Has anyone got rid of their CAT because of a child's allergies?

[morningpaper]

My cat has thus far been with me for longer than both my husbands put together!

But one consultant of DD's advised me to get rid of it, because DD has a lot of asthma and recurrent pnuemonia.

The cat is half wild so would not be able to be re-homed really. Has anyone got rid of a cat for this reason?

ok keep the cat and put your family in a large plastic bubble. and then turn your story into a 'made for tv' movie staring the woman who used to be laura in 'the little house on the prairie'

erm... shave the cat?

Get rid, get rid, get rid.

There was some research published last year (sorry haven't got link) which claimed that cat dander makes asthma worse even if you are not actually allergic to cats.

I find it very strange that you are asking this MP? Surely you know the answer?!

Asthma and pneumonia are not to be sneezed at

I love cats, but have severe allergies to them; my face and eyes swell up and I break out in severe hives and swelling. I've have had a few asthma attacks after being in houses where there are cats, especially scary when I was pregnant as I have heightened reactions to allergens, and especially with the worry of how the meds would interact with unborn babe.

My sister also suffered from asthma and she died from an asthma attack. That means she's dead now from asthma. It's a serious illness, and can be fatal. Have a look on the asthma websites my experiences leave you unconvinced.

I had pneumonia for thre months this year and it was absolutely debilitating, so I can imagine how far behind your child is developmentally with the exhaustion of just trying to breathe.

I just can't imagine why you are posting this Morning Paper? This is sort of a trolling post, no? Are you so wrapped up in yourself and your relationship with a cat that you'd put the health, and possibly the life of your daughter at risk? And you seem to want sympathy

To continue having a cat where your daughter has asthma and pneumonia constitutes endangerment in my book. It's black and white, life and death.

Get rid of the cat. People die from asthma, I've seen this myself. I miss my fabulous sister every day: she was great fun, vivacious, very creative, always surprising and loving, and she's dead as a doornail from asthma.

Your daughter deserves a long and healthy life, and if you can do anything to ensure she has the best chance of getting one, I urge you most strongly to do everything you can, no matter how unpleasant personally for you, to ensure she has the best chance of having one.

Reading this with interest, i have 3 cats and a dog (im a sucker for a sob story, hence 3 cats and a dog)

My 4 year old has asthma and no i dont want your cat!

My dd has had a severe eczema outbreak recently, and doctor said it cculd be the cat, even though he's been around for ages.

Not as serious as asthma, but still unpleasant for a 13 yo.

MP, I'd try to find a farm for your cat - as he's semi wild, he'd love it - lots of barns, mice, rats, and the farmers would proabaly happily take an older cat, maybe earn his keep.

"I'm not sure how bad it can be with one cat in a non-carpeted house, especially when she is only allowed in the lounge and conservatory - and doesn't upstairs at all."

MP I get allergies to people who have cats at home if the cat was on their knee. All I have to do is sit next to someone on a bus who had a cat on their knee hours before. And if anyone was rubbing a cat and they touch my skin i come up in a weal. If I sit on a sofa where a cat used to be sitting I have an asthma attack.

Please, this is not rocket science. enough of the "I'm not sure how bad it can be..." excuses.

Your DD has asthma and pneumonia. DUH! It's a total no brainer.

Get rid of the cat.

MP - Do you know whether she is actually allergic to the cat or not?

Be a shame to get rid of it if she wasnt

My DD is allergic to our three cats, but we had one when she was born, and then ended up with 5!

She wouldn't want us to get rid of them, despite her allergies and asthma. (she has had pneumonia, but has had a jab now, also had pleurisy)

She has just moved out into her own flat, guess what, she phoned me up and told me she has just bought a kitten! FFS!!!

She just loves cats for their company, but they stay strictly out of her bedroom, and she has floorboards, no carpet, and washes the cat's bedding every week and gets her cleaner ( I know she is 22 and has her own cleaner!) to vaccuum the sofa and chairs thoroughly.

It is reported that children who grow up with cats are less likely to suffer from illness. She could be worse, but won't be any better if you get rid of them, as you would need to fumigate the house to get rid of all traces of fur, skin cells, dander, etc etc.

Keep the cat!

My son was asthmatic, not very bad, and he had eczema, which was quite bad. We live in a flat, got offered a cat which i agreed to take for a fortnight on the basis if it doesn't work the cat goes back. Unfortunately the woman who gave it us moved and didn't bother to get in touch. We still have cat, i was allergic to her. We battled it out, and took piriton everyday for a few weeks, and now my son has clear skin, no asthma, no more medicine. So glad we didn't ditch the cat, we love her to bits.

thats the problem claw, she hasn't been tested but the consultants have assumed that she has multiple allergies (nothing serious, just permanently sniffy, like DH) including dust mites

(We have got rid of all carpets and keep things as dust-free as possible)

Yes they children would be GUTTED if we got rid of the cat!

