Indoor rabbit

[auntie]

I brought my rabbits inside January 2023.

they live in my laundry room which also is off my daughters bedroom and playroom. I shut my daughters bedroom door during the day when my bunnies are out, at night they sleep in their cages but my daughter has to have her door open.

my daughter has recently developed seasonal allergies (stuffy nose and coughing which is more at night)we currently have a humidifier in her room going at night along with a HEPA filter and she is taking Zyrtec which seems to be helping.

She was not bothered this winter with allergies when the rabbits came in. I don’t think it’s the hay or rabbits neither does her doctor.
with that being said I want to see if I eliminate the hay what could I do for a supplement? As I am trying to experiment to see if it happens to be the hay or just that the pollen is really bad.

 

[Bam]

Hay should not be eliminated from a bun’s diet, because hay is prerty much vital for bun dental- and GI health. There are some things you can do though. I am allergic to timothy hay, and timothy seems to be the type of grass that most allergic people react to. I try not to have timothy hay in my bedroom (or I dry cough all night long). I tolerate orchard and oat hay very well. Rabbits do well on any type of grass hay, the dont absolutely have to have timothy, it’s just a very common type of hay.

It’s also important to keep hay dust down to a minimum. Allergic people have sensitive airways, and particles that are not allergenic can still irritate their airways mechanically. (During pollen season the airways are already under a lot of strain, and likely to respond “disproportionately” to the mechanical stress from dust particles). If I get hay that I think is too dusty, I pour the sack out on a bedsheet (I do this outdoors), then put all the hay back in a bag minus the dust/chaff that has collected on the bedsheet. (The bedsheet obv has to be shaken out outdoors and then laundered).

You can also spray some water on the hay when you serve it (not too much, the hay mustn’t get soaked) in order to bind some of the dust.

There are compressed hay cubes and “mini bales” that can substitue some long stranded hay (but it’s not recommended to substitute all hay with cubes). They’re obviously a lot less messy than loose hay and some buns really like them, whereas other buns will more or less ignore them. Just make sure they cubes/mini bales are not all alfalfa hay, because alfalfa is too high in calcium and protein for healthy adult buns.

 

 

[auntie]

Okay so if I understand correctly I can get the compressed hay cubes instead of the regular hay? I use Oxbow orchard grass hay.

im giving it til mid July and if my daughter still has allergies then I’ll put my bunnies back on my screened in porch.

[Wick & Fable]

Two suggestions would be switching to SPS Orchard Hay (anecdotally I find it less irritating than Oxbow’s Orchard) and potentially mixing in some Oat hay which is still hay fiber, but just not normally recommended as a main hay source. Oat hay is definitely low on dust though, so it could be a good filler that’s still hay.

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.

[auntie]

Okay I’ll give it a try

thank you

 

[Bam]

Hay cubes can replace some hay, but its not generally recommended to substitute all hay with hay cubes. If your buns get a lot of daily porch time, maybe they could have loose hay on the porch and hay cubes indoors? Buy a small pack of cubes first to see if they like them, some buns just wont eat them.

I have a screened-in porch that my buns love now in the summer! If you’re in an area that has RVHD (rabbit disease with extremely high mortality) it’s highly recommended that you vaccinate them. (That’s true for 100% indoors buns too, since the disease is spread by flies and mosquitos).

[pinkiemarie]

I’m also wondering exactly how close your daughter’s room is to the laundry room and if the additional lint and dust from the laundry could be another contributing factor to her health issues. Could you put a second humidifier and air filter in the laundry room, but leave the ones she already has in her room? That might help with both hay and laundry dust.

[DanaNM]

I think I would opt to try a dif type of hay (such as orchard) before resorting to hay cubes. I know of several ppl that are allergic to timothy but not orchard. Hay cubes should really just be a supplement/treat. The Oxbow Hay stacks are different and might be a good option, as they are hay still in it’s normal form, but pressed into discs that are much less dusty, so that might be something to try as well.

The timing does sound like it could be more seasonal pollen than hay though!

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

People can definitely be allergic to rabbits. I know from personal experience. Haha! But it’s much more common for people to be allergic to hay because grass allergies in general are common. Perhaps it is just a matter of when the hay was harvested. People can be more reactive to hay, depending on when it was harvested and what cut (1st, 2nd, etc.) it is. Your daughter may have a grass allergy and didn’t show it until you got some hay that has a larger load of allergens in it. Or, heck, it could even be some other pollen/allergens that is on that particular batch of hay… depending on where it was grown.

Orchard and oat hay tend to be less bothersome when it comes to grass allergies. However, some brands are definitely “dustier” than others. I would suggest trying a different brand. I also like Bam’s suggestion of keeping the hay away from your daughter. If they have access to an area where the hay could be kept away from the general living area, then that might help. It would keep the allergens contained in one area and not all over the house.

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