We just found out our daughter is allergic to cats, and of course, we have one. Help!

[EMom]

Our first kitty died about 5 years ago. Just a few months ago, our last kitty died at 19 and I have to say it nearly killed me. This house feels empty without a cat. I need one. My allergic self needs one.

Thought I would post an update. We managed to find a kitten I am not allergic to! She is such a delight and I don't even mind that she wakes me up by pouncing on me or licking my face. She's a Siberian and lots of cat-allergic people aren't allergic to them. Lucky me....No sneezing, itching, etc. Just tons of kitty love.

 

[shortbun]

I faced this same issue last year. I eliminated all other allergens. We got a hepa air filter for Ds's room, we wash his bedding every week in All Free and Clear and got our furnace vents cleaned, then I put gauze like material over the furnace/air conditioning vents for further help. I dust the house and the floors regularly, took up all area rugs but one-we have wood floors so no carpet problems. I bought allergen wraps for Ds's bed and ours as well as all of our pillows so he can flop on my bed too. DS showers prior to going to bed so all pollens are out of his hair. We don't allow the cat in his room until the day we're going to strip his bed so he can still enjoy a little cuddling with the cat. Once he's done that-into the showers and the bed gets stripped. Otherwise, his door is closed. I am lucky that I can shut off his end of the house most of the time so the cat doesn't lay around in those bedrooms or nest back there. I vacuum the furniture twice a week. DS opted not to get the shots because as he so clearly stated-'no guarantees Mom, let's try some other stuff first.' Since we implemented all these measures in June of 20 10and he's been irrigating his sinuses twice a day, he's had only two sinus infections. The year prior, he had 12. His eyes are not constantly red although I admit that as soon as the grass started growing and the flowers began blooming, I noticed red eye and told him to start using his Patanol. We never even considered getting rid of our cat. He knows to wash his hands if he pets her and that with keeping her off his stuff and out of his room seems to do the trick.

Do you have carpets? I'd replace those before I'd get rid of my cat. Carpets are a huge allergy factor. They hold everything.

 

[kellyg403]

I agree with many others that you may be able to control the environment enough to keep the kitty.

My son is a severe asthmatic and he was/is allergice to cats and dogs. We have never owned a cat, but we did have a dog at the time. Because he was little and we didn't know where to begin we did rehome our boxer girl to be safe. She was with family still. In the meantime we took steps to clean up his environment, we had wood floors so that was a BIG help. Took down the blinds and put up curtains etc. We introduced him to to dogs slowly, meaning we always made sure he had his asthma meds before going to my mom's and he played with the dog etc. He never had an issue so we have had dogs since he was about 7. However, he still can't be around cats. He has a friend whose mom is a serious cat lover. My ds is 16 now, asthma really controlled in the last few years to the point we went one year without an attack. He spent the night with them last week, one of the cats now has 8 kittens. I had to pick him up at 3am and dig out an inhaler and benedryl. His eyes were swollen, he had hives and had his first asthma incident in a while. So exposure definitely means something I would imagine!

Kelly

 

[LA PIG]

We had this issue two years ago with DS 4. He had a severe asthma attack at DMIL's house. When they did allergy testing on him, it turned out that he was highly allergic to dogs. Of course, the year before, we had adopted two dogs. He never had a severe reaction to our dogs as they shed very little and did not produce a lot of dander. We also have wood floors and carpeting only in our den. However, he had frequent ear infections and flair ups of his Reactive Airway Disease. DS had to be on allergy meds every day and preventive nebulizer treatments each morning. We decided to find the dogs a new home because I didn't like the idea of him being on meds every day at such a young age. Luckily, someone adopted both of them and they are living the high life. Good luck with whatever you decide. It's not easy either way.

