Some Help for Hay Allergies

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As some of you here know, I foster rescued guinea pigs. Lately there have been a few returns due to allergies, so I thought I'd make a post of some tips to try if you are having problems with allergies and thinking of giving up your guinea pigs (or even if you just want some relief from your allergies!). A lot of people who think they are allergic to the guinea pigs are actually allergic to hay. 1. If you're feeding timothy hay, try a more hypoallergenic hay such as orchard grass. The nutritional values are extremely close and every guinea pig I've ever had will eat either of these hays. 2. Try storing the hay in a room you do not frequently enter. If your guinea pigs are in your family room, that doesn't mean you need to store the hay there as well. 3. Keeping the hay neat in the cage can help. I just throw a bunch of hay all over my cages, but when I clean cages I get a lot of problems with allergies. If I think in advance and put the hay in hay racks so that it stays in one place, that helps a lot. If you do end up unable to solve your allergy problems, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to rehome your guinea pigs. If you adopted your guinea pigs from a rescue, you should be able to return them (and most rescues require that you return them rather than find homes for them yourself). Even if you can return them though, please be courteous and provide ample time for the rescue to prepare for their return. Sometimes it takes 2 weeks or even more for a foster home to open up. If you didn't adopt your guinea pigs and need to rehome them on your own, allow yourself enough time to properly screen adopters rather than giving them away to the first person who wants them. Ultimately, sometimes people just have allergies that are too severe.