a lesser quality of hay.

[Ithilgil]

I find that guinea pig pellets are mainly made of timothy hay.

And I know that there are people, including me, who don't feed their cavies timothy hay. I give my girls orchard hay.

[GracieLollie]

Thanks for clearing that up. What about something like orchard GRASS? I suppose too soft to wear down teeth to use reglularily is my guess. I will try Orchard Hay for a while to see if the sneezing goes away or gets better.

[bpatters]

Orchard grass and orchard hay are the same thing -- hay is just dried grass.

[spy9doc]

Timothy hay is just about the worst for provoking allergies in everyone......cavies and humans. My partner is so allergic to timothy hay that we can't even have it in the house.

And, you will almost never find fresh, good quality hay in a pet store. Anything I have bought there is old, dusty and brown. I would recommend either ordering online from KMS Hayloft, or look around for a farm supply or feed store where you can probably buy fresh hay. If you're lucky, a nearby farmer might have just what you need.