 

[NikitaZee]

I'm very allergic to cats. My throat starts itching, eyes swell up, sneezing, etc. I have a hard time being in someone's home who is a cat owner. Even with Benadryl or other allergy medicines it's less severe but still bothersome. I would not choose to live this way for the sake of a pet. OP, your daughter doesn't get to choose - you make the choice for her. I would absolutely re-home the cat if her symptoms were still bothersome to her after the efforts you've described. I know that, for me, no amount of vacuuming or dusting gets rid of the cat problems. The dander, etc gets into the air ducts and I'm in misery. Good luck.

 

[sunnyday123]

I think a lot of people are posting what they would do with their specific allergy; not what you should do in your particular situation with your daughters allergies.

I wouldn't get rid of the cat. Where I live, everyone is on allergy medication, and she's not having that big of a reaction. I'm sure her reaction to your getting rid of the cat would be much worse.

 

[bellabambina]

I grew up with cat allergy and a cat. I was such a cat lover that I would rather suffer then let him go.

Back then nobody did nothing special to reduce my allergy. I had daily swallenn eyes and runny nose.

Nowdays t here are ways to keep it low and here are some tips I found for you:

http://www.ehow.com/about_7238436_spray-cat-allergies.html

seem that if you just google " cat allergy relief "
and "cat allergy spray relief"

you can get tons of advices and info what works best.

I would keep a cat just as most people suggest if the allergy is not causing asthma because asthma is very dangeorus.

Also keep in mind that the allergy for any specific allergen might be higher if a child is expsed at the same time to other allergens.. as in censory overload?..

simply if your child is allergic to dust and body is exposed to lots of dust, if the cats walk in, the system is so overloaded it reacts.

Now as far as environtment I would put my mony on the following first and foremost:

* I would remove all carpets made of or containing olefin, polyester, and other nylon and non natural carpets. ALL OF THEM. I would put wood flooring everywhere.

* vacumming? people say.. beware, vacuming actually on one hand helps allergy but on theother it sends TONS of dender and small particles into the air so as end result person might suffer more if you vacum more..
so vacumming is good thing as to removal of debris but it has to be done SMARTLY..

smart vacuming means: NEVER vacum your home when a child is in the home. do it way before her coming so the dust can settle. To do simple experiment what the facum does to home air.. turn off all lights at night makeit pithc black room, vacum a bit dusty carpet and turn on the flash light and see all that flights in the air.

* so.. smart vacuming more.. on the topic: use vacum cleaners that are VERY low emitting ones.. there are vacums that actually do not use suction as a medium .. there are things like Shark and other that only have two brushes inside and they just rollt he brushes inside and collect the dust.
Or.. use big Guns vacum once weekly and on daily basis the low emitting roller vacums they are usually the ones who you have to charge.. as they dont' have srrenght to blow anything.

* smartest thing is not to vacum at all but instead do wet cleaing..
wahing floor, wipping floors.. steam cleaing.. WATER ONLY steam cleaner.



NEXT THING MOST IMPORTANT THROW OUT EVERYTHIGNT CHEMICAL BASED OR AROMA BASED THAT EMITS INTO THE AIR SMELLS AND CHEMICALS AND HEAVY METALS AND THE LIST IS VERY LONG BUT SIMPLIFIED WOULD BE SOMTHING LIKE THIS:....

* First dump all Air refreshners, and NEVER look back. They usually contain bad things and do read about them and it is hair raising, also there is no legal regulations what may and not go into them so there are even heavy metals that are emitted into the air.

* next go all home cleaners.. ALL!
all you need to clean yoru home is Baking Soda, and Vinegar!!!
amazingly enoguh read green home pages and you will see that people are successfuly for years using those two to clean EVERYTHING.
commercial chemicasl are what they are because nobody can cash on vinegar and soda so it is cheap for you and best for your kid and home and your pocket and everybody will love you for that. Vinegar smell goes away after half hour or less leaving home fresh smelling as it actually KILLS bacterias and odours not COVERs them.

