Are you allergic to your pets?

nicholmere · #1 03-06-2002, 10:36 PM

I read this article today.
Cats OK for the allergy sufferer

It reminded me that despite being a cat owner for most of the last twenty-five years I am allergic to cats. I'm not allergic to my own cats mind you, just to other people's cats. When I visit someone with cats, or dogs sometimes, I'll often end up with itchy watery eyes and the sneeze attacks that won't stop until I'm out of the house.

Is anyone else allergic to their pets or their friends' pets?

phoenixx · #2 03-06-2002, 10:40 PM

I am very allergic to my dogs, my honey is allergic to our cats, and I am also allergic to guinea pigs for some reason. Notice how I have the pets anyway and just take enough allergy meds to choke a small country...

Leslie <- animal lover with animal allergies

#3 03-06-2002, 10:51 PM

When they are shedding badly or have bad dandruff problems, yes, I have problems with alleries and my 4 cats.

**pluckyduck** · #4 03-06-2002, 11:18 PM

A million years ago, I owned the most wonderful mutts.

Shayna and Shosha.

OMG, were they great dogs.

Anyway, both of them, especially Shosha were tremendous shedders. I found out from a doctor, who diagnosed me with asthma, that I was highly allergic to dogs. He told me to get rid of my big mutts, who slept in my bed with me every night, my face buried in 100 pounds + 60 pounds of fur.

Know what I said to him?

However, once the girls were gone and I could breathe again, I did resolve to no longer have allergen producing pets. Breathing is a good thing.

Hence, the poodle.

Andrea
who loves a good, slobbery, sheddy, 100 pound mutt

magenta321 · #5 03-07-2002, 12:17 AM

I am mildly allergic to pet dander, and have asthma. But, my pets are less of a danger to my health than some of the men in my life have been (I seem to only date smokers... yech!).

I keep the pets. I get rid of the men.

murasaki · #6 03-07-2002, 07:28 AM

We always had a cat and a dog while I was growing up. The cat came indoors, but not at night, the dog was outside.

I now have two cats. Before I went to Okinawa I had a six-week course and left my (then) kittens with friends. The three of us then went to Okinawa. Within weeks I had horrible allergies--so bad that even allegra didn't help very much (and shots weren't available there).

I was terrified that I had become allergic to my cats during the time I was away from them. I do think that they aggravated my allergies (I'd get itchy eyes after putting my face in their fur). But I also had tile floors and vinyl furniture, like the article recommends, and that must have helped.

It turns out I was allergic to the coral dust used in all kinds of construction materials on Oki. Once I got back to the States, two years later, my allergies miraculously cleared up. I was prepared to take those little pills forever because I wasn't giving up my babies.

--naomi

poseidon · #7 03-07-2002, 09:18 AM

Yes.

When I had a cat, I was VERY allergic. Thank God he was an outdoor cat. I have friends who have cats, when I visit their house my allergies go haywire. I cringe whenever I'm at someone's house for work and their cat decides I'm a great rubbing post.

When I had a horse, I was tremendously allergic to not only the horse but the hay that I fed him. I kept him for eight years.

I have Oscar now, and I'm still allergic to him (he's seven). I don't really care. My love for him outweighs how sick I wake up each and every morning (he sleeps on the bed).

Jeff

**hadassahchana**[$] · #8 03-07-2002, 11:08 AM

Katherine, thank you!!!

I just started seeing a new respirologist, and the first thing she tried to do was to tell me to get rid of my cats.

After we had this discussion (twice, she's nearly as stubborn as I am ) she finally said, in exasperation ," Well, what would you do if your children were allergic to cats???"

I said," Oh, I'd miss them terribly!"

She smiled and said,"You'd miss the cats - right?"

I replied," No."

Cindy

Psychovant · #9 03-07-2002, 11:33 AM

Allergic to animals? Not really anything actually, which based on the mini zoo here in the house as well as the horses, goats, etc. is a blessing for me. Gah, nothing better than cuddles, even when they are with a big ole horse head in the small of your back.

Oh wait! I do believe I have some sort-of allergic reaction to kitty or puppy vomit however. Anyone else have that problem?

Shannon ...

lambchops · #10 03-07-2002, 12:08 PM

Not me! Actually, I'm not allergic to anything at all. Not medicine of ANY kind, not food, not animals, not plants (including Poison Ivy...I'm immune to it's wraith), not weather.

mtbat · #11 03-07-2002, 06:37 PM

Quote:

-snip-I cringe whenever I'm at someone's house for work and their cat decides I'm a great rubbing post. -snip-

Jeff-you do realize that all cats KNOW who is allergic and who hates cats-thats how come they choose you! I've never known a cat who can't pick out a someone who is allergic or hates cats out of a crowd.

my husband claimes he is allergic to cats-I've told him, well I've had the cats longer than I've had you-who do YOU think I'd get rid of first?

He is very allergic to horses, which is why it pays to stay on the Assignment editors good side-if he ticks him/her off-he ends up covering the stock show.

I'm not particularly allergic to animals-but then, I've been around cats and dogs and more all my life-

Fridai

CANS4US · #12 03-07-2002, 09:13 PM

.....did anyone mention that the THING you might be actually allergic to is NOT the pet but the shampoo.....the flea powder OR......the kitty litter? I have found certain shampoos drive me nuts if I use them on the dog and others not at all...........I have asthma and I can successfully have a dog.......also, there is a GREAT anti-allergan corpet shampoo out there that works GREAT!
If you want the brand name let me know...............

Hope it helps!

Susan

P.S. Sorry if someone else covered this....only had a chance to skim the other answers...........