how can i de-cat my new house

[tracyk]

moving to new house this week and just found out a cat has been living there. dh is v. allergic.
Any tips for de catting the carpets quickly?

Unfortunately, having them professionally washed is not going to be enough if your DH is very allergic. What about changing them? Probably you can minimise the problem temporarily with a bottle of fabreeze anti allergens but this is not going to be enough in the long run.

And often times dealing with the carpets isn't enough. You will usually have to change the pad underneath, too.

we are going to be replacing carpets with wood - but didn't want to rush into making a decision on the replacement till we'd been in the house for a while.
Looks like some anti histamines are the order of the day.

ditch the carpets and live with bare boards with / without cheap rugs for a while?
don't forget to do curtains, skirting boards etc too.

I'd agree, ditch the carpets and manage with bare floors for a while. We moved into a house that had a cat. Dh is allegic so we got the vax out every 3-4 days and was stunned that it was still picking up cat hairs 2-3 months later. We recently moved into a new (cat free) house and dh had just realised he hasn't had to use his inhaler yet.

Why just treat the symptoms when you can elimate the cause.

Did any of you see the programme that was on last week about children that are all asthmatic but rather than just giving medicine it concentrated on getting rid of the cause. One of the children was allergic to cats and they had to lift all carpets and it would take about 6 months to get rid of the 'cat'.

There is also a Miele hover that is approved by the British Allergy Foundation that removes cat and dog from your home. Sounds like you would still need to remove all the carpets first though

We have the Miele Cat & Dog and it does help a lot to remove the hair but if the cat has been spraying here and there (and I'm sure is impossinble to have a non-sprying-cat) the Miele on it's own is not going to be enough. Get rid of the carpets, I'm sure that if you lift them you could see in the back of them how naughty kitty has been (yuk).