* Thorw out everything Perfume. All perfumes are killers for kids and people with allergy and many does not even know, the same about headaches sufferers. Just read more about dangers of prefumes.. even for pregnant ladies.. again hair reising.

* Buy only things without perfumes.. : soaps, shampoo, washing powder, detergetnts.. i think Seven Generation and other companies do carry them.
This eliminates greatly daily emission of smells and chemicasl into your home that actually has nowhere to go but into your lungs.

* NEVER NEVER NEVER use any of the perfumed sheets for the dryers. they are major complaint for allergy suferers, and they emitt so much to your home


* Diet - don't feed your child things taht contain bad things .. additives, conservants and artificial colors as body has to fight them off so this make system works harder..

* Your child should eat lots of raw diet, raw veggies and drink smoothie without icecream.. just fruits and water.. fresh.. daily as this works as a bad stuff magnet.. jar jjuices are dead juices.. fresh smoothie is alive.. it simply binds with bed chemicals from the body and removes them

* You might look into sprays for the home but try to look for natural ones not chemical based as you might be adding more to environement.

* NEVER use any candles.. cancles are bad even without smells..they shoot lots of bad stuff into your air, rad about dangers of candles and cancles and allergies.. and never never never use perfumed candles.

* use perfume free kitty litter as this alone is really bad for the home if someone is using perfumed litter, bad for a cat, bad for allergies in people.

wash your bedding often.

*Most imprtantly let lots of fresh air in the house. Check when the air is least polluted as probably eavenning.. this allow all bad stuff to go out and new air get inside. do it daily .


LASTLY.. AND MOST SURPISINGLY WHATMANY PEOPLE DOES NOT KNOW

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS BEST HELP FOR ALLERGY?...

ACUPUNCTURE

tHAT IS RIGHT, YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE IT..
Yet read more , resarch more and you will be amazed.

Someone in my family suffered from heavy allergy that was simply and easily cured with Acupuncture.

Acupuncture rewires the system.. amazing.


P.S. if you decide to clean the ducts.. do not desinfect them as this will bring more chemicals into the house and do read all about possible problems from duct cleaniing
and how to do it right.. there ar better ways and not so great ways.. but genearlly it might be a good thing to do.. but just cleaning by vacuming them not
by sanitizing them.


I would think that washing a cat is really a minor thing.. if you do all other well.. and also brushing of the cat actually sends more dender into the air .. unless you would brushvacum your cat but this is very difficult to do as they are afraid of the noise..

oh and btw.. if you are sitting on millions.. then best vacum of all in the world is a vacum that you can install in the garage and you ahve just outlets for it all over the house.. and you simply connect the hose and vacum anywhyere you want. This is best because it does not shoot dust into the air but only sucks in. this vacum cost like 1500 to 3000 installed.. and I think it is called Central Vacum system for the home or something. I want one bad but don't have this kind of change under my sofa

Hope this helps.

Best regards.

 

[emer95]

How funny to see this thread pop up again after so many months. EMom- congratulations on your new kitty! I'm happy for you.

Bellabambina-awesome tips! Thank you!!

So, I guess I'll give an update since people have been so kind with all of their thoughtful suggestions. We took our daughter for official allergy testing in January (not just a blood draw). She had a skin test, and she is mildly allergic to cats. I saw the reaction myself, it was a teeny bump, smaller than a mosquito bite. She's also allergic to several types of trees, grasses, pollen, ragweed, etc. She is severely allergic to dust. Holy cow, that reaction was huge!

We sat with the doctor, ready to do whatever he told us to do about our beloved cat. He leaned over his desk and said, "I'm allergic to cats too. I have two of them. I'm not going to tell you to get rid of your cat."

God bless him! My daughter and I both felt like crying with relief.

He gave us information and guidelines about how to keep our home as allergen-free as possible. We're doing our best. It's pretty hilarious because dust is everywhere... how in the world can anyone possibly escape it? It's all over her school, floating in the air, etc. But thankfully her symptoms have never been severe. She gets shots once a week and she doesn't scratch her nose anymore.

