Pets and kids with allergies: can they be together?
It’s a common battle: Your child wants a pet, but has allergies.
What do you do?
Acquiring that first pet or keeping your existing pet under the
same roof with an asthmatic or allergic family member may not be out of
the question if a few precautions are undertaken.
A common assumption on the part of allergy and asthma sufferers is
that pet fur is the cause behind their allergy symptoms. In reality,
the culprit turns out to be proteins in the dander (dead skin cells),
saliva, and urine of the offending animals.
Deciding to keep a pet and an allergy or asthma suffer in the same
house is not impossible, but it requires a commitment from the entire
family.
First, it is important to determine if the pet is responsible for
the allergy or asthma trigger.
“There is no reason to get rid of your family pet if you just
suspect someone in the family is allergic to it,” says Jay Portnoy, MD,
chief of Allergy at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. “Your
local allergist can confirm whether you or your child are allergic to
your pet by doing a simple blood or allergy skin test.”
Once it has been determined that your beloved pet is to blame, a
few simple steps can remove much of their allergens from your home,
such as:
Bathe pets frequently, preferably once a week.
Keep pets out of the rooms most often used by the allergic family
member, especially the bedroom.
Vacuum often and use a HEPA filter on the vacuum cleaner.
Dust regularly.
Keep fish tanks clean.
Use a quality filter on your air conditioner and furnace and
change it monthly.
If small caged animals are kept, assign cage-cleaning
responsibilities to a non-allergic family member.
Consider purchasing quality air cleaners with HEPA filters and
keep them running continuously.
Pets are an important part of many people’s lives. Dr. Portnoy
says that you should remove the pet only after consulting with an
allergist to be certain that it really is necessary. But with a few
defensive measures undertaken by the entire family, hopefully everyone
will breathe easier and live happily together.
