Allergies My New Roomate's allegeric to my Boys

[DLRasberry]

I'm currently moving into my first apartment with three other animal loving girls. Two of the girls are cousins that are farm girls that have cows and dogs and work in the fields. Another girl works at an animal shelter. Didn't really think about someone being allergic. All of them were aware that I was getting the pigs months in advance and I only vaguely remember one of the farm girls mentioning her cousin was allergic to cats and hamsters. She said it in a kind of offhand way like it wasn't horrible allergies and that she should be fine. We never mentioned it again.
And now we've started moving in. I volunteered to take the den/smallest bedroom in the house months before hand. Did my research afterwards and now My 2x5 cage in a teeny room just wouldn't be comfortable. So I asked if someone would be willing to to switch rooms or if they were okay with them being in the living room. I got one positive answer and no protests...Living room it was. I was late for move-in day. The girls had already started moving in. The first thing I set up was the Pig cage. Each roommate took their turn looking at the boys. One of my roomies isn't officially moving in until the end of the summer because she's got farm stuff to do....And she's the one that is allergic
So tonight I get a message saying that for the past two days her allergies were horrific and that she didn't want to say anything but it was getting pretty bad. She had only been near the pigs maybe ten minutes. They were in a box at the time and she didn't even touch them. There's also the chance the previous owner had a cat. I have found some hair in the corners of the apartment. Maybe there's still cat dander in the carpet and that could be causing her allergies???
My boys came from irresponsible breeders. They were picked up in a box with saltine crackers. One was even mis-gendered. My worse nightmare is having to say goodbye to my boys when I've worked so hard to give them an awesome life these past two months.

 

[Piggy_]

Surely you could keep them in your room and just suffer the tight living space? Maybe you could put a set of your drawers with clothes in the living room instead? In addition to getting an air purifier to put next to their cage. As long as she stays away from your room her allergies should be fine You could also recommend your flatmate gets regular allergy injections (after you have moved their cage and installed the air purifier) which might help improve her quality of life in general if her allergies are really that sensitive. I friend of mine is allergic to her cat, but with weekly injections her symptoms are almost completely under control. Flatmate situations are always pretty tricky though, but as long as you stay nice and friendly you should be able to find a solution that doesn't involve rehoming the guineas Good luck!

 

[pinky]

My hunch it's from a cat. I am horribly allergic to cats. My brother in law has one and puts them in a different room when I go there. My eyes swell and my throat starts closing up as soon as I get there. I always need to use my inhaler and take allergy medicine because my asthma kicks in. I think you should shampoo your carpets and get an air purifier. I'd request a room with a door so you can keep them isolated from her as a nice gesture. I wouldn't rehome them.

 

[photosavvy]

My best bet is that it's a cat. Get an air purifier and keep the piggies away from her just in case. Don't rehome them though. I'm sure you'll find a nice solution to this.

 

[Agrimony]

Shampoo the carpets and get an air purifier that should help with residual cat dander