To keep Dear cats and hope DS grows out of allergy?

[Madreamer]

DS (1 yr) seems to be allergic to my cats. I've had them for 7 yrs now and since he got mobile @ 6months he seems to be always have a runny nose when we r at home. He didn't when we went on holiday and it gets better at childminders. I'm convinced it is the cats and actually separated them (but still have common area which both use). Some lost some growth spurts as a result of his allergy. I got some commercial grade air purifiers (useful for pet dander, virus and bacteria, etc) but the room gets very chilly with them -as i have to use 2 at a time to make it work. I turned them off for the first time in 3 months for 12 hours and DS's nose is running again. Has anyone experienced this? If so what did you do about it. I want to be fair to DS and cats, what is the best option?

shame... the program is no longer on iplayer - but heres a bbc news article about the worms i was talking about, it also mentions about how hygiene is to blame for allergies
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8268584.stm

it was this episode i was trying to find for you

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010pwps#clips

If you keep them, you are playing roulette with his health - maybe he will be lucky, maybe not.

My parents got rid of a much-loved pet rabbit when I was 3. My asthma went from mild to severe and to this day is severe if I get anywhere near rabbit fur. Severe as in life-threatening, that is.

On the other hand, my allergy to dogs is mild and was suppressed by owning one. At the same time, my sister's dog allergy has got gradually worse over 20 years and she can no longer go into a house with a dog.

The allergy clinic told us that about 25% of allergies get worse with repeated exposure, 25% get better and about 50% stay the same, so you may be lucky.

Love all the posters on here who would condemn their kids to years of misery but keep their pets. Even mild allergic symptoms - wheezing, sneezing and itching are pretty unpleasant.

Sorry this is an oversimplified and in certain respects completely false representation of the science behind immunology/allergies. It is certainly true that children with allergies are more likely to live in animal free homes, partly because they are more likely to have allergic parents and partly because many parents choose not to keep animals that are making their children ill.

There are other options to rehoming the cats. Obviously things like more frequent hoovering, petal cleanse, air purifiers etc as has been mentioned here, but other options too.

Not rehoming your cats doesn't mean your DS's health has to suffer. I am not sure if they are indoor cats or cats that go outside, but if none of the above work, then could you consider having the cats in their own room if they are indoor cats or having a cat run and house in the garden for them with access to the outside and also maybe a catflap allowing them access to one room where your son doesn't go/spend much time such as the kitchen? Clearly that's not an ideal solution in an ideal world, but it's certainly one the cats could get used to and be happy with and a set up that a lot of pedigree breeders have and IMO it's better than rehoming them.

yabu
i dont think you have an option if you want to do right by your son .
my husband cant go to my sisters house anymore because she adopted a cat.
first couple of times he had runny nose,itchy eyes ect.
then he started coughing everytime we went there
the last time he nearly died -his airways started to close down .he couldnt breathe and nearly passed out.
lucky i had piriton and asthma pump with me.
doctors told him he he needs to take tablets every day for ever , as next time he comes near a cat it could kill him.

I have in the last year adopted a cat, in the mornings I often have a really runny nose for about 3 hours, but that's it. No itching and it's an irritant not a proper allergy.

Not sure what i'm trying to say, but maybe if there is no other signs he'll be ok?

I have a cat allergy. I also have three cats. I went to an allergy specialist a few months ago (I have multiple allergies) and she said that if I got rid of the cats, my allergy to them would become much worse - the constant exposure is keeping the allergic reaction at a low level.

Interestingly, I am very allergic to the two older cats, both males, but I am not allergic AT ALL to the kitten we got a year ago. In fact, she sleeps on my pillow (not my choice, but she sneaks up there when I'm asleep).

Having said that, I do have to live on antihistamines

Ah, ok. But surely in that case there are other options such as paper bedding rather than rehoming the rabbits if he's not allergic to the actual animal?

It is one thing to not want to get rid of the cats, but if you think that they are the cause of the allergy you have to Hoover daily to minimise exposure. If you don't have time yourself, get a cleaner. it really will make a difference.

Push for a referral for allergy testing to check that it is cats, and that there are no othe triggers.

Once you have a confirmed diagnosis you can make an informed choice.

I am allergic to cats, and it is utterly bloody miserable.

I actually cannot believe that you are happy for your poor 6-month old baby to suffer because you want to keep some animals! :(

Cat. Child. Cat. Child. Nope I'm not understanding the dilemma.

So clean your house everyday with a steam engine, divide the house into cat and non-cat zones(cats are so obedient), try an experimental pig drug for tape worms, does your DS with anti-histamines until he leaves home, expose him more than he already is to build up his tolerance or wrap everything in cling film.
The advice being touted is ridiculous. IF it is the cats get rid of the things, you will get over it, or have your DS adopted or something because living in the house with the cats is currently making him ill and miserable with every chance it will get worse.
Get your priorities sorted -this is almost reckless neglect.

