Nutrition For Spring Allergies
Sometimes supplements can be cost-prohibitive, and again you cant out supplement a bad diet, right? So lets talk about doing this with food alone. This is also critical to follow if you are taking the natural remedies and energy work because this sets the stage for long-term healing.
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Caring For Your Cats Health And Wellbeing
Establishing some regular grooming habits with your cat can greatly reduce the amount of dander they spread around your home. Brushing your cat at least once every other day can help remove loose dander and decrease the amount of saliva left on their hair from their grooming routine.
If your cat is receptive to being bathed, you can try shampooing and bathing your cat once a week. This method is highly effective and can reduce the concentration of allergens by up to 84 percent. Chances are though that your cat doesnt like being bathed in water. In this case, you can try dry & rinse-free cat shampoos that are also effective at reducing the concentration of allergens.
Changes to your cats diet can also reduce the allergens they spread. Switching to food that has omega-3 fatty acids and fish oil can improve the quality of your cats skin and coat, and reduce excess dander buildup. Talk to your veterinarian about any additional diet options that can improve you and your cats overall health.
If you havent already, make sure to spay or neuter your cat. Cats produce fewer Fel d 1 proteins after theyve been spayed or neutered. Non-neutered males have been shown to produce the highest allergen levels, so getting this procedure done by your veterinarian can have health benefits for both you and your cat.
Reducing Exposure To Cats
While medical treatment can help control cat allergies, the best approach is simple: avoid cats and their dander. Here are some tips.
- Don’t touch, hug, or kiss cats. It should be obvious, but some people think a little cat contact is OK. It isn’t.
- Beware of visitors who own cats. Even if your house guests leave their cats at home, they can bring the dander with them on their clothing and luggage. This indirect exposure can cause serious cat allergy symptoms in some people.
- Plan. If you have to stay in a house with cats, ask that the cat be kept out of the room in which you will sleep for a few weeks before you arrive. Also, start taking allergy medication a few weeks beforehand. Once an allergic reaction gets started, it can be tough to control. But taking medicine can prevent it from happening in the first place.
But what if you already own a cat? Here’s the most sensible advice: if you or a family member has cat allergies, you shouldn’t have a cat in the home.
Of course, such harsh advice may not be easy to follow. What if your kids have already fallen in love with a kitten? What if you intended to never, ever part with your cat? If the cat has to stay, there are other things you can try.
While these techniques might help, they may not be enough. As hard as it might be, if keeping your cat is putting your health — or a family member’s health — at risk, you have to consider giving it up.
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Use A Hepa Air Purifier
Designate Pet Free Spaces In Your Home
Yes, as much as we often like to have our favorite friends sitting on our bed wagging their tails, if youre an allergy sufferer then this brings the problem to the worst possible place.
Anywhere you spend large amounts of time will expose you to more allergens, so its worth thinking about where you do and dont want your dog to be.
One other obvious place is your lounge suite, as you will likely sit there regularly binge-watching some bizarre new Netflix series!
Once you make a final decision, then you can either close doors to those rooms, or train your dog to know where they are allowed to go in your house.
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Allergy Medicine Guide For Pet Allergy
Nasal rinse: Using a saline nose rinse can help cut down mucus and rinse pollen out of your nose. Remember to use these as directed.
Nose sprays: Corticosteroid nose sprays are effective and have few side effects. They treat the swelling and inflammation in your nose. Antihistamine nasal sprays such as Astelin and Patanase are also effective options.
Eye drops: Allergy eye drops can be very helpful in managing eye allergy symptoms. They can relieve burning sensation, itchiness, redness, increased tearing, and swelling. Common eye drops include SYSTANE® ZADITOR®, Optivar, and Pataday®. In addition, artificial tears can be helpful.
Antihistamines: Antihistamines come in pill, liquid, or nasal spray form. They can relieve sneezing and itching in the nose and eyes. They also reduce a runny nose and, to a lesser extent, nasal stuffiness. Look for a long-acting, non-drowsy antihistamine.
: Decongestants are available as pills, liquids, nasal sprays, or drops. They help shrink the lining of the nasal passages and relieve stuffiness. They generally are only used for a short time . Check with your doctor before using decongestants if you have high blood pressure, glaucoma, thyroid disease, or trouble urinating.
