asthma/allergy

Question
Hi Heather, hoping you will share your thoughts on this as I am running out of ideas. I have a long hair syrian hamster, he needs to have his teeth clipped every 2 weeks,not sure if this is a factor or not. He started sneezing a couple of months ago and his right eye has been crusty everyday for the same amount of time. As soon as he starts sniffing the substrate or going into his nest the sneezing starts.  I treat his eye twice daily with medicine from vet and help him to open it with a damp cotton ball. The sneezing however continues, I believe he has become alergic to paper/wood products!! I notice he always sleeps on his right side...hence only his right eye is affected by contact to bedding?! I've tried aspen, toilet paper, paper towels, he was already on carefresh, paper crinkles and Softsorb, news paper pellets. I made containers of all of these the other night and placed him in them one at a time. He had a complete sneezing fit in each. I have since removed all his bedding and put a plastic mat on the bottom of his cage for some cushioning, and I added a bit of hay. He didn't seem as bad this morning. I hesitate to give him strips of cotton towel incase he ingests it (however he can't chew much as a result of his very disfigure teeth). Any thoughts? It seems to be anything with a tiny bit of dust, sets him off. He is just over a year old and otherwise is very acitve...it's just the sneezing and congestion it causes over time. The vet hasn't had any ideas, I thought I might buy some softer hay grass to try. Help! Thanks for your time.

Answer
Poor little guy! Sneezing and crusty eye sure could indicate an allergy, but I would also assume that if his eye was being bothered by it, his skin would be too. Is there evidence that his skin is red or flaky? His feet don't sound like they're being bothered by it either. The eye could be unrelated to the bedding. As for the sneezing is there something new in your home that could be triggering it? Maybe a new air freshener or cleaner? I only assume that because he was sneezing in all bedding types. It's very hard to say, even when the vet is stumped.