Allergy to our kitten

[Lukilu]

We rescued our kitten at 4 months old and have had him for a couple of months. Although not a serious reaction, I have noticed that i am allergic to the dander in his fur. My eyes feel gritty and i constantly clear my throat, and have the feeling of hair in the back of my throat. It's not really bad, but is annoying. I am using eye drops so my eyes are ok, but my throat's still annoying. Recently i have noticed that my 5.5 year old son has been clearing his throat and coughing in the mornings. We love our kitten and can't bear the thought of giving him up. Can anyone give us any advice on what to do to lessen the problem? I've got some petal cleanse lotion that's meant to be good for reducing the dander that i put on him once a week but i can't say i've noticed any difference.

Probably not what you want to hear but I am allergic to cats and only found out once I got a kitten - tried to persevere but it got gradually worse, all the reactions you describe plus itchy chest, neck, shoulders and wheezing.
Antihistamines helped but would have needed to be on them all day every day.
Had to rehome the kitten.

I hope someone will be able to suggest a magic cure for you.

if you are allergic to it you might develop asthma in the long term. So you'll just have to decide if you want to take medication to lessen the symptoms or not. I would be worried about your son developing asthma as an allergic reaction - I am allergic to cats and my asthma is triggered by cat hair. So I would not take the chance with your ds tbh.

If you keep the cat, do not let the cat on beds, get a good pet hair hoover and hoover and wash stuff regularly. But I wouldn't.

You may find that the allergy will settle - that happened to me when my family bought a dog. I was 13 and while I lived at home I built up a tolerance, and although my allergy got worse when I moved away and just came to visit it was always tolerable.

However, my allergy to the family rabbit as a small child went the other way. I became asthmatic and now will have a major asthma attack if I get anywhere near a rabbit. So it's a gamble.

If you do keep it don't let it into the bedrooms, esp your son's and get and use a good hoover but be aware that it may have to go in the future.

Thanks for all your comments/advice. pofacedagain and wb, do you think it would be worth investing in a hepa filter hoover and can you suggest a good one for allergy sufferers? Mine says it has a hepa filter but it blows dust out when i start it. He is banned from the bedrooms now and i'm hoping all of these things will help. Thanks

have you cleaned the filter recently on your vacuum? Some need to be replaced from time to time, others washed.

Bathing your cat is supposed to help but good luck if you try it, I'd prefer to rehome the kitten.

My husband is allergic to cats and has been all his life and has had cats all his life. After about a month of antihistamines he built up a tolerance of our kitten and is absolutely fine, though if he gets very tired the allergy does come back until he has caught up on his sleep. He builds up a tolerance to the particular cat (and it does occassionaly sleep on the bed, very naughy!). Therefore when we visit my parents or his sister he is allergic to their cats.

His 11 year Neice is exactly the same, and neither of them have asthma.

Neutering the kitten is also meant to help, though our cat is still fully intact. We have a Vac pet hoover which is fantastic. At the beginning I hoover 2+ times a week minimum but now once a week is absolutely fine.

Hope this helps you (and the kitten!)

I'm allegic to cats and always suffer at my in-law's. However, since they started using an ioniser when I visit, my symptoms have vastly reduced.
The ioniser they have is just a cheap one from Boots.

HTH!

Thank you everyone. I have just washed the filter on my hoover. Did try to bathe our kitten once...never again..we both got scratched to pieces although he tolerates the petal cleanse and purrs when i brush him. Have asked my sister if she'll have him if we decide we can't cope and she said yes, which is a massive relief. I think I'm going to try the ioniser thanks hh. Going to keep trying to find a solution so we can keep him though.

HELP! The symptoms of my and my DS's allergies were wearing off and we both seemed to be building up a tolerance to our kitten. However, although my DS still seems to have improved vastly, my eyes have swollen up to the extent that I can barely open them. The kitten is not allowed in the bedroom so i can't see why it's so bad in the morning. I'm wondering whether it's tree pollen fever (which normally just makes my eyes water a little)or the combination of that, and the fact that we had to keep our kitten in for a couple of days because he was bitten by another cat and got an absess. Any ideas would be appreciated.