Help! DD's asthma triggered by cats & dog. How to manage this??

[Rainydaze]

I know this will seem ridiculous to some people but my heart is breaking over this.

DD (2.5) has been diagnosed with asthma and it appears that it's triggered by our cats and dog.

We're doing our best to keep on top of the fur, but it's very difficult. With two cats and one large dog in the house, we're sweeping and hoovering twice a day and dusting all the time. It's becoming a stressful obsession!

Does anyone have experience of air purifying machines that actually work? Also, is there such a thing as a towel sheet that fits over sofas? The cats sleep on the sofas at night, which isn't helping things. They're faux leather which means that they're easy to clean, but it would be great if there was a fitted towel that we could remove in the daytime. Perhaps I should just use a bed sheet.

Sorry to ramble, but everyone's telling me I should re-home the animals, but this is such an unbearable thought for me. I've had the cats for most of their lives. They're now elderly and I couldn't find new homes now. I think that the stress would really harm them.

Of course, I can't put DD at risk either and will do anything to stop this asthma.

Help! What can I do to keep the allergens at bay?

Thank you!

sympathies. My sons asthma is cat related. We have an old mog who is his cat. Good news is that she will develop an immunity of sorts to his fur. Obviously need to keep fur down, but she will develop a tolerance. For us, antihistamines have been a huge help. Low dose every day.

Other than that, look at your cleaning routine and hoover regularly, open the windows for an hour every day, wet dust, and keep the mogs out of her room.

Try and persuade mogs to sleep elsewhere - maybe get them a cosy basket bed.

Thanks very much Hatti. I was worried that I'd be flamed for not wanting to re-home the animals. It's caused arguments down the phone with my dad who doesn't understand how I can not just rush them straight to a re-homing centre.

That's such a relief to know that she'll develop immunity to the cats' fur. They've been around throughout her life, but she's just started to cough with the asthma in the past few months.

We're keeping all animals out of her room (admittedly, one of the cats used to sleep on her bed, which they both loved). I'm hoovering like a mad woman and now have a nervous twitch with wet wipes: "There's some fur!" >wipe

Firstly has it been proven that it's the animals, I have one client who got rid of her beloved cats only to discover 12 months later her child's asthma was due to house dust mites rather than pet hair dander.
If it is the pet hair dander brushing your pets daily with a zoom groom to reduce the shed hair will help.

My DH has asthma and we are hopefully rehoming two cats on Friday. I will be buying the furminator and Petal Cleanse. It is not the hair that causes the allergies see here. Hopefully you will be able to sort it out.