Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Thread Started on Apr 16, 2012, 2:24pm »
Hi to everyone (again)! After a several-month absence, I am back on Wheekers. My daughter & I were the happy owners of 2 adorable piggies, Angelina & Olivia. Unfortunately, I turned out to be allergic to what I thought was their urine. (I eliminated the possibilities that I was allergic to the hay or to the piggies themselves.) My allergies seemed to act up worst just after I cleaned the cage & changed the fleece. Angelina would go around rubbing and strutting, leaving an awful smell. My allergies got worse & worse, and I was able to find Angelina & Olivia a new home with an adoption ad on the Guinea Pig Zone website. The lady who adopted them had 2 females already, and she was thrilled to have 2 more. She texted me about a week later with pics of.....Olivia & her 3 babies! It turns out that Angelina was really a boar! Well, that would explain her male/dominant behavior! Anyway, here's my question.....I would love to adopt 2 female piggies.....We miss our piggies, and we miss being piggy owners! Is it possible that I was just allergic to the boar's scent-marking? I'm hoping that this is the case......Thanks in advance for any advice!
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 15,535 Location: New Hampshire, USA Karma: 64
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #1 on Apr 16, 2012, 7:25pm »
What about Olivia's babies? Are there two mini sows you could take, or does the woman plan to keep all the sows?
I would try fostering two sows. That way if your allergies don't act up, you can adopt them. If your allergies do act up, you can return the girls. Either way, you'll have your answer.
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #2 on Apr 16, 2012, 8:34pm »
Thanks so much for the advice! Olivia's new owner plans to keep all of the piggies, as far as I know. That's a great idea about fostering; I just have to find out where I could get foster piggies. I know that Craigslist & Guinea Pig Zone have piggies available for adoption, but I haven't seen anything about fosters. As far as I know, we don't have any guinea pig rescues around here, but I'll keep looking. I really hope that it's the scent-marking that I am allergic to! I miss my piggies so much!
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #4 on Apr 17, 2012, 10:16am »
Thanks so much for the suggestion! The only allergy medication that I can take is Allegra. The others make me very drowsy and lightheaded. Even if I take them before going to bed, I'm still feeling the effects in the morning. (Not good when I have a 4-year-old who is up early & has to get to preschool on time!) I am actually researching some natural/homeopathic allergy relief products; I plan to try some of those soon to help with my seasonal allergies. Maybe that would help with the piggy urine/scent-marking allergy, too. I am 99% sure that I am allergic to boars' scent-marking, but I just don't know if I'm allergic to the urine, too. This will probably sound gross, but I don't think I'm allergic to piggy poop; when I used to poop-scoop the cage, my allergy symptoms did not seem to get any worse.
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 15,535 Location: New Hampshire, USA Karma: 64
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #7 on Apr 17, 2012, 3:11pm »
What bedding are you using? Perhaps a change of bedding would help the situation. Wood shavings aren't absorbent, so urine pools on the bottom of the cage, aggravating allergies. Sprinkling some baking soda on the bottom of the cage helps neutralize the urine. Sprinkling baking soda on fleece also helps neutralize the urine, and make it easier on allergies. I keep some in an old spice bottle with a shaker top, and lightly sprinkle it on the fleece when it gets smelly.
Different foods also effect the smell of the urine and poos, so sorting out which foods have the worst effects could make a big difference.
Lastly, I normally use KM hay, but ran out so bought a bag of Kaytee. The cage stunk until I got the next KM, as the Kaytee didn't have the same digestive effect as the KM. The more hay the pigs eat, the better they digest their food. A change in hay could improve the effects of the urine quite a bit, and be easier on the allergies.
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #8 on Apr 17, 2012, 9:44pm »
Thank you so much, 3piggles! I wish I had known about the baking soda before! I was using fleece (specifically, PiggyBedspreads). I only used Oxbow Timothy hay. I thought that may be the source of my allergies, but I stuck my head in the bag several times without any symptoms. (I know, real scientific experimentation!) Such a simple solution...baking soda! I will definitely try that when I get my new piggies. (I am determined to be a piggy-mama again!) I just discovered that the daughters of one of my friends have 2 female guinea pigs! This will probably sound silly, but I'm going to visit her piggies and see if I have any reaction to their cage smell. Not sure when this is going to happen, but hopefully it will be soon. Wish me luck! (Wow, all of this must sound pretty crazy!)
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 15,535 Location: New Hampshire, USA Karma: 64
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #9 on Apr 18, 2012, 6:50am »
Good luck! Just remember that you can control a lot more about the cage than they may be controlling, so even if you have an allergic reaction in that setting, you might be able to change enough things to avoid it in your own setting.
Can't think of a better way to test for hay fever!!!
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #10 on Apr 19, 2012, 8:18pm »
I just wanted to update my post..... I visited my friend & her daughter's guinea pigs.....and I had no allergic reaction to the cage smell at all! I stuck around & helped clean the cage up a bit, too, just to see if anything happened. Thankfully, no allergic reaction at all! Hooray! I'll probably make one more visit just to be certain, but I really do think it's just the male piggy scent that I'm allergic to.
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 15,535 Location: New Hampshire, USA Karma: 64
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #11 on Apr 20, 2012, 9:42am »
I'm glad the visit went so well. Hard way to learn the lesson, but at least you know it's scent marking chemicals that bother you. I hope you can have some guinea girls in your life really soon!!!
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #13 on Apr 21, 2012, 9:04pm »
Thank you so much for the hopeful good wishes!!! More piggy contact without any symptoms! Therefore, my search for a pair of piggy girls has begun. (You're right; I can't wait!).....I'm just about to post a new thread with some adoption questions.....
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 206 Location: Long Island, New York, USA Karma: 3
Re: Allergic to Boar's Scent-Marking? « Reply #14 on Apr 26, 2012, 4:46pm »
Two days (and counting) with my new girls (Cupcake & Sprinkles) & no allergy problems! They are adorable! (You can see their pic with my post in "Meet the Pigs" section - "Meet Cupcake & Sprinkles!) We are so happy to have them with us!
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I stuck around & helped clean the cage up a bit, too, just to see if anything happened. Thankfully, no allergic reaction at all! Hooray! I'll probably make one more visit just to be certain, but I really do think it's just the male piggy scent that I'm allergic to.