Mary Allen
Out of the blue, an irresistible urge to sneeze builds up in the back of your head and erupts in a powerful explosion.
As soon as the eyes are open again, the next attacks follow, tears appear, and the mucous membranes swell: Not everyone experiences the beginning of their cat allergy so dramatically. In cat owners, it often comes very slowly and suddenly gets worse, making harmonious coexistence with the cat impossible. Even people who have never owned a cat can have an allergic reaction. About every tenth person suffering from an allergic respiratory disease reacts to the cat allergen “Fel d 1”. This is a protein that is found in the cat’s saliva and that it distributes over the skin and hair coat when grooming. As soon as the saliva dries, the finest floating particles and scales are created, which are distributed in the air. Allergy sufferers, therefore, do not necessarily have to come across a cat in order to sneeze: the allergens find their way through clothing and shoes into kindergartens, schools, hospitals, libraries, and homes where a velvet paw has never crossed the threshold.
Allergens Are Everywhere
The sneezing fits can flare up again at any time, even if those affected no longer live with their cat. The “cat dust” is widespread everywhere and carries the allergen in every nose. At home, allergens can still be floating around in the room for months, even though the cat has long since left the apartment. However, the symptoms of many allergy sufferers depend on the dose: the more allergens they are around, the more violently they react. Some cat owners had no complaints until a new cat was introduced. Then, so to speak, “the measure was full” and the agonizing sneezing began. As soon as serious symptoms appear, it’s time to say goodbye to your cat – allergists agree on that. “A cat dander allergy is a serious condition that often later progresses to asthma and can then become life-threatening,” warns Dr. Horst Müsken from the Allergy and Asthma Clinic in Bad Lippspringe. He, therefore, advises against naturopathic methods as long as their effectiveness has not been proven: “Getting rid of the cat is still the top priority.”
Help Allergy Sufferers
For an acute attack, there are drugs that work against sneezing, tears, and blocked noses. This symptomatic therapy is able to alleviate the current symptoms but does not change anything about the allergy itself. Allergies can be treated in the long term with hyposensitization. Unfortunately, cat hair allergy sufferers, in particular, do not always respond to it, and the treatment is also lengthy: weekly injections over several months. Even with such treatment, it is unavoidable, at least temporarily, to part with the cat, because desensitization is difficult to carry out when there are still many allergens floating around in the home. The patient is supposed to get used to cats again very slowly, so initially, they have to be given minimal doses of the allergen. Additional measures to reduce allergens in the home (see below) cannot do any harm. It is also important to consistently avoid contact with allergens: no cats, no visits to cat owners, and lots of fresh air.
Prevention Tips
Owners who are not allergic to their cat, but react to cat hair in a skin test, can take a number of measures to reduce the allergen load in their home. There are three points of attack in order to stand up to the allergy-causing particles:
- Fight the development of allergens in the cat: cats that are patient and well-behaved can be bathed once a week. However, it might be easier to apply an anti-allergenic cleaning solution. It is best to ask your veterinarian about this. Outdoor cats have less opportunity to spread their allergens around the home but are more likely to contract an infectious disease such as FIV or FIP. Indoor cats can hardly be used to being outside the door anyway, so you should be careful here.
- Catch the allergens that circulate in the air: Air purification devices with a microfilter and humidifier can reduce the proportion of allergens in the air in the room. With some devices, however, there is a risk of contracting mold spores, which are also very potent allergens. Therefore, pay attention to the recommendations of the counseling centers
- Remove the dust that collects on carpets, furniture, and walls: A damp cloth and a micro-filter vacuum cleaner can do a good job here. By changing bed linen frequently and using special mattress covers, so-called encasings, fewer allergens can accumulate. The spraying of diluted tannin solution is said to be able to render the allergens harmless. However, the solution is hardly effective with larger amounts of cat allergens, and the colors of furniture and carpets can also change. A tannic supplement called “Tre-San” is available through pharmacies. However, it is primarily intended to combat house dust mite allergens and therefore also contains benzyl benzoate to combat the mites. Cats cannot tolerate this remedy, so you should only use it if you no longer have a cat.
The following applies to all these measures: Individually they do little, but together and consistently applied they can make a difference. It is particularly important to consistently keep the cat away from the bedroom, no matter how well suited it is as a bed warmer. Only then can people recover from the allergens that bother them during the day.