Question about cat allergy

[ziggy'smom]

I don't have much experience with cat allergies so I'm hoping that someone here does and can give me some advice.

To make a long story short, a foster family just adopted two kittens. Their son has had cat allergies in the past but only reacted to some cats. He didn't react to the kittens in the month they were fostering them. The day they decided to adopt the kittens they allowed them to sleep in the son's room. The next morning he was having symptoms that could be an allergic reaction. The mother first thought that it was allergy but now she doesn't think it was, but thinks it may be related to dust in the boy's room. Initially they were considering not adopting after all but then decided to go ahead with it.

Apparently the deal is for the kittens to be the son's responsibility. They will be his and they will sleep in his room. He seems like a responsible young man so I'm not worried about him caring for them and of course mom and dad are there too. I think the cats will be just fine and I'm thrilled that they get to stay with this family as they've been thriving there. The family clearly loves them too. I am however concerned that the kittens will stay in the boy's room during the night. I really don't want it to turn out in a month or so that he is having severe reactions to them and the family won't be able to keep them. The older they get the harder they will be to place, especially together and especially since they are black.

What I'm wondering is if just having the kittens in the house has been okay with his allergies but having them in his room, especially in his bed, will cause an allergic reaction? Basically, does having the kittens closer pose a greater risk that the boy would experience allergies that just having them running around the house would? To me, it seems to make sense that more exposure to an allergen, like having cat dander in your bed where you will be breathing it in for eight hours straight at night, would pose a higher risk and if that's the case I'm wondering if it's a good decision to make. Then again, this is just speculation.

Should I instead assume that the boy isn't allergic to these two kittens since he didn't have a reaction to them during the month they were fostering them?

Does anyone have any experience with cat allergies and knows how this works? Thanks!

 

[lovemyzeus]

My experience with cat allergies is as follows:

My husband Jay is allergic to cats, with that said we have been married 25 years and have had at least one cat (sometimes 2) since we bought our first house, about 1 year after our wedding day. He got used to the cat as time went on as long as he did not get a cat hair in his eye.

We always kept our cat(s) out of our bedroom so that Jay would have some "sanctuary" from cat hair. His allergy triggers his asthma and causes his to have trouble breathing so it could be pretty severe, but he always managed.

We have not had a cat for over 4 years and just recently got Zeus. Jay travels a lot so when he came home after being away from our new kitten for about a month he felt the affects of having a cat back in the house. He said he just needs to get used to having a cat again - he gets used to the cat's dander over time.

That may be the case with the young man you mentioned, I personally would not let the kittens sleep in his room but of course that is really up to his parents.

My guess is the kittens will probably make him so crazy with their night time activity and antics to that he will end up letting them out of his room just to get some sleep. 

 

 

[StefanZ]

I agree, cats in the bedroom of an allergic is a bad idea...  But there are tricks.  An air cleaner, preferably with a hepa filter is of good help.  Sometimimes a vapor-up is good.

Learningthe cats to swim or to thake a shower every ten day.  No shampoo is necessary - even not good, not good to dry out the cats skin.

Alternatively, wip of the cats body and fur with a damp cloth.  No dust - so often vacuuming with an vacuum cleaner with Hepa-fillter on...

The boy shall be careful not to cuddle and touch his eyes nor mouth...  Wahing off hands...  Good personal hygiene, inclduding living healthy, drinking much fluids, water tea.  No alcohol, and god forbide no smoke. Not by him nor any passive smoking...

Possibly also some sort of altternative medicine...  Acupunctur, and so on....

If he has astma, he must have close contact with his doc, and have suitable medicines at ready stand -  IF he gets an attack, he must have help immediatel, even if there is full panic.

So several sets of  this cortisone prepearate.

Something like that...

But yes, its common the allergic gets used to his own cats.

 

[murrayvk]

I'm actually allergic to cats myself, which makes no sense with me having a cat, lol. I start getting itchy eyes, sneezing uncontrollably, etc. after about 30 minutes, so it totally sucks.

BUT, before I got Murray, I started myself on a regular regime of Flonase and Zyrtec every day and I have absolutely no problems with the allergies anymore.

I second the not rubbing eyes, face, etc. after handling the kittens too, since that will aggravate any allergy.