Effects of forest fire smoke on chins?

[critterrx]

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook earlier today:

"Anybody know the effects of forest fire smoke on chinchillas? I am freaking out. We are getting tons of smoke from a big Arizona fire and on the news they said to turn off your air and shut your windows. Right........ It is to hot to turn it off so all night my babies are sucking down smoke. It was so bad I had an asthma attack last night. It is bad today also. I don't know what to do..........."

I suggested keeping windows closed, plugging any drafty spots, turning thermostat up a bit so the a/c is not having to be on as often, and giving the chins fleece-wrapped frozen water bottles. Anybody got any other ideas??

Thank you!

 

[RDZCRanch]

During the big wildfires in Yorba Linda a couple years ago (about 5 miles from where I was living at the time) the fire department told us to run our a/c's and keep the house closed up because the a/c would filter out more smoke than anything else. My entire herd survived the massive amount of smoke for over two weeks and none of them seem to have any ill health effects from it. So I suggest she close up the house and run her a/c 24/7.

 

[critterrx]

I will pass that on to her. Thank you!!

 

[AZChins]

I'm having to deal with the same stupid fires right now here in southern AZ. We just have to keep the windows closed with the A/C on. It isn't so bad as long as I don't have to go outside.

If the wind shifts, it's going to get worse here. There's much worse fires to the west and north of here, but we still have a wildfire just to the south of us.

 

[critterrx]

Thanks, Susan. I guess she must've either heard wrong or the news had it wrong about turning off the a/c. Hope you and your chins all stay safe through this!

 

[AZChins]

Whenever there is an air quality issue they always tell people to stay inside with the air conditioning going. I have electrostatic air cleaners in my house that really help with smoke.

I was outside a little while ago and it's still pretty smokey out there. This morning it made me cough a little when the dogs went out. I'm just hoping that the monsoon starts soon so that the fires stop. When it's 5% relative humidity out and nearly 100°F there's always such a risk for these bad wildfires!

 

[Essentia]

I also agree about leaving the AC on as much as possible. Your AC pulls the air from the inside of your home (hence why you put a filter inside instead of outside).