Desperate for advice....developing an allergy to our dog

[SniffleCentral]

Has anyone experienced this or knows someone who has? Does anyone have advice re how to mitigate it / any tales of happy endings?

Brief background is that I've never owned a dog before. After about 4 months of him being here and prolonged exposure I now seem to be allergic to the pet dander. (He's a very low shedding terrier, so hair itself is not a problem.)

Symptoms are scratchy / constricted throat, severe congestion (I now have to apologise at work for my heavy breathing / nose blowing), red eyes. Am taking steroid nasal drops (from doctor, but not for long term use), sodium cromoglycate for eyes, antihistamines every day and just forked out £200 for a fancy air filter that I'm praying will make a difference.

Am so washing my hair every day at the end of the evening, making sure I have 'dog clothes' and don't wear them to bed etc.

Is there anything else I can do? He is much loved and the thought of not getting past this is heartbreaking.

I am typically atopic with hay fever and eczema etc but had no idea I might be allergic to pets before he came to us.

Would it make any difference if you keep his hair clipped really short , I have a low shedding terrier ( patterdale X) and we have him clipped as short as possible every 5 weeks and he goes for a bath in between and we have literally no hair in the house .

Unfortunately the hair doesn't seem to be a problem, as he never sheds and there's very little hair in the house either.

Although - I suppose with shorter hair, there would be fewer places for the dander to hide and cling to?

Actually what I was thinking was you could wipe him over regularly with a wet wipe , although I've no idea if that would make any difference either

Just had a google Floralnomad and allergy pet wipes are an actual thing! I can certainly give that a try and see if it helps, thank you.

Have heard good reports of Petalcleanse:

www.amazon.co.uk/PetalCleanse-Small-Animal-Treatment-350ml/dp/B019IO93V0

That's good to hear Whitney and thanks for the suggestion - I just bought some off Amazon. Will try anything!

Petalcleanse is good to denature the dander and bedding and wiping surfaces.
Also heard vets/nurses knowing of many cases where allergy lessened as body adapted. This was the case with our cat and dc.

Damp dusting too. Good luck with it and yes initially keep up the anti-histamines too.

That's encouraging Shriek. Is the Petal Cleanse something you should do every day, do you know?

Not sure but I wouldnt think so. Just damp wipe everything and a thorough squirting of ddog should like a bit. Might be good to do routine ddog washing but be v careful of aggravating his skin

Thanks Shriek - had a terrible day today as been with him non stop. It's like I have the flu

Any tips for non aggravating bathing of dogs, other than sensitive shampoo? Would hate to irritate his skin and make this all worse.

Try Allersearch dog shampoo. It has helped my SIL.

Thanks Gratesnakes - will add that to the list!