Took our 5 y/o to a pediatric allergist today. Our daughter has been stuffy for as long as I can remember (mouth breathing, etc.). Turns out she is allergic to our cat. Our cat is 7 and has been ours since she was a kitten. Anyone want a cat?

Jokes aside, looking for someone who as dealt with this before. Our plan is to get better home filters and get our daughter taking some allergen-specific medications.

TIA

The shot therapy might help, where they try to build a tolerance for it. Not sure it works if she's around the cat all the time. They are allergic to the dander and saliva, most likely.

The allergist said dander

Is she very attached to kitty? Or is your wife (or you) going to be bereft without this cat?

Most kids in that age range are pretty malleable as far as the loss of pets. I remember my parents first dog dying when I was four or five, and although I liked the dog I think I was much less sad than my parents. Similar reaction from my 6 year old when our 4 year old dog very unexpectedly died of leukemia last summer.

I'm not saying get rid of your cat if you guys are very bonded to him, but indoor cats living to 18-20 years are not unusual, so be prepared for your kid to have a stuffy nose until it's close to time to move out if you're committed to keeping the cat.

Allergies and asthma since young. Had pets growing up. Parents paid to add on a fireplace to house. Allergy test right after finishing the fireplace showed I was allergic to cats dogs and smoke. Parents didn't give up dog but we never once had a fire in the fire place.

As an adult, ended up with 2 cats and 2 dogs due to wife and kids. Because of the continual irritation and my lack of treatment of my asthma (which is flared up by allergies), I developed COPD. At 45 I was told I had the lungs of an 82 year old. I've literally never smoked anything my entire life.

Cats and allergies can be terrible. I was (terrible to say) really happy when my wife's two cats eventually died (it took 19 years to die). Even though my wife begs for a cat, I will not live in a house with a cat again. There is just no way to avoid the allergy issue. Certain dogs are manageable though.

Obviously I will prioritize my kids health over that of an animal. Having said that, we got the cat a few months after getting married so she has been around a long time, I highly doubt we'll be able to re-home her into a house with other animals.

I reviewed the test data last night and my daughter is mostly allergic to tree pollen (beech, birch, oak) with the cat allergy coming in tied for 5th. I'm basically asking what my options are as far as reasonable treatments go.

I understand the hesitancy of removing a pet in this situation. I'm no expert and I can see you are looking for reasons not to get rid of the cat.

I will say this. My wife is allergic to all kinds of tree allergies. During a few months of the year, it's best for her to stay inside. However, she has no affection to trees and trees aren't inside the house rubbing up against her. An indoor cat is unavoidable especially for a young child. 1st, 5th or whatever - if you just don't want to rehome the cat (because it will be difficult on many fronts), then why can't you talk to your allergist/doctor on options of keeping said cat?

Daily antihistamine- I prefer allegra or claritin since zyrtec is "slightly sedating" and can make you feel a bit spacey. Intranasal steroid is a must, flonase or whatever is cheapest OTC 1 spray each nostril at bed time. Air filter for her room is a good idea and keep the cat out of the room she sleeps in. Wash hands after handeling the cat.

If it is only rhinitis and not asthma and she does not have recurrent sinus or ear infections it probably is not mandatory to get rid of the cat. If she is having asthma/wheezing flares I would get rid of the cat due to long term risk of pulmonary damage over time.

ETA: Try and get her to start doing sinus rinse or flush 1-2x a week with a neti pot or neilmed sinus flush using distilled water and a bit of salt.

Would boarding or having someone watch the cat for a couple weeks be an option? Would that be enough time to see if your daughter improves without the cat in the house?

Dill-Ag13 said:

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Our plan is to get better home filters and get our daughter taking some allergen-specific medications.

TIA

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If you have carpet, I would suggest removing the carpet for wood or tile. We randomly found cat hair around the home well after it died. I washed my hands frequently and attempted to keep the cat out of the bedroom (which was a big fail as my wife would let her in). We have HEPA air filters and used a HEPA vacuum. we changed our a/c filters frequently. It definitely helped. However as stated earlier, there is no avoiding cat allergies with an indoor cat.

