allergy cat

Question

-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
hi...
I have borderline asthma...and my docter says i cant have a cat but i REALLY want one. My grandma has some cats and they dont bother me like they use to when i was younger. My grandma has a cat to give to me if i want it but its long hair. Do u think this will affect me? Is there any type of solution i can use on the cat to stop it from shedding? Ive read some place that there is. Or is there a special allergy cat that i can have...but i heard that they are lots of money.
Thanks... let me know what you think.

Answer -
Well, tell your doctor you have spoken with someone who has real (as opposed to borderline) asthma and has been allergic to cats all her life -- and is currently living happily with 7 of them. For me, the secret of success isn't in whether or not the cat sheds or whether there is any solution used on them to minimize allergens (although there are some available) -- it lies in bathing them on a regular basis. Mine are both longhair and shorthair and I bathe all them on a rotating schedule, so everyone gets a bath about every 2 months if they are not being shown.

When I visit friends with breeds that are not regularly bathed, such as the Burmese, Tonkinese and Siamese (they are supposed to have a lot of oil in their coats) I usually dissolve into a sneezing attack after about an hour, so I know that my allergy has not gone away.

If your grandmother's cat is not Persian or of Persian type, see if she can arrange to get it professionally groomed for you, and then try to live with it and see how things go. You might be pleasantly surprised. I do think you would want to steer clear if it is a Persian, though. Even with regular baths, the amount of coat those cats produce is enough to give anyone allergies.

There is also a solution called Allerpet-C for cats that can be very helpful with asthmatic  people when they are around cats. I believe most Petsmart stores have it but you can order it from www.petsmart.com if they don't.

iris

Thank you soo much for the advice...I am going to show this to my docter...
I have another question...
I forgot to tell you that the docter also said a while back that if i did have a cat it would have to be in a seperate room. Is that true? I live in a condo so there is no extra room except the living room.
Thanks..Let me know what you think.


Answer
Well, one of the other things I do is keep the cats out of my bedroom, but I do have a female in there on occasion when a litter is due. That may make a difference. Is there enough room for the cat if you can keep your bedroom door closed? I think what the doctor is talking about is that you should have a cat-free zone that you spend time in. This should help you manage your exposure to allergens. If you can't manage to do this in your current home, perhaps you should postpone the cat until you can find another place to live.

Also, are you on meds for your asthma? I use an inhaler as needed but what keeps me going is taking Singular every night. That might make a difference as well.