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I met
Todd on a group hike held at Temescal Canyon in Los Angeles. It took
only a few minutes to establish that I’m a veterinarian and he’s
allergic to animals. At the time I was in my twenties, and with an
endless parade of eligible men in the big city “allergic to animals”
equaled “deal breaker." I think his eyes started watering just
talking about my cat. In the end, we became good friends. Todd met my
cat and standard poodle many times, but his congestion would start in
the hallway before he even walked into my condo.
Todd
and I once discussed whether or not you should re-home a pet if your
spouse was seriously allergic. He was very thoughtful, and said he
would re-home the pet. I said I would re-home the spouse. Children
are often allergic to pets, too, and there are things you can do at
home to manage a pet allergy so you can keep both the pet and the
child.
Contrary to popular belief, people are not allergic to animal
fur. Specific proteins in the animal’s saliva and sweat trigger
allergies. Hair and skin flakes, called dander, are just the vehicle
that delivers the saliva and sweat allergen. "Hairless" animals still
have normal sweat glands and grooming behavior which is why "hairless"
animals can still cause symptoms. Urine can also be a culprit for
allergies. Poodles and a few other breeds don’t shed, and while there
are no true "hypoallergenic" breeds, dogs with that type of hair do
seem to pose less of a problem then other breeds.
Maintenance bathing to remove the allergens on the skin is a lot
easier on a short or hairless breeds, too. Frequent washing helps
reduce the deposition of allergen on the skin of cats and dogs. One
study suggested that using a distilled water or special allergy
shampoo has not been shown to be any more effective than just rinsing
the pet with tap water. Subjectively, I find using distilled water as
a final rinse to a regular shampoo seems to help more then just plain
bathing, but the main idea is to rinse the animal weekly.
If
someone is allergic to a pet, I recommend keeping the pet out of the
bedroom. More people are allergic to cats, and cat dander tends to
hang in the air longer than other allergens. Within thirty minutes of
just entering a bedroom, a cat can significantly increase airborne
allergens. Following weekly washing of a cat, the allergen load is
reduced to less than one quarter. Ventilation and furnishings in the
room also influence the allergen load. Carpet accumulates cat
allergen at approximately 100 times the level of a polished floor.
There
is some debate, but children exposed to animals before their immune
systems are fully formed at age two are unlikely to become
allergic. Even if there are known allergies in the family, after the
first year of a child’s life, there is no strong evidence to recommend
avoiding animals to prevent allergy development.
As for
my allergic friend Todd, he met Liora, who had no pets. Liora was a
vegetarian, not a veterinarian, and his perfect fit. They married at
a vegetarian Moshav -- or village -- in Israel. That first year they
welcomed their firstborn, “Sebastian," a black standard poodle (Liora's
ideal was a golden retriever, but it was a compromise). Todd's
allergy symptoms are all but non-existent with a poodle, and there is
no way they would re-home the dog, which proves that finding the right
person can help with allergies, too. Their daughter, Charlotte, loves
growing up with Sebastian and hopefully will have no allergies. |
