Question:
A family member is quite allrrgic to the family pet cat and rabbit. She has
been tested and IS allergic to them. We love our pets and don't won't to get
rid of them.
Does any one have any advice to mae our home livable for our allergy sufferer,
and still allow our pets to stay?
Answer:
I have found no 100% method to keep your member free from allergy
symptoms caused by the animal, and I have looked. It may be sad, but I
can speak from personal experience, living with an animal is not worth
the suffering caused by it. [and note the allergens left by the animals take up to 6 months to
clear from the house after removal]
No. The only way to alleviate her suffering is complete, total and
permanent avoidance of the allergen. And unless you've had allergies
yourself you can't begin to know just how much she's suffering. If you have a garage, or some other kind of outbuilding, you can try
housing the pets there, but they must be removed from the living space
that the allergery sufferer occupies. This isn't something you can
compromise on.
My ex-wife had exactly the same attutide and was quite insistant about
trying "just one more". I left when I had to start using inhalers to
keep my lungs clear. The damage was thought to be permanent but has
substantially reversed over the last 8 months. You'd better face the
decision of which do you have more emotional attachment to - the
person or the pet. Allergies are a biochemical reaction. They don't
compromise, negotiate, or give you a break.
You might have to go the no pet route, but some people do manage to live with pets
and bad allergies by weekly bathing of the offending pets, and scrupulous cleaning
of the house. And some people love thier pets enough that they'd rather do this
and suffer than get rid of them. Depends on what is important to you. The people who can take this course of action are rare. If you read
the literature, you'll find that 97% of people who develop cat
allergies are living without a cat within 2 years. There are 2
factors you are not evaluating here. 1) the person posting does not
have the allergy and 2) continued exposure to an allergen often leads
to asthma.