Thanks all. We have had her on daily zyrtec and flonase for the past couple of months without much improvement. No sinus or ear infections, just stuffiness.

Definitely would like to keep the cat as our base-case and investigate further.

Boarding won't make a difference from what the doctor said as it can apparently take years for pet dander to be fully removed from a house (obviously we'd rip up carpetting, clean ducts, etc. if we went that route).

Kind of what I figured regarding boarding the cat. Thoughts were it would just be a kick in the nuts to get rid of the cat just to find out the other allergens were the main problem and your daughter didn't improve.

htxag09 said:

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Kind of what I figured regarding boarding the cat. Thoughts were it would just be a kick in the nuts to get rid of the cat just to find out the other allergens were the main problem and your daughter didn't improve.

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Yup, will see what the next couple of weeks hold and see what answers we get.

My 9yo kid is allergic to dogs...red eyes, sneezing, hives. The whole family wanted an indoor dog, so went to an allergist and tried some sort of oral regimen that was supposed to be similar to shots for several months (maybe 6?). It didn't work. We landed up getting a labradoodle and he's good to go.

I am really allergic to cats. My parents kicked our cat outdoors once they realized this. He was probably 3-5yo at the time and adjusted to it really well. Always stuck near the house and they built a nice pen in the garage. He was the friendliest cat ever and lived happily for 18yrs.

We've had our dog since before our daughter was born and she cried her eyes out in the allergist's office when he was going over the results that showed she was allergic. He quickly said that rehoming the dog should be a very last resort. We did a super deep clean and put a baby gate up to keep the dog from going into her bedroom (up to that point he'd slept on the floor next to her bed every single night). I bought a Dyson air purifier for her room and upgraded the quality of our main HVAC filters. All of this made a pretty immediate difference in her quality of sleep.

There are still seasonal allergies to contend with, but she doesn't cough and sneeze all night anymore except during peak oak pollen season and at that point all we can do is just try to ease her symptoms. We're also on a daily Zyrtec and Nasacort regimen. We tried Singulair for a few months and it was a miracle from an allergy standpoint - all symptoms completely cleared up. BUT the psychological side effects were very real and absolutely awful. Depending on how bad your kiddo is suffering it might be worth discussing with the doctor, just be hyper aware for mood or behavior changes. I would give anything for another drug that worked as well without making her an emotional wreck. I know lots of people who take it without any issues.

Thank you, that's very helpful. We have the same meds prescribed and the same plan for the house.

aglaohfour said:

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We've had our dog since before our daughter was born and she cried her eyes out in the allergist's office when he was going over the results that showed she was allergic. He quickly said that rehoming the dog should be a very last resort. We did a super deep clean and put a baby gate up to keep the dog from going into her bedroom (up to that point he'd slept on the floor next to her bed every single night). I bought a Dyson air purifier for her room and upgraded the quality of our main HVAC filters. All of this made a pretty immediate difference in her quality of sleep.

There are still seasonal allergies to contend with, but she doesn't cough and sneeze all night anymore except during peak oak pollen season and at that point all we can do is just try to ease her symptoms. We're also on a daily Zyrtec and Nasacort regimen. We tried Singulair for a few months and it was a miracle from an allergy standpoint - all symptoms completely cleared up. BUT the psychological side effects were very real and absolutely awful. Depending on how bad your kiddo is suffering it might be worth discussing with the doctor, just be hyper aware for mood or behavior changes. I would give anything for another drug that worked as well without making her an emotional wreck. I know lots of people who take it without any issues.

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Great post with lots of accurate info. Cat allergies in general can be much more severe than dog allergies. And cat dander can, as pointed out, persist for years after the cat is gone. Having a positive test at 5 is very significant, as about age 6 is when the immune system is fully mature. Agree with Singulair warnings (montelukast), and I try to reserve it for serious allergies especially when asthma is also an issue. And I always give the depression warnings when I do.

You could bathe the cat weekly to help also.

You can also try something called Allerpet. It's a cat dander remover you apply to a cloth and rub the cats fur to minimize dander. We use it when we have friends come over who are allergic.

Cats are a 3 