I'm allergic to Timothy hay, which is why I have orchard grass for the guinea pigs. Even that can give me a runny nose or headaches if I breath it in too deeply. It's the dust that bothers me - I can handle the hay without problem. But the hay breaks apart in the box and the little pieces are easily airborne as I grab a handful for the hay rack. So every week or so (usually between flakes) I take my dustbuster to the hay. It's strong enough to vacuum up the crumbs (without sucking up the actual hay).
It seems kind of silly, but it appears to work. I often don't react to dumping the dust. At worst, it bothers me once every week or two instead of every day. So Wedgwood and Mabel get freshly vacuumed hay. Such spoiled guinea pigs. But it keeps us all happy.
Makes sense to me. I take things apart in the chicken house to get some of the dust out. It packs into the lights and everything else. I just shake things though, then end up covered.
ReplyDelete(I post as Anonymous as I am a private person and like to avoid having my name on the internet. It's more important what I have to say than who I am.) Have you tried using fleece instead of timothy hay for the cage bottoms? 4 of them -- which are easy to make from sofa throws - new or used. You can collect the dirty ones in a diaper pail. Cleaning their droppings with a vacuum is even easier than when you have hay. Then you only have to be concerned about having enough hay for them to eat and will have less of it to stir up what I'm thinking is probably a mold allergy, not a timothy hay allergy. (A family member has a mold allergy so I speak with some authority - lol.)
ReplyDeletePostscript -- correction: the mold allergy assessment would apply only if the hay were moldy smelling or appearing. So until then, I stand corrected and it is a dust allergy.
ReplyDeletehow did I miss this! This is just brilliant! Good for you to figure this out.
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