Is inhaling guinea pig odor bad for humans?
Hi I have had my guinea pig for 2 years and I am worried about the odor I breathe in that he causes from poop and dust and urine. It it harmful for humans? I have cystic fibrosis (lung disorder) and I where a mask when I clean out his house. When he's in my room for awhile I feel like I'm sucking in bad stuff. I clean him twice a week but he still stinks. Help! Am I harming myself?
I don’t know much about CF but dust /particulates can be a problem for lots of people, and also for the piggies. The poop I would say is pretty much inert and the urine shouldn’t really be a problem in my view but you may be getting dust from hay and particularly wood shavings. If that’s likely to cause irritation I would swap to the lowest dust bedding you can find, which would be fleece with newspapers underneath - I use that anyway as I have a grass allergy and also because it is the best for wicking away the moisture. Find low dust hay if you can - in the UK I buy from the Dust Free Hay company. Timothy will have less dust than a pet shop hay which might have a lot - you can see it when you pull the hay out of the bag.
Also if you can get a large C&C cage the piggies will use a specific area which you can clean daily. It is much harder with a petshop cage as they have no room to have a separate potty area.