Can you be allergic to a pet Hamster?

being that i work with animals and am highly allergic the answer is yes. I am not allergic to the small animals such as hamsters, gerbils, rabbits etc but i am very allergic to the hay that you feed them. Here is a funny thing, we give dogs and cats allergy shots at work and I was amazed to find that they can be allergic to human dander!

It can also be the bedding in which you have your hamster. I have two degus and use a cedar bedding. It creates a fine dust that coats the house if I don't dust every other day. The hamster can have the dust from it's bedding in its fur. If this is the case, you can try using newspaper instead of bedding. It's not as dusty and it will give it something to do by chewing the paper. Hmmmm I don't know if newspaper would be a good thing because of the ink, but maybe another type of paper with no print on it?

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^{@--->--Sherry--<---@}

Newspaper isn't very healthy for your pets, we also have allergy issues with the cedar chips.  I use the aspen pine chips that seem to work better with less allergies and are safer for your pet.  Also, you need to keep your cage clean, the bedding can grow mold as well.  Which my whole family is severely allergic too.

My son in law, who has bad asthma, takes Alavert (24 hr) because he has a dog.
I take it when I'm visiting and it helps a lot.

You can be allergic to anything that had fur,dander,& saliva........

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SnowyLynne

Just a suggestion Brandi....have you tried using a dust mask when changing the cage? I'm allergic to whatever is in the grass and if I have to cut the grass, I wear a mask to prevent my allergies from going haywire. So you can try that if you don't want to resort to an allergy med to see if it helps.

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^{@--->--Sherry--<---@}