Hay vs. Asthma

[Partera]

Can someone illuminate for me if there is a kind of hay that does not cause allergies? My 8 year old son is asthmatic and his doctor believes the guinea pig hay is aggravating his symptoms. Of course, he does not understand that hay is not an option. I have been using Oxbow Timothy hay and it ispretty much sending everyone in the house into an allergic state but my son has been having to use his rescue inhaler.

Am I correct in my understanding that green grass is not a substitue for actual hay?

If I can't get the hay issue under control I'll have to rehome the babies.

[Percy's Mom]

Bluegrass or Orchard grass hays are both known to cause fewer allergy problems. This, of course, isn't 100%, but it's worth a shot. Either can be used in place of Timothy hay.

[VoodooJoint]

Like Percy's Mom I recommend Bluegrass/Orchard grass. I placed two pigs with a friend of mine and she, and both of her sons, have severe allergies(and asthma) to hay and many other things despite being on medications for it.

Before she adopted through me she "pig sat" from me, in her home, when I was on vacation. She and her sons had terrible reactions to the timothy hay. To insure she could handle the allergies before she adopted from me I gave her some Orchard grass to take home. She handled it in her home, shook it and had her son do the same. They hardly had any reaction at all and were thrilled that the adoption could go through.

I now buy 50# boxes of Orchard grass from Oxbow and sell it to her (at cost) when she needs it as well as feed it to my own pigs and rabbits. The animals love it and my friend is thrilled that her sons can have a pet bigger then a hamster.

As a side note I had asked Oxbow if they would send me small "handful samples" of all their different hays so my friend could try them all out to see which she had the least reaction to. They told me that they didn't do that so I suggested that they should either start offering samples (with a paid order--by request) or they should offer a sample pack of hays and charge a small sum for it since it would be so beneficial to people who may have allergies or picky animals.

[Percy's Mom]

If you're looking for a place to purchase either of these hays, check out Oxbow Pet Products | Welcome for the Oxbow Orchard Grass. They sell it online, and their website offers suggestions of other websites you can order from as well as having a store locator. For Bluegrass, check out Kleenmama's Hayloft :: Home. Kleenmama only sells through her website, but her hay and pellets are primo!

Either supplier would be an excellent choice.