Leukotriene modifiers : This medicine can help by blocking chemicals your body releases when you have an allergic reaction.
If I Want to Keep My Pet, Can I Take Steps to Reduce My Pet Allergy?
Reduce your exposure to pet allergens.
Clean and reduce allergens in your home.
Bathe Your Cat To Keep Them Clean
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Pet Allergy Diagnosis And Treatment Mayo Clinic
- Summary: · Decongestants can help shrink swollen tissues in your nasal passages and make it easier to breathe through your nose. Some over-the-counter
- Matching search results: If you do find a new home for your pet, your allergy symptoms wont disappear immediately. Even after a thorough cleaning, your house may have significant levels of pet allergens for several weeks or months. The following steps can help lower pet
Understanding The Sneeze Threshold
A common knee-jerk reaction from some health care professionals when addressing allergy issues may be to suggest getting rid of the pet. That is not going to happen for most pet lovers. The truth is, the allergens shed by pets tend to be sticky and stay in the environment long after a pet has left the premises, so giving the puppy away may not offer an immediate cure anyway.
And since some pet-allergic people also react to other things in the environment as well, it may be possible to reduce exposure to these other allergens and improve their symptoms without removing their beloved pet from their home.
For example, perhaps you react to puppy dander, grass pollen, and dust mites, and when all three are present, your symptoms are most severe. If you can have someone else dust the house and keep dust to a minimum, and use other techniques to reduce your exposure to pollen, that may drop your allergen exposure below your ‘sneeze threshold’ and keep your symptoms to a more manageable level without eliminating the pet from your life.
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How Do You Treat Pet Allergies
The most effective treatment for pet allergies is to avoid animals completely. However, if you cannot or will not avoid animals, you have a few treatment methods available.
First, you can use nasal sprays, antihistamines, and bronchodilators to relieve symptoms, but this will not fix the problem long-term. You may need to try a variety of options to find out which one works best for you. Also, consider combining medications such as nasal sprays and antihistamines. Speak to your doctor if you are taking other medicines.
Second, you can get allergy shots to slowly reduce symptoms with time. Taking allergy shots includes weekly injections of allergens over a period of three to ten years. Another option is to create a pet-free zone in your home. Use HEPA purifiers to reduce airborne allergens. If you can, keep animals outside and out of the house completely.
Homeopathy remedies can offer some relief too. Local honey can help in some cases, as can essential oils. Vitamin C can improve the immune system and may offer mild support for pet allergies. Always talk to your doctor before trying new treatments.
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The Race To Deliver The Hypoallergenic Cat
Scientists are working on a feline vaccine that could block the protein most commonly associated with allergic reactions to cats.Credit: Nils Jacobi/Getty
Doctor, if you tell me to get rid of the cat, Im getting rid of my kids first, said the parent of one young patient with an allergy to the family pet. Sandra Gawchik, an allergist in Chester, Pennsylvania, knew they were only half-joking she had heard similar threats before. Another patient recounted being pushed out of the house by his wife and daughter over his cat allergy, saying they preferred the feline to him.
Sensitivity to pets is typically the second most prevalent allergy in any region, after pollen or mites, says Joaquin Sastre, an allergist at the Jiménez DÃaz Foundation University Hospital in Madrid. Up to 30% of people show sensitivity to cats in some regions.
The effects can be limited to sniffles and sneezes for some people. For others, however, the allergy can prompt dangerous asthma attacks. A US study estimated that, among cat-sensitive people, 47% of emergency hospital visits could be attributed to feline exposure. And allergy is among the main reasons why owners send cats to shelters.
Small doses of cat allergens the major one being a small, sticky protein called Fel d 1 can help to build up tolerance over time. But treatments can cost US$8001,000 annually, require up to 100 injections over 35 years, and are not always permanent or wholly effective.
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Tips To Reduce Allergies To Pets
Lyuba Burakova / Stocksy United
Allergies to pets can be a big problem for pet lovers. Time spent indoorswhether in the winter to avoid the cold or in the summer to avoid the heat and sunmeans more exposure to pet allergens. Allergy sufferers may have even worse symptoms in spring, with additional pollen, mold, and dust. Even if you arent directly allergic to your cat or dog, they can act like furry dust mops that trap and hold allergens that may set you off. But there are ways to potentially limit your symptoms.
