Dilemma with kitten

[dinkie301]

Gosh in a bit of pickle.

DS (12) has been around cats all his life, many overnight stays with said cats on his bed no problem. Stayed months on end with cats, again no problem.

A few months ago DS got a rash on face and near eyes that took months to clear. Cat was residing with us at the time. My Gp thought it was bacterial infection and we tried various creams. Another GP mentioned could be when DS is stroking cat then touching eye. No mention of an actual allergy and never been concerned before!

Rash eventually cleared up and exposed to cat after with no issue.

Roll forward to a month and a half or so ago and got a new kitten. All fine, DS delighted.

However noticed today DS is itching his eye and also slight bumpy bit (not a rash ) under his lip. Took to chemist today to ask about under the lip (found out about itchy eyes later) and they didn't think it was anything but I was just worried that it would end up like before and maybe DS is suddenly allergic after all!

Never had wheeziness, coughing, weepy eyes, asthma before and even the rash thing only happened this year!

What should I do??

Obvs a trip to the doctor is in order but would they actually advise on whether to rehome or not? I'd imagine they wouldn't say either way.
I don't know what to do if DS turns out to be allergic , it breaks his heart me suddenly telling him not to hold her let alone maybe rehoming! But I don't want DS to suffer. I don't know if what I've described counts as minor allergy or more severe but of course I know need to go to GP for that.

Has anyone ever encountered similar and what did you do?

My DD is allergic to our cat - it developed after we'd had him a while and she gets runny nose, eyes and itchy. We didn't see the GP though. She takes an antihistamine tablet before she sits with him and is fine then. She loves the cat and would rather do that than not have him at all.

Thanks Salty.

DS hates taking tablets so that's another issue but good to know it's something we could try if it comes to it

My dd is allergic to cats and has got better with the one we have but we do have a bit of a regime going on at home for the last year since we had him.

We petal cleanse said cat once a week, which is liquid I put liquid on my hands and wipe over cat when it is eating as it doesnt really like it.

We live in small house and have an air purifier in lounge and one on landing.

Cat is not allowed in DD room.

DD took an antihistamine once a day when we first got cat. Itchy eye drops really helped too.

This really helps too tend to only do the stairs once a month now as that is all that is carpeted.
www.amazon.co.uk/Allersearch-ADMS-Anti-Allergen-Spray-oz/dp/B0010DLYR4/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=akw+cat+allergy&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1605390716&sr=8-20

We also bought air cleanse spray off amazon, seems a lot to fork out but because we have small house we dont need to use a lot.

Purina have recently brought a cat food out which is meant to reduce the allergy which is worth a look at. Grain free diet for the cat is also meant to reduce the dander they produce. We also buy a massive fish oil for cats off amazon to improve skin and reduce dander.

I’m allergic to cats, but seem to build up some kind of immunity with my own cats. I used to take a daily antihistamine, but don’t need to now.

Antihistamine tablets are very small, or you can get liquid piriton.

Thanks so much chocolatespider, that was such useful information. I did already buy the dry food you refer to, just waiting on it to arrive. Really hoping DS isn't actually allergic but not looking good and really great to know that rehoming isn't be necessarily the only option!

Thanks Papyrus. I know DS just wants to hold kitten and hopefully these suggestions can allow for this

Rehome your ds I might not be joking here

Petal Cleanse allergy wipes, air purifier and antihistamines (you can get liquid versions of eg Cetirizine which is one dose a day) can help. Some people do acclimatise and we've found that once the cat starts going outside that symptoms reduce loads/disappear.

If tablets are out you could get a nose spray. Will try and find name of one we used to get it was boots own make.
I know it all I am afraid. A stray cat had kittens on our land and we could not resist the only surviving ginger one and mum. We made a plan that if DD could not tolerate we would build a super shed outside for them. We did get an outdoor insulated house outside as mum preferred to be outside but like I said DD much better now.
Glad you have heard of that food. It was in the research days when I was pawing the Internet for ideas.

I only found out about the food today tbh! I heard too there's a potential vaccine as well in the making (but likely another 2 years or so away)

Thanks guys I really appreciate all the help

Situation is made a bit complicated because I'm not with DS's father and things sadly aren't friendly there and he would also jump on something like this as something to use against me but I just want to do what's right for DS.

How's things @dinkie301?
This is the nasal. Spray we found good in the early days

That's handy thank you, might pick one up.

So I bought air purifier, purina cat food, air fresh, and some fish oil !

Waiting for them to arrive now.

Banned kitten from bedrooms at least just for now but kitten doesn't like that as she's quite a sociable cat and we make sure we play with her in other areas. She's a cute affectionate fiesty thing, we do love her.

DS seems better, well not better but not worse if that makes sense although it seems a bit early to tell.

Thanks for all your active, it really is invaluable to me

You can actually have desensitisation treatment, but I doubt you would get it on the NHS, it tends to be used for severe allergies or people who cannot avoid contact eg if you are a vet.

I suspect @Papyrus has developed a similar home remedy.

Also OP your son may grow out of it, for some reason things seem to go in 7 year cycles.

Thanks Sashh, hopefully but it's so annoying, I've always grown up with cats and can see the joy they bring especially to a single child but equally I didn't want to cause harm to my child either, or be in a position that it got so bad to have to rehome the cat - which would really upset DS.
Hopefully all these tips will make it manageable but we will see. Luckily (although I know these things can change) if DS is allergic, it doesn't appear to be a severe allergy... but still.