I clean every day, mop and hoover, just to try and keep the dust mites down to the minimum. Nothing you really can do about mite allergy except try to keep the population from exploding and take the pills, because you're going to run in to them everywhere. DS's allergist ruled out pets and mould as the cause of his symptoms. We were relieved because we like the cat. Even DS wanted to find some way around rehoming her if push had come to shove.

Until the OP knows for certain that there is an allergy to cats, there's no need to do anything drastic. It's no harm in the meantime to do more in the way of mopping and hoovering (hopefully with a hoover that has an excellent filtering system).

someone i know bought a kitten and they turned out to be allergic to it but by the time they realised their kids were really attached to it so never had the heart to find it a new home.what they did because its also a outdoor cat and they have a massive kitchen its not allowed anywhere else in the house the cats about 9 now and it seems to have worked out ok.

Trixymalixy - they have to eat their body size in hay everyday, so there arent really alternatives - as i said, over the year he's got much better, and shes outside during the summer so that he doesnt have to contend with the pollen as well as the rabbit at the same time.

It's not like he wanted to get rid of the rabbit either, so i don't feel cruel about it. Just that i wasn't rushing in to save him (diffferent attitude with adults to children, me thinks)

Runny nose: that happens. You totally lost me at "lost growth spurts".

I am astonished and shocked by the desperation of so many people on this thread, to keep the cats in the family even if they turn out to be the cause of this child's constant reactions.

Children do not exercise choice in this life, so all these adults who are choosing to have pets are NOT appropriate comparisons here. I also firmly believe it is NOT appropriate, fair or correct to balance the needs of pets alongside those of children, especially babies.

Human babies and children are vulnerable for many years, whereas an animal's childhood is short, and it must be treated as less vulnerable when making choices like this! Would you prefer to rehome your cats or your baby? (In answering this question, please consider why it is so much easier/less extreme to rehome a cat than a child!) Moreover, your cats would suffer a lot less from rehoming than your DS would, so I am again astonished that you are trying to make a balance here.

OP, you have a responsibility to protect and properly nurture your child, making his life as pain-free and healthy as possible. You may not be able to have an allergy test at this young age, so probably your only guides are exclusion and observation. However, those are pretty strong guides, and you yourself say you are "convinced" it is allergy.

I cannot believe you are still trying to have it all ways and make your son suffer.

Lost growth spurts, indeed. You are an idiot!

Im quite shocked you'd choose cats over your ds health! I'm sitting here right now with a streaming nose, eyes and sneezing non stop from something. It's bloody killing my face , my nose hurts and I can't focus properly at all.
You'd rather let your ds suffer than get rid of your cats? Jeez. Gobsmacked.

GET RID OF THE CATS.
i have an allergy to cats and it stops me going to friends and families houses. The allergy from cats for me irrates my asthma, my skins gets blotchy, my eyes itch, my nose runs, the back of my mouth itches, my face swells.

Do you want that for your son? Dont be selfish - get rid.

I too am allergic to cats. Its horrible.

I also cannot believe that you would even consider keeping the cats i'n the same home as your allergic son.

Like another poster said..... If your son was allergic to a certain food, would you keep feeding it to him?

Totally unbelievable.

I have asthma and am a very sneezy allergic person. I have 2 cats and was very allergic to them for about 6-8 weeks. Now I am fine with them unless I actually put my face in their fur.
I vacuum a lot and we don't have carpets or curtains.
It would probably be better for me not to have the cats, but I love them and they keep our rambly old house mouse-free!

You are deliberately keeping a 6 month old baby ill!

Do you think there are any chance your baby may develop asthma? You should google this, and find out.

When I was 15, I developed an allergy to cats. We had our own cat, but I got really ill after I was subjected to 5 cats in one go. My parents made the very hard adult decision and got rid or our cat. Yes, they loved the cat, yes, I loved the cat, but my health was the prime importance.

I am really thankful that my parents put me first.

In their case, it was extra hard, because it was MY cat, and I loved it. They took the decision off my hands.

You think its the cats that are causing your son to be unwell, so I am at a loss as to why you wouldn't get rid of them and why you would ask tbh! Beloved pets or not, this is YOUR SON we are talking about!

I am allergic to both dogs and cats (despite having a dog as a child which I was 'immune' to), allergic reaction is horrid. I have been hospitalized following an asthma attack brought on by being in a caravan that had a dog in it the previous week. Even if your son isn't that bad, constantly having an itchy, runny noseis miserable