hay cakes okay instead of hay?

[bridgetb125]

Is oxbows hay cakes okay to use instead of regular hay? Is there even a difference besides it being compacted together? My 11 month old son has respiratory problems and the hay is really getting to him. I read on oxbows site that the hay cakes are better for allergy sufferers so i'm hoping that he will be able to tolerate them better.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

No, you need regular hay, it is essential for the pigs to be able to use regular hay to wear their teeth down and it's overall better for their digestive system. If your son is allergic to the hay, my recomendation would be to order some bluegrass (blue orchard grass) from (broken link removed)
I hear that this hay does not cause the allergy problems that the other types of hay cause.

 

[Treen]

Here's some good advice on allergies too https://www.cavyspirit.com/allergies.htm. It has specific advice on the allergic reaction being to the hay rather than the guinea pigs.

 

[bridgetb125]

I contacted oxbow about the haycakes. They said it was fine to replace the hay and just use haycakes.

 

[Treen]

I agree that there's no substitute for proper hay. The cubes are completely different to loose hay and more difficult to eat - getting each strand takes longer so their back teeth won't get as good a workout. Plus they love playing in it so much, that I'd be reluctant to remove loose hay from their environment from that perspective too.

I'd try the suggestions on the allergies page before you consider using just hay cakes.

 

[phantac]

"Im hoping that he will be able to tolerate it better"? Are you kidding. Is everyone nuts here or am I the loony one. Your child has respiratory problems and everyone is trying to solve the problem of hay? Don't all of you thing the solution to this problem is getting rid of her guinea pigs? I think the best interest of this child is more important than her guinea pigs. I think the discussion of which hay might not aggrevate this childs condition as much is ridiculou. Thats like saying my child has asthma and I smoke, which cigerette is not as strong? Or I will smoke in another room. come on everyone, you all messed up on this one.

 

[Treen]

Many people have a bad reaction to hay (and it's the hay not the guinea pigs that is causing the problem here), but find that by switching suppliers, changing the way the hay is handled or using an air filter, they can alleviate any symptoms. Fantastic outcome wouldn't you say? I really do fail to see how passing on these potential solutions is messing up. If bridgetb125 had been happy to simply get rid of her guinea pigs, she wouldn't have asked the question in the first place.

 

[pennick]

Sorry I agree with Phantac on this one. It wouldnt matter if you changed supplier, used an air filter or whatever. Once there is hay in the house and it is handled, hay is now in the air and the child will be affected. You dont have to just touch hay to have a reaction. Unfortunately guinea pigs eat hay and as long as they eat hay and cannot substitute this for something else, then people who are allergic will have some reaction to it.

 

[phantac]

Treen, Fantasitic outcome it is not. I am talking about the hay. Guinea pigs eat hay, therefore I feel it is best to find someone to adopt the pigs. If the mother feels her guinea pigs are that important and she doesnt mind putting up with a little allergy problem with her child and you agree, well then so be it. But when someone writes in for advice on a problem I am going to give them the truth, not dance around the problem like everyone else was.

It seems everyone else on this forum is ready to dish out their opinions which the writer may not like, but may be a fact. Well this is a fact. As long as guinea pigs eat Hay and people are going to feed them hay and hay is in the house, the allergy problem will not go away. You may find a way to make it better, but this question was posed by a mother with an 11 MONTH OLD CHILD, who cannot make that decision for her or himself.

 

[critterlover]

Like Ly&Pigs said, bluegrass hay is non-allergenic for many people that are allergic to other hays.

Bridgetb125 did not say exactly what respiratory problems her child had. Maybe it's just sneezing. Who knows? It doesn't sound like her child is going to die imminently. He's made it to 11 months, after all.

In life, the solution to every problem is not to give up or to dump the problem on someone else. It's called patience.

My daughter had a wheezing problem when she was younger which we suspected was due to mold in our apartment. We didn't just pack up and move, we painstakingly dealt with all the mold and got her an inhaler.

 

[phantac]

Thank you Critterlover for your explanation. In reading over previous posts and I missed the part about bluegrass being non allergenic. Therefore if this is true I appologize. Thank you for not attacking me as is usually the case.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

There are quite a few members on gl that have allergies to timothy and other dusty types of hay or have children/spouses/boyfriends/girlfriend/etc. that are allergic to dusty types of hay. In many posts I read there, they tried Km's bluegrass and found it not to be as dusty and it did not cause as many allergy symptoms at what they had been using previously.

I have some of her bluegrass myself and it is quite nice. Much less dusty than the bermuda hay I use. I don't know if it is truly "non-allergenic" but I know that it seems people don't have as many allergy problems using the bluegrass over the other types.