I know this is an exception, not everyone can get over an allergy, and it took months of continuous hoovering and cleaning to keep hair to a minimum, plus she was shedding her winter coat, but we stuck it out and it paid off. The cat has a real calming effect on my son, if hes upset, stress would bring on bad skin, but now he goes cuddle the cat and it calms him. Only you know the extent of the allergy, but don't risk it if the cat is making dc bad.

MP - personally i would wait until it was definate. In my humble experience, experts have been know to get it wrong!

My son was asthmatic, not very bad, and he had eczema, which was quite bad. We live in a flat, got offered a cat which i agreed to take for a fortnight on the basis if it doesn't work the cat goes back. Unfortunately the woman who gave it us moved and didn't bother to get in touch. We still have cat, i was allergic to her. We battled it out, and took piriton everyday for a few weeks, and now my son has clear skin, no asthma, no more medicine. So glad we didn't ditch the cat, we love her to bits.

That is true mindingalongtime "It is reported that children who grow up with cats are less likely to suffer from illness" but research shows that it's the intestinal parasites that animals bring with them finetune the immune system, not the presence of the animals themselves.

If your DD has worms MP then by all means take the risk of keeping your cat, but if your Dd has no intestinal parasites, you may be sure that her asthma, wheeziness and illness brought on by having weakned lungs and associated systems (Skin and liver for getting rid of toxins) is caused by the dander and saliva of your cat.

For me it's a no brainer to re-home your cat, and to vacuum and wet dust your house thoroughly, but then unfortunately I've had rather a lot of experience of allergy and fatalities associated with them, so I tend to take allergies seriously.

My ds is officially allergic to cats, dogs, dustmites and my beloved cat was living at my mothers. Last year I took the cat back for a few nights to see if ds would be okay.

The first night he was all snottery and sneezy and I had to give him piriton and I thought 'oh no we can't keep the cat.'
But the next day he was okay, his body seemed to adjust to the cat and he was back to his usual self. So a year on we still have her.

I just think we can't make the world we live in sterile. I don't understand all this allergy, asthma, excema business that my children have been cursed with.

I do take it seriously, I know it can be deadly but we do have to live life before we actually die surely? It's about balance.

HMMMM

I SUSPECT that dd's problems are more dust-mite than just cat, because when she stays at MIL (rarely) where there are 2 cats that live indoors she is no worse (whereas DH just swells into a human puffa fish)

It is difficult to get a balance right that's for sure.

But the Op posts about her Dd having asthma and pneumonia, so for me it's obvious to re-home mrs cat.

Or infect Dd with intestinal and internal parasites as research shows that parasites re-tune the immune system to stop the body 'over reacting' to simple allergens commonly found - pollen, dust mites, dander and saliva. There is a well supported theory that our guts, blood and bodies, are too clean, not our homes.

The point is that the OP's DD has pneumonia and Asthma right now, and to keep an animal in the house when her Dd is in this delicate and potentially life threatening condition is to put her child at risk.

Maybe bring the banished cat back when the pneumonia is gone and the asthma is controlled, but at the moment re-home your cat for your Dd's sake.

We had cats from birth of DS1 til he was nearly 4. In those 3 and a bit years had terrible asthma, snot, excema.

Reluctantly got the cats rehomed after couldn't take my mother saying "it's those cats, you know" any longer.

She was right.

He has literally had nothing ever since. How bad do I feel now ? Nearly 4 years of torture for him. Excellent parenting if I do say so myself.

Can someone tell me what are the symptoms of cat allergy?

Zazen that is interesting about the parasites!! Very interesting I have taken my children to Pakistan alot and each time we all got cryptosperidium...a horrible parasite. The children would be so ill with vomiting and dio diahr runny poos and lose loads of weight but their excema would clear up! Of course the excema has then come back and is certainly not as bad as the parasite illness is....sigh

Also a thing that bugs me is that my ds2 had to take antibiotics for the first six weeks of his life until they could make sure he didn't have kidney reflux...he didn't but he then developed terrible excema which caused us many hellish sleepless nights...and I can't help wondering if there's a link.

There just seems to be so much we don't understand about all this business and so many variables.

Actually now I think about it, Dd's excema didn't come back after the crypto but not sure if she was growing out of it anyway by then..hmmm.

Zaze, you have explained why my ds' terrible excema cleared up like magic when he got a terrible D and V bug as a toddler. We couldn't believe it and kept expecting it to come back but it never has. Dh gets terrible hayfever every year but he never gets tummy bugs. Hmm (CCM considers price of plane ticket for one to somewhere without proper sanitation...)