Hay and Human Allerigies

[pinknfwuffy]

I know, I know. Not another thread on hay!

Alas, I’ve finally gotten Olaf to eat a lot more hay. He’s always been a nibbler but never a full-blown fan. When I adopted him they were giving him way too many pellets so it’s taken about a year for me to gradually get him down to an 1/8 of a cup of pellets and lots of orchard grass hay gobbling.

That said, the more he eats the more I’ve been prone to suffer. We started with timothy hay but that was a definite no. I was a giant, itchy amoeba. Switching to orchard grass has helped a ton but since he’s eating more I have started to sniffle as well. It doesn’t bother my skin in terms of handling the stuff but I have to be sure to wash my hands afterwards lest they go anywhere near my face or eyes.

This will probably improve in the better weather when there is more fresh air circulating but do you have any suggestions for controlling the sneezing besides over-medicating? I use Oxbow orchard grass in a wooden rack. He also has timothy hay cubes that seem to be much better in terms of my reaction but obviously are not ideal since there are not long strands for his teeth to gnaw.

Is oat hay any better for this?

[Wick & Fable]

Heyo. I feel you— I sneezed a ton when I started with Wick’s first hay brand. He was eating Kaytee’s Timothy hay, but is now on Oxbow, which is much less dusty.

I don’t know how you store your hay, but I transfer some into a plastic container with holes at the top for ventilation. There are three, curled up sheets of plastic mesh (left over from covering his litter boxes; they are small square grid-sheets) that are on the bottom and the hay sits on top of them. This helps with air circulation, but it also, over time, separates the smaller pieces of hay/dust from the good stuff. This helped my sneezing and Wick’s sneezing a lot because I wasn’t moving handfuls of dusty hay to and fro in the air.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Pongo]

You could try one of those air filters to you just buy at a grocery store, your suppose to put it over your A/C outlet and it suppose to filter dust and help with allergies and bacteria and viruses make give that a shot!

[pinknfwuffy]

Thanks guys! I have my fingers crossed. My worst flareups are when I clean the cage so I’m going to try putting a fleece “sock” on the bottom of the hay rack, too, so less falls out and requires sweeping.

Wick – That’s a great idea with the grate on the bottom. I’ll give it a shot. I usually just use the bag it came in to store but buy smaller bags so it doesn’t go bad too quickly. But I like your plan.

Pongo – I didn’t know that was available, I will definitely look into getting one. I feel like my allergies have gotten worse as I get older so any new trick is helpful.

[Wick & Fable]

I buy the very large Oxbow Timothy Hay bag, and transfer only some to a small plastic container. During the week, I dump un-eaten hay into the container, mix it all together so it all smells like fresh hay, and refill all Wick’s hay areas. During the weekend, I take more fresh hay out of the bag and refill the plastic container. This way, I don’t have to transfer the entire thing into a humungo plastic container, haha. Plus carrying around the plastic box is easier than a large hay bag.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Bam]

I react to Timothy (coughed all night long) but not to oat hay. Luckily Bam prefers oat hay over all other types of hay. You could buy a small bag and see if it’s better for you.

[pinknfwuffy]

Thank you, Bam! I will definitely give oat hay a shot. Timothy made me raspy, too.

[Azerane]

You could also try a more enclosed hay rack. Something more like a box that just has one or two openings for Olaf to pull hay through. That way hay will be less likely to go everywhere and it will keep the dust largely contained

[Author]

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