i think my rabbit is allegeric to hay

he is sneezin when he is in his cage... he is an indoor rabbit... i have changed his hay... doesnt make a difference... i have changed his wood shavings to paper bedding and it has got better... but when he gpoes near his hay he sneezes... its either hay or the spray i use to clean the cage so im stoppin using the spray for a while n tryin that but if it is the hay... wot do i feed him... he has his veg and mixed food but obviously hay is his main diet...

Is the hay "dust extracted"???

im not sure.... the first lot was just something we got from the pet shop - cheap stuff... but we think that brought flees into the house... and so we are treating him for fleas and changed him to some prepacked hay that came free with the rabbit from pets@home.... we have changed from sawdust which seems to have helped his sneezin a bit... also could it be the cage cleaner i brought... maybe... poor bunny... bless him

does he have any discharge around his nose or eyes? If so you should probably take him to the vet to see if he has the snuffles or it is an allergy. The hay at P@H is rubbish. Try this company http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/ which dust extracts all their hay. This might help if he has a hay allergy as usually it's the dust that causes most of the problems.

I've just noticed that the DFH company must be quite close to you. They are cheaper if you go and collect yourself. Really lovely fresh green hay.

ok i shall try that... no, no discharge... iv been keepin an eye incase of snuffles... but its not... its something in his cage... the paper has no dust... so gotta be the hay... gonna stick to the paper as he likes playin with it lol... and hes eating his spinach so he will grow big and strong lol... i shall try the dust free hay... but say that doesnt work either... wot do i feed him if he cant eat hay.....

I only get dust extracted hay too as one of mine used to suffer with eye infections.

if it is only a bit of sneezing and he doesn't seem bothered by discharge, sore eyes etc then you will probably be ok still giving him hay. If not I'm really not sure. You'd have to go for a very high fibre pellet like bunny basics T and maybe hay cubes + lots of things to chew on to keep his teeth down + a good selection of fibre filled veg. I would cross that bridge if you come to it. Try the dust extracted hay first. If you buy the 10 bag it works out cheaper than most hay bought in pet shops and takes up a space about the size of a washing machine. The bale is cheaper but more messy.

farm meadow hay or hay from the hay experts or dustfreehay company online is good as it really is hardly any dust in it and will help tremendously with his allergies.. .also if he is indoors give him towels adn paper bedding adn put teh hay in hte rack instead as this will lower the dust too. xx

Hi I got my rabbit from PAH from the adoption section as he'd suffered a respiratory problem due to being allergic to the wood shaving bedding they use (they said they see it more and more lately which begs the question as to why they keep on using it :roll so he was special care, bless him, and they said would have to stay on wood pellet cat litter for life.

He didn't look comfortable on it so tried him on some straw and he's absolutely fine but apparently they can be allergic to that too.

He used to eat the PAH hay which i bought when i got him, but since i got some timothy hay with herbs from there he won't touch the PAH stuff, and when you put the two side by side you can see why really, it doesn't look very appetising...

Will try the website recommended for the dust extracted hay, sounds good.

i took him vets today cos i found discharge this mornin he has snuffles but i have caughtit early... just on the phone to PAH with a complaint they r refunding my vets bill

Jeeeze louise...I should have got on the phone to them when we bought Bean! Our little Bean has a case of snuffles about a week after we brought him home for P@H. He had lots of discharge and very watery eyes. We took him to the vets straight away and after a course of Antibiotics its cleared up pretty quickly. He also liked having his eye bathed with cotton wool - the vet showed us how to do it and he loved it. Think this was parting of the bonding with us. He has never since has a course of antibiotics apart from when he wouldn't eat after his castration. Very worrying. Otherwise he is now fit as a fiddle. Good you caught it early. Dont think I would buy from P@H anymore as they often have rabbits in vvvvv small cages and also little sneezy things in there. hmmmm. going to a rescue for a wife bun for bean.

well they refunded it cos the ******** knew that the litter could of been infected... so they couldnt fight it... the vet told me to ring incase the rest of the litter was infected... so they refunded my vets bill... and cos i had to buy more bedding as i threw it away thinkin he was allergic they gave me a huge bag of bedding and some new toys for free... so cant complain at that... and they said to let them know if he needs more treatment or if i have to pay for my follow up check up and they will refund that too... well iv been keeping such a close eye on him that as soon as i saw discharge and heard a wheez i took him straight there... so should clear up... just got to try and get some medicine down him now... fun fun fun... vet suggested apple juice but snowball dont like apples lol... or oranges... so we brought pineapple n tried him on it last night... n it went down very well... so fingers crossed...

fresh pinapple is also good for heping gut mobility as it has an ensyme in it helping with blockages.

regarding pets at home bedding i dont use it unles si cant get anythign else as its usually very dusty adn this will make your bun worse.. he needs to be in the warm if he is unwell i believe too and be on antibiotics. hopefully you can source some good quality hay from a farm near by or offline as it really is better for them! x

yeh hes on antibiotics... which is not fun givin him trust me... and hes an indoor rabbit and lives in a nice warm room and plays in a nice warm room... and im usin paper while hes ill... when hes fit and healthy i will use shavings again as he loves them lol... likes to dig at them and chuck them on my carpet