Have Allergies And Own A Pet?

Many of us are aware that we need to keep the dust, dust mites and mold down to a minimum in our homes, especially if we have allergies. But how often do we think about our dog and cat as a source of allergens?

If you have the problem and own a dog or cat, listen up. The skin particles shed by dogs and cats, known as dander, can rapidly spread through the house and cause allergic reactions for any allergy sufferer.

Don’t Allow Pets In The Bedroom

If your cat or dog must be in the house, confine them to certain rooms and do not let them in your bedroom. Those skin particles combine with dust mites, molds and other allergens and stick around in the bedroom, a room that we spend a lot of time in. If you have allergies, do not let the pet sleep with you. You would be in close contact with the dander for a number of hours.

Air Purifier

I would suggest that you use a Holmes Air Cleaner with Hepa Filter in your bedroom and other parts of the house if you have pets or allergies. I can recommend these, as I have had mine for over 15 years, and it is still running well. Get a flat faced air cleaner, not the half circle kind. Those half circle filters are much more expensive.

I use a carbon prefilter over the filter – this helps eliminate odors, bacteria and mold. And I vacuum off dust accumulation on the carbon filter and filter every weekend, the case as needed.

The filters will need replaced periodically. I try to order mine ahead of time and out gas them a bit before use. So be sure to put that in your budget.

Allergic To Cat – Start Bathing Them

You can regularly bathe cats, whose dander is particularly allergenic. It is best to start out with bathing when they are young, so that they don’t fight it. Pet owners can get most cats to cooperate during the bath by holding onto the nape of their necks, which restricts their movements.

Another option is to wipe them down with a wet, but not soppy wash cloth on a regular basis. Some cats handle this better. This wipes the saliva off the cat hair, which is what makes many allergic to cat.

Allergic To Dog – Bathe Them

Your being allergic to dog can be helped quite a bit.  Dogs, no matter what size need a regular bath if they are to be in the house as well. Use soaps and flea repellents from the Health Food Store to keep possible causes of your allergy reactions to a minimum.

Something that works well for Fleas is to use Castile Soap as recommended for a shampoo. It won’t hurt your animal and it is a surfactant and will help to kill fleas and head lice for humans too.

Cleaning

Vacuum and dust often, to keep all the shed particles from working their way deep into the carpets and upholstery. Buy specialized hepa filter bags that prevent dust from blowing back into the air. The bags fit most standard vacuum cleaners and cost a little more, but are worth it.

Also consider washing or changing you’re filter in your heating cooling system more often. You may want to purchase an air filtration system for your home as well.

Pets Are Good For You

Pets, whether a cat or dog, do people a world of good. The above information may allow you as a person with allergies to keep your pet by identifying the cat allergy or dog allergy and then taking proper measures to keep the living space as free as possible of the pet dander.