Am I allergic to my guinea pig?

Question

I have never been allergic to anything, even cats and dogs, but where ever I touch my guinea pig when I hold her, my skin turns red and little white bumps breakout, and it itches, but it goes away after about an hour or so. I give her regular baths and she has a wire cage floor with plastic interlocking cage floor mats from PetSmart, and I'm not allergic to plastic, so it can't have anything to do with the bedding. I'm allergic right.

Answer 1

rub your guinea pig all over your stomach.
rub the bedding all over your thighs.
rub the wood shavings all over your arms.
rub the guinea pig bath soap on your shins and feet.

See if ONE item causes the rash. It will go away in a few hours, right? Then you will know which thing causes the rash.

PS. some people are not allergic to cats.. but JUST to cat saliva (on the fur). You could handle the pig with gloves and a long sleeve shirt and still be OK.

Answer 2

here is how to know. take a sterilized pin and scratch yourself just a tiny bit on your arm say . then put one hair directly from the animal over the scratch cover it with a clean new band aid
leave that over night . in the morning if the area is raised and red then your allergic to the hair of the animals . or the skin of the animal to test for the allergy to the skin of the animal take a medical gauze bandage rub that back and forth over the animal again scratch with sterilized pin cover the hole thing with a new bandage wait till morning same thing if it is red and raised then your allergic to the animal.
i know that with cats a person is not allergic to cat hair or skin but to saliva so if a person rinses there cat under clear warm water and dries the cat that helps a great deal .
you may also want to try that or have someone else rinse the animal this way no soap nothing just warm clear water and towel him off and if its not too hard use a warm not hot hair drier to completely dry him off . that's about it
you can take allergy pills as well if you like .

Answer 3

It sounds like you are allergic, if the only reaction you have is a skin reaction try wearing long sleeve shirts when holding your guinea pig, wash your hands when you're done and change your shirt

Answer 4

Might not be the animal you're allergic to. If you feed hay, add that to Blues' list of things to test. My daughter has guinea pigs, my husband is allergic to hay and has a similar reaction.

Answer 5

hello, my friend has/had a guinea pig and when I was around it I could not breathe I have a bad allergy/asthma reaction when Im round them, I did not touch it so I didnt have the bumps.

Answer 6

pets are good .. if your starving , looks like it is cafe le guinea pig tommorrow - time to find out if your really allergic to it.