Please help. I CANT BREATHE

[Mailablemage]

I wasn't sure where to post this so if it needs to be moved please do so. My girlfriend and I moved in together about six months ago, she brought her male lion head lop with her. I love the little guy and we got along instantly(he even lets me hold him, but he won't let my girlfriend). I knew coming in to the relationship that the bun comes first and I accept that. We rent a small room in an apartment so the only place he can stay is in our room, I am extremely allergic to hay. Most nights I spend two and three hours waiting for my allergy meds to kick in while I cough and sneeze. At first it was mild and tolerable, but lately it's gotten to the point where I can't breathe and have to get up and cough up a bunch of phlem in the midle of the night. And then if something or someone wakes me up I can't go back to sleep because the meds have worn off and the congestion makes it hard to breathe. I've taken to sleeping on the couch so I don't wake up my girlfriend.
Please help, my relationship is suffering because of this.

 

[Bville]

What kind of hay are you feeding your rabbit? Some people have had an improvement in their allergy symptoms by switching to a different kind of hay. You are probably using Timothy hay, which is the most common, but there are other kinds of hay that are good for rabbits too like orchard, meadow, coastal, oat, and Bermuda.

 

[ladysown]

consider feeding hay cubes instead of hay. it's often the dust that causes issues. Make sure the hay is good quality. some folks have better success finding hay from a farmer rather than using the store bought stuff.

 

[PaGal]

yes, look in to a different type of hay.you can try to find someone that farms hay nearby, look into a farm supply center or even order online. you also may find different hay at a pet store.

 

[ladysown]

another possibility.... are you allergic to fresh grass? You don't HAVE to feed hay. You could grow cat grass and give a big handful to the rabbit everyday. I know folks say it has to be hay...but it really doesn't. You could feed straw, you could feed long stemmed grasses (fresh cut), or you could do hay cubes. Many rabbits also live quite nicely without hay in their diets alone, just living on pellets. Still others exist living on fresh greens alone.

So make it work for you and your health issues. It won't get any better, it will just get worse so you need to find a way to make it work for both you and the rabbit. Think outside the box and don't be bound in by the "it has be done this way" cause it DOESN'T.

Best of luck figuring it out.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use orchard grass--I'm allergic to Timothy.

 

[Mailablemage]

another possibility.... are you allergic to fresh grass? You don't HAVE to feed hay. You could grow cat grass and give a big handful to the rabbit everyday. I know folks say it has to be hay...but it really doesn't. You could feed straw, you could feed long stemmed grasses (fresh cut), or you could do hay cubes. Many rabbits also live quite nicely without hay in their diets alone, just living on pellets. Still others exist living on fresh greens alone.

So make it work for you and your health issues. It won't get any better, it will just get worse so you need to find a way to make it work for both you and the rabbit. Think outside the box and don't be bound in by the "it has be done this way" cause it DOESN'T.

Best of luck figuring it out.

He's a large rabbit, around 8-12 pounds I'd say so I'm not sure of grass would really work because I'd have to grow a lot. His diet is actually really healthy, fresh greens with a small slice of Apple.
Going to a feed store in the boonies after work today to find some new hays. Also going to put in a hay hammock to prevent buildup in his cage. I'll post results as I go along

 

[J.Bosley]

I am also allergic to hay! So I understand what your going through. What really helped me is having my Rabbits in a different room, all to themselves! This way the hay is more contained.

I also bought a bale of hay from a farmer, and for some reason it isn't affecting me so much! It seems to have less dust, which is half the reason most people are allergic to the hay.

Another suggestion is allergy pills, though they can get expensive if you use them daily... I also make my Boyfriend feed the Rabbit's the hay when I'm out of the room.

Now the only time I have bad allergies towards the hay is when I am sweeping up the rabbit room!

Good luck

 

[Imbrium]

If you're in the US and would be comfortable PMing me an address, I could send you little samples of orchard and bluegrass to see if either doesn't set off your allergies. Both are from online/mail order sources (Sierra Valley pet hay and KMS Hayloft, respectively) so you'd be able to get the same type of hay from the same source if one worked for you.

Compressed hay cubes really aren't as healthy as long strands of hay; however, if you can't find a normal hay that doesn't make you miserable and CAN find a type of compressed hay cube (other than alfalfa) that you're okay with, then I'd go with the cubes and make sure the bunny has lots of other stuff to chew on - better to use the cubes than not be able to breathe! Also, sometimes feed stores sell plain hay pellets (ie NOTHING but grass hay in them). Again, these aren't as good as fresh hay for bunnies but are a viable substitute when severe allergies are involved. Hopefully you're only allergic to one type of hay, but those are a couple options if that's not the case.

Also, have you tried a 24h OTC allergy med like Claritin, Zantac or Allegra (the generic versions are just as good and much more reasonably priced)? For people with severe allergies, they're not always enough... but they're worth a try! It makes a huge difference for my boyfriend - he couldn't stand to hold my Holland Lop because he was allergic to her fur, but with the allergy meds he can cuddle her without suffering (fwiw, he liked the Claritin but when I bought Zantac instead, he said it worked better). If you find a hay that you're *less* allergic to but that still bothers you some, a combination of that and a 24h allergy med may be effective.

Good luck - I hope you can find something that works for you!

 

[lovelops]

He's a large rabbit, around 8-12 pounds I'd say so I'm not sure of grass would really work because I'd have to grow a lot. His diet is actually really healthy, fresh greens with a small slice of Apple.
Going to a feed store in the boonies after work today to find some new hays. Also going to put in a hay hammock to prevent buildup in his cage. I'll post results as I go along

My Brooke is 10 pounds.. and I buy grass from a nursery and give it to her.
I can buy pots of it that can keep growing after she munches on a side of it and keep the other plants away from her until she is ready..I also give her sprouts that I grow daily in a small sprouting container on my kitchen counter. They grow fast like within 3 days and you can keep regrowing this as well for you own for salad.

Here is a pic of Brooke so you can get an idea how big she is.

I hope this all gets worked out.

vanessa

 

[Imbrium]

My Brooke is 10 pounds.. and I buy grass from a nursery and give it to her.

What kind of grass? Wheat grass (or rye or something similar)? I grow wheat grass for my bunns sometimes (need to buy more seeds!) and occasionally rye or some other grain grass if I find it at the local feed store. That stuff grows absurdly fast! If I remember correctly, it takes no more than a week to pre-sprout seeds, plant them and have the grass grow 6+ inches high (which is when I usually do the first cutting; I can get 2-3 before I have to start over). It's nothing like grass you find on lawns, which takes ages to grow if you're looking at feeding a bunny. I have no problems growing it and I have a really bad tendency to neglect any living thing that doesn't have a face . Seriously, I'm BAD at plants - way too forgetful! Even I can grow wheat grass, though.

Do NOT buy wheat grass seeds or kits marketed towards pets - you'll get ripped off something fierce. You can buy grass seeds at many feed stores (sold by weight from bulk bins, so get as little or as much as you want) or online... I think I paid like $15 for 10 lbs (after shipping) when I ordered some off of Amazon about a year ago (I got ones marketed towards humans, which are the exact same thing as the kinds sold for pets but at a fraction of the price).

Wheat grass (or other grain grasses) could also be dried to make it more like hay. Here's a site that shows you how. While I haven't actually dried wheat grass, I know the fresh stuff is FAR less prone to setting off allergies than most hay as long as you take precautions to prevent mold from growing right on top the soil (if you even use soil at all, as there are growing methods that don't use it).

Regardless of what growing method you use, it's possible to grow wheat grass without it needing sunlight (though it does seem to do better on a window sill once it sprouts), so it's very apartment-friendly. I've grown it in a closet before! You could also get grow bulbs or a flourescent-type fixture with a long grow bulb (which is like $10 at Walmart) to help it grow if a windowsill isn't available.

For a bunny the size of your girlfriend's, it's probably not feasible to grow enough to replace his entire hay intake unless you've got a LOT of extra space (since rabbits often eat their own body volume in hay a day)... however, you could still grow quite a bit without sacrificing too much space. If you end up having to go with compressed hay cubes or 100% hay pellets, growing some grass to supplement it with would help make up for some of the benefits lost by feeding hay in a compressed form (ie the long fibers).

Anyway, let us know how the hunt for a non-allergenic alternative goes! There are lots of options, so it should be possible to find a good compromise that keeps the bunny healthy without sacrificing your own health .