Question:
My 6.5yo son has had asthma troubles for 5 years
now. We have done fairly well with various preventative
medicines, albuterol by nebulizer, and prelone when needed.
He has never had any classic allergy symptoms, just the asthma. Until J was 2 1/2, we had a cat, then we had a dog for just
over 2 years. For almost 2 years we've had no pets, because
during that time we moved to a new house and had a new baby.
Our family has been looking forward to getting kittens next
year. I felt that perhaps now was a good time to get J allergy
tested, in case there was an issue with cats, though he's
never reacted to living with a cat or visiting a cat. I was
also hoping to get some insight as to what may bring the asthma on. Is it possible to test positive for an allergy to cat, but have
no reaction to exposure to cats? Because of the allergy test
results, I feel it would be irresponsible of me to get cats.
Where do I go from here? I see on the web that a cat allergy
vaccine is being tested but not yet approved. That would be the
perfect solution for us.
Answer:
It surely is possible to have a positive skin test to cat in the
absence of clinical cat allergy. Unfortunately, it is often
premonitory. The positive skin test means that there is a high level of
IgE antibody present, and it would not surprise any allergist if your
son would develop symptoms around cats at almost any time. As a child I was very allergic to cats but dogs never bothered me. As a
teenager I had allergy testing and had more of a positive response to dogs
than I did to cats. Dogs have never triggered either my allergies or
asthma. As an adult, following the re-occurrence of my asthma after many
years absence, I had allergy testing once again. This time I again tested
positive for cats and dogs. Again, dogs have never bothered me and I have
had multiple cats in the house for over 15 years with no problems. My
allergist did tell me once that one could become desensitized to their own
pets. This is exactly what I don't want to happen -
no current reaction to cats, but getting a cat causing him to
have a reaction to that cat and then possibly all other cats.
That would be a pretty bad problem. The allergist doesn't want
him exposed to cats at all, despite the fact that he has never
once had a reaction to cats. That would be great if
my son never will have a reaction to cats, as he never has so far.
In a way, it seems it would be worth it for us to go ahead and
get a cat, with a back-up plan in place in case my son has any kind
of reaction. I'm just worried about the possibility of major exposure
to cat actually causing my son to react to all cats in the future,
when he never has so far. That's great you've been able to live with
cats in your house and no adverse reaction despite the allergy test
showing positive for cats. If I hadn't had the testing done, I wouldn't
even know this is possibly a problem for my son. I just don't want
to cause a problem...