So, all is well in our little corner of the world.

 

[shortbun]

I forgot to say that my son's allergies are severe but not asthma. If he had severe asthma, I would have found a home for our cat.

I also got some leather furniture. Doesn't hold hair or dander from pets, too slippery. This gives DS someplace dander free to sit.

Water and vinegar are my cleaning supplies. Once in a while, I put a couple drops of Dawn in my water because it really cleans stuff. I use a swiffer type dust/floor mop and I used it just damp so it doesn't make dust/dander fly in the air. I don't clean when DS is going to be home soon in case I stir up anything with the activity.

OP, does your daughter irrigate? It's marvelous. Ask her allergist about it.

 

[horseshowmom]

How funny to see this thread pop up again after so many months. EMom- congratulations on your new kitty! I'm happy for you.

Bellabambina-awesome tips! Thank you!!

So, I guess I'll give an update since people have been so kind with all of their thoughtful suggestions. We took our daughter for official allergy testing in January (not just a blood draw). She had a skin test, and she is mildly allergic to cats. I saw the reaction myself, it was a teeny bump, smaller than a mosquito bite. She's also allergic to several types of trees, grasses, pollen, ragweed, etc. She is severely allergic to dust. Holy cow, that reaction was huge!

We sat with the doctor, ready to do whatever he told us to do about our beloved cat. He leaned over his desk and said, "I'm allergic to cats too. I have two of them. I'm not going to tell you to get rid of your cat."

God bless him! My daughter and I both felt like crying with relief.

He gave us information and guidelines about how to keep our home as allergen-free as possible. We're doing our best. It's pretty hilarious because dust is everywhere... how in the world can anyone possibly escape it? It's all over her school, floating in the air, etc. But thankfully her symptoms have never been severe. She gets shots once a week and she doesn't scratch her nose anymore.

So, all is well in our little corner of the world.

Glad things went well. Our nurse practitioner's family has a cat, and her son is allergic (not severely so though). He loves the cat and would be heartbroken if he had to lose him. She said they've been able to handle it with medication, and he's had no issues.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I am so glad that it is all working out!

 

[Disney Doll]

For the type of reaction you describe, OP, I wouldn't be getting rid of the cat.
I'd be doing a bit more clenaing, vacuuming, dusting. I'd be reminding my DD to be aware that when she touches the cat, she washes her hands. I'd keep the cat out of her room.

 

[EMom]

The main reason I posted again after so long was to share my success with the Siberian kitten. I chatted with someone who has allowed other people who were thinking of getting a Siberian (all cat allergic) to come over and visit their cats. This person was VERY allergic. Puffy face, eyes would close, asthma attack....But this person has no reaction to Siberians. Anyway, of the dozen or so cat-allergic people who have "tested-visited" the cats, only 2 have had reactions to them. I'd have never gotten one without a lengthy visit first, but all went well. I was thrilled, because being without a cat made me miserable.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

For the type of reaction you describe, OP, I wouldn't be getting rid of the cat.
I'd be doing a bit more clenaing, vacuuming, dusting. I'd be reminding my DD to be aware that when she touches the cat, she washes her hands. I'd keep the cat out of her room.

Me too!

 

[Cat0727]

Aww OP I'm so glad everything worked out and you were able to keep your ktity

 

[aprilgail2]

I am allergic to cats and dogs and have had them all my life.

Since she is not highly allergic you can keep the cat however do not allow the cat in her bedroom. It helps.

That is what we did with my brother he was allergic to cats and dogs and I was an animal lover- at times we had 2 cats and 2 dogs. My brother got allergy shots and they weren't allowed upstairs which was his room and his library room growing up and he managed. The first few months were tough but as time went by he was less and less bothered by them and now he can be around them and have no issues at all.