Allergic to Chinchillas?

[ChocolatPocky]

When I hold Mr. B I sometimes get little scratches from him, they turn red and puffy afterwards. Does anyone else get this and is it a Chinchilla allergy? I've read that most Chinchilla allergies are actually dust/timothy hay, but these are respiratory.

 

[Amethyst]

It is possible to be allergic to the chin themselves, but normally the most common are allergies to the hay and dust. I am allergic to hay, and if I don't wash my hands after giving them hay or as soon as I can when cleaning the cage, I get hives. Some people are also allergic to the chin's pee, so if it's only sometimes, and you don't get hives from handling hay, it could be just when he has a bit of pee on his feet and he scrapes you with his nails.

 

[ChocolatPocky]

It is possible to be allergic to the chin themselves, but normally the most common are allergies to the hay and dust. I am allergic to hay, and if I don't wash my hands after giving them hay or as soon as I can when cleaning the cage, I get hives. Some people are also allergic to the chin's pee, so if it's only sometimes, and you don't get hives from handling hay, it could be just when he has a bit of pee on his feet and he scrapes you with his nails.

Yeah I definitely have respiratory allergies with the hay and dust. If I handle the hay I might get itchy if it pricks me a bit. The urine I'm not sure about, I clean their cages by hand and the urine has never caused a reaction if I touch it. It could be that it causes a reaction when it gets in from a scratch?