This is the Guinea pigs fault isn’t it?

[Guineapigwoes]

We adopted a gorgeous pair of Guinea pigs at the end of jan. For the last three weeks my eyes have been itchy and watery. I’ve never had hay fever or any allergies. Do you think it’s the Guinea pigs?
I’ve tried a couple of brands of antihistamines, things seem to improve. Yesterday I attempted putting some make up on and today I look like this.
Help I’m miserable and DS will be heartbroken if the Guinea pigs have to go

Could be their hay, you could put some on your hands and see if it makes the allergy worse. There are different types of hay if so, so could find one you are less allergic too.
Then try the same holding the actual pig on another day.
Just to warn you, your ds might suggest you go rather than the pig

Having said that, odd you've had them for months and not been allergic straight away. It IS spring, so could be connected to other allergies. Or have you changed brand of hay?

Do you know we’ve had another brand of hay in the last month - maybe it’s that (clutches at straw)
DS would defo rather I went then the piggies 😀
Here they are:

Cute piggies . You can get something like PetAl Cleanse that you wipe the animal with that’s supposed to reduce allergens a bit if it’s the actual animal .

Might be the hay.

I never suffered with hayfever until the age of about 30 though and it has got worse every year since then!

My daughter gets very sneezy if we use cheap guinea pig hay, I get it in massive boxes from the happy hay company on Amazon now & it seems ok.

Gorgeous piggies. Definitely worth switching the hay back!

Pollen counts are very very high the last few weeks - unusually so compared to normal. Even double doses of my usual antihistamine (which I take Feb-July) aren’t cutting it. So it may well be hayfever.

For those of you suffering with hay fever, any recommendations for managing it?
My eyes are red raw

You need eye drops from the chemist and antihistamine tablets. That should do it.

They are gorgeous op!

Have you tried taking antihistamine to see if that eases it? Could it be viral conjunctivitis? My eyes were like that when I had it.

Fexofenadine is the best antihistamine you can get - you can get it over the counter or from Amazon now, it used to be prescription only. You can also get a higher dose prescribed - I do. If your eyes are watering it’s probably actually your nose that’s triggering them off so I would get some sort of nasal spray as well - speak to a pharmacist. If you want to try the fexofenadine you can use a saline nasal spray to wash through your nose rather than a medicated one - I don’t think you can use both together.

It may not be the Guinea pigs, it may just be hay fever that you’ve suddenly developed with the warmer weather coming in.

Yep, definitely try some eye drops. I use ones with sodium cromoglicate in them... they're brilliant. And yes, I agree the pollen count has suddenly hit the roof and caused me to start with symptoms (earlier than usual).

Oh!.... and cute piggies! Do we have a guinea pig emoji because we really should...

If you've had them since January with no problems and you don't have any reaction to handling them like itching, rashes or hives, then I would say it's more likely to either be the hay or recent higher pollen count. The hay might be bringing this in. I would try a different brand of hay, some independent pet shops sell decent fresh hay.

Cetirizine is good. I have had fexofenadine from the gp and it didn't work for what I needed it for and just went back to the cetirizine. But an antihistamine should help whichever one you choose.

I use OTC loratadine (Clarityn) and that normally works v well for me.

Hayfever. Tree pollen high this time of year. Your piggies are gorgeous . Keep the piggies.

Don't forget that one day these adorable little critters will take over the world because of their hard AF to resist cuteness. So it's good to keep in with the furry dandelion seeking missiles.

Your guineas are gorgeous. We have had two girls since Sept. I love them

I had this with my pigs. My eyes looked at exactly like yours and were sometimes so bad my lashes would fall out from the swelling. I tried every type of vet bedding/bath mats/hay/sawdust. Any thing I could think of. It just didn't work, I think I was allergic to their airborne urine. Trust me when I say I kept on top of them too, I adored them. What's interesting is that I had brought my piggies home in the September and didn't have issues until April/May.