MIL Allergic to Our Cats ... is there anything we can do to help her visit?

[jojojo82]

Hi All! So I've had cats almost all my life, and can't imagine not having them. DH and I got our current two cats at the beginning of this year when we moved to a house that had a garden. We knew his mum was allergic to cats, but his parents live over 2hrs away and rarely visited us, so I didn't want to not have cats just so the MIL can visit as little as it would be, and I assumed if they did visit, we could just go out somewhere (sorry if that sounds harsh!)

Well, 1 month after getting the cats, I found out I was pregnant, which we were thrilled about :) However, now the MIL is understandably upset that she won't be able to come over and help with the new baby when it arrives, and I also feel really bad about it.

She came over last weekend to test out how long she could be in the house before her allergies kicked in. She dosed up on anti-histamines and we hoovered for a few days in a row before she arrived, and used the sellotape rolly thing on the sofa. Unfortunately she managed an hour before it started getting to her, and then another 30 mins before she had to leave :(

My question is, is there anything else we can do to enable her to not be so affected? We've heard of air purifiers, but they are really expensive and we don't want to get one without knowing it would work. The house is also quite open plan, so keeping the cats out of the living area before she arrives would also be difficult.

Its all just not an ideal situation. But we absolutely love our cats, they are part of the family now, and we don't regret getting them!

Any advice or suggestions that have worked for you would be much appreciated tho!

My brother is allergic to cats.

I no longer have a cat but I used to, as did my mum.

My brother did better at mine but still suffered.

Basically, my whole house is hardwood with pretty much no carpet except for the stairs so fur doesn’t collect so much.
My furniture is wood and my sofa is leather with no throws or cushions.

I vacuum thoroughly everyday, sometimes twice a day, occasionally three times a day!

When I knew my brother was coming I would go crazy on cleaning and would pull out all the sofas and cabinets etc and vacuum and clean the floor under them, I groomed the cat and had allergy wipes to wipe her with but ultimately tried to make sure she was put when he visited.

I take an anti histamine before I visit my daughter who has cats.

There is a new purina food that inhibits the enzyme making the cat salivary protein (that they lick all over their fur...) that is what humans are allergic to. I was sceptical but we have used it for a few months now and DS allergies have definitely improved.

Maybe research some kind of treatment that reduces the allergic reactions? De - sensitising I think it’s called. I know my niece can’t come here because of our cats.

Thank you for all the responses :)

@Powertothepetal and @Sillybillypoopoomummy, I had not heard of allergy wipes or enzyme inhibiting food before! I will definitely be doing some research into this!

The MIL is planning to visit again next month, so we will see whether our new implementations help, fingers crossed!

Hi there
We purchased an air purifier that we run in the living room & there is a product called allerpet dander reducer also that you apply to the cats coat about once a week that has really good reviews for helping people with allergies. My husband has a reaction to cats and it's really helped with the purifier running he's not had any problems what so ever. I hope you can find a way to reduce the discomfort.

What allergy symptoms does your MIL get? Nasal symptoms are usually best controlled with a nasal steroid spray (as used for hayfever). Very minimal side effects as it’s topical and non-drowsy. The only disadvantage is that you need to use it for a couple of weeks before you benefit, so she’d need to stay on it. Might be worth a trip to her local pharmacy if nothing else is working.