More About How To Get Rid Of Cat Allergies:
Sensitivity to pet dander from cats and dogs are on the rise. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, they can affect as many as 30 percent of adults and 40 percent of children. Conventional medicine has a few solutions such as over-the-counter and prescription antihistamine drugs, which can alleviate symptoms for some individuals, but at what cost? Many drugs cause drying of mucus membranes, which will just put you at an increased risk of developing other illnesses such as colds and sinus infections. Rather than pharmaceuticals, we hope this article will help you learn how to get rid of cat allergies naturally.
The best medicine for cat/dog allergies is to expose children to pets before the age one. Babies raised in homes with cats/dogs as household pets had reduced risk of developing allergies by a wide margin over the childs entire life. Not only this, but it is now commonly accepted in the medical literature that exposure to pet dander as a baby also helps build up a healthy immune system in infancy.
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What Is The Cause Of Cat Allergies
Around 10% of the US population experience cat allergies, and if you’re reading this, youre likely one of them. Unfortunately, the underlying cause of why humans develop allergies is still unknown, but you can develop symptoms in response to several allergens, including cats.
Allergens from cats are usually due to the Fel d 1 protein that your cat produces. These can be in your cat’s body, cat dander , saliva, or urine.
When you are allergic to cats, your immune system has identified cat allergens as a threat to your body. When you come into contact with an allergen, your body releases chemicals, such as histamine, as part of a defense mechanism. Histamine helps remove allergens from your body by causing reactions like sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose.
What Causes Pet Allergies
Allergies to our furry friends are commonplace, especially among individuals who suffer with asthma or additional allergies. In fact, an estimated 30 percent of Americans with allergies are allergic to dogs and cats, with cat allergies occurring about twice as often.
If you have a pet allergy, it doesnt always mean youre allergic to the cat or dog themselves. Allergic reactions or aggravation of asthma symptoms can result from exposure to a number of substances found on and in pets, including flaked skin, dander, urine and saliva. In addition, furry pets can act as virtual dust mops, bringing in allergens like dust, mold spores and pollen from outside. Pet hair itself does not act as an allergen, but it acts as a carrier for substances that do cause allergic reactions.
In individuals with pet allergies, the immune system overreacts to normally harmless proteins in pets skin, urine or saliva. The result is an allergic reaction and its accompanying miserable symptoms.
Allergens from pets can collect in your home, including on furniture and in carpets, and they can remain at high levels for months.
If your allergy is to your pet, the usual cause isnt their fur, its the pets dander. Pet dander is small skin pieces from either dogs or cats. Other animals, such as birds and rodents, also have dander. You typically cant see pet dander, which is why it may seem like youre allergic to your pet itself.
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What About Allergy Medications
Some people take over-the-counter medications to deal with their allergies. Medications such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen could help, especially if your symptoms are not severe. Sometimes, taking a pill will alleviate your symptoms, and you might not need anything else.
However, if you’ve never taken any medications for your cat allergy, you should consult with a healthcare professional first. Other strategies such as cleaning the litter box, using multi-purpose cleaners on surfaces, and deep cleaning your house are not as invasive to your body. Make sure you talk to a doctor before trying any new medication.
Step : Clean Your Home
Were talking leave no hardwood unswiffered, no carpeting unvacuumed, no counter unwiped, no filter unreplaced- you get the gist. Its time to bring out that all-purpose cleaner and get down to business.
Clean all fabric
Softer surfaces like bedding, couches, drapes, curtains, and rugs are all going to be hot-spots for dander. We recommend throwing your drapes, rugs, and couch covers in the washing machine a few times a month to get rid of as much of the allergen as possible. Lint rolling your drapes and couches at least once a week can also be effective if washing them is too much of a hassle.
Wipe down surfaces
The second step to cleaning your home is to eliminate as much dander as possible from every surface in sight. The best way to tackle this is with either a soapy rag or a natural all-purpose cleaner and towel. Counters, walls, doors, and cabinets are all fair game for prime dander hideouts, so a quick wipe down is extremely helpful in keeping your home as allergen-free as possible.
Make sure to pay special attention when cleaning the places your cat visits the most. This includes all of your cats toys, their bed, and on top of that one kitchen cabinet .
Dont let your cat into your bedroom
Vacuum the carpets
Clean the litter box
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