I love my bunnies

[JessicaK]

... but I hate feeding them. The hay makes me sneeze, my eyes itch, my throat itches and my skin gets all red and itchy where ever it touches.


It's not normally too bad, but I'm right at the end of a bag, so it's dustier than usual. More dust = worse reaction.

 

[missyscove]

Have you tried switching to another grass hay? Some of our allergic members in the past have had better luck say switching from Timothy to Orchard.
Another option is getting and wearing a mask and gloves when you handle the hay.

 

[lyndym]

This happens to me as well! For about a year and a half I had been fine with Oxbow Western Timothy, then I started experiencing the same sort of allergic reaction. I switched to the Oxbow Orchard Grass and was fine. A couple months ago my pet store was out of that kind of hay, so I had to get a huge box of the timothy. Somehow my allergies had subsided, so I was fine for about a box and a half, then they resurfaced. Anyway, my buns were fine with the orchard grass, maybe you could try that?

 

[JessicaK]

Yeah. Orchard grass is a bit better than Timothy, but they wont eat it. And it's hard to find anything else here.
It's not usually bad. Just the two or three days right at the end of a bag/bale that really bother me. When it's not dusty, the grass has to actually prick my skin to trigger a reaction.
I grew up with horses, so this is old news, I'll be fine as soon as the Claritin kicks in

 

[missyscove]

I think we also had a member who would make her husband take the hay outside and shake the dust out. I don't suppose you live with anyone who would sift through a bale of hay and get rid of all the dust?

lyndym, you can order Oxbow's orchard grass by the box too. I happen to have a 9 lb box of timothy and a 9 lb box of orchard in my garage right now.

 

[thetwobunnies]

You can also order hay online, I get my hay from Sierra Valley and they also have oat - many people with allergies find this to be a great alternative. You can also mix and match and also if you know for sure what kind of hay you want (you can order 10lbs or 20lbs) but want to try a different type of their hay without actually purchasing a large amount you can ask for a sample.

 

[Imbrium]

um, WOW. $32 including shipping for 20 lbs of oat hay? that beats the pants off the $27 I paid for 9 lbs of oxbow oat when I couldn't find anything cheaper locally. do you happen to know what cut their oat hay is (ie does it have actual oats in it)? I'm barely into the bag of oxbow oat hay and sick to death of picking out the stupid oats.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We get orchard grass from Fosters and Smith. Used to use Timothy with gloves and dust mask and toss at least a third as it was just dust. Orchard is much better and way less waste and allergy fun.

 

[JessicaK]

Hmm, I never thought of ordering grass. I'll look into that, thanks

 

[thetwobunnies]

Are you talking about the oat hay from sierra valley? If so, I am not sure which cut the oat hay is but there are oat pieces in it, not fully formed but there are still oat pieces in it. Binky bunny also sells oat hay - young and mature. And the quality is outstanding - at least for the orchard grass

 

[MiniLopHop]

I just have to say... "you can love your pets, just don't LOVE your pets!" -The truth about cats and dogs

Good luck with the hay. I'm allergic to alfalfa and thrilled when they didn't need it anymore.

 

[Imbrium]

Are you talking about the oat hay from sierra valley? If so, I am not sure which cut the oat hay is but there are oat pieces in it, not fully formed but there are still oat pieces in it. Binky bunny also sells oat hay - young and mature. And the quality is outstanding - at least for the orchard grass

I was... I emailed them, they don't have anything that doesn't have oats in it >< they suggested maybe oat straw instead of oat hay - I emailed back asking what the difference was and if oat straw still had plenty of fiber, as I've never heard of it and I know plain straw has no nutritional value.

I've seen the oat hay on binky bunny... but it's crazy expensive. 11 lbs (4 mini-bales) would be $50 with shipping vs 20 lbs for $32 w/shipping >.> also, it says the young oat hay they have is for bunnies 1 year or older and mine are only about 7 mos.

 

[MiniLopHop]

Oat straw is oat hay without the oats. My kids like it for snacking, apparently it is more crunchy like potato chips
Regular straw is wheat plants without the wheat grain, it's just not a nutritious plant for rabbits at all. Young oat hay would be very similar to oat straw in that it wouldn't have the oats, but it is like early first cutting hay with the smaller plants, probably more leaves compared to the later cutting of oat straw where the oats have been removed.

At least this is what I came up with when I was looking into hays.

 

[Imbrium]

so oat straw would have lots of fiber, then?

 

[thetwobunnies]

Ah very true, the shipping is very costly. But there is a LOT packed into those mini bales! But yeah the oat heads is what you are not wanting so that won't work. Is oat the only hay you can have? My rabbits don't seem to like oat hay in general but go crazy over the seed heads!

 

[Imbrium]

they will not eat coastal, timothy, orchard grass, meadow mix or botanical hay - the only hays they seem to eat are alfalfa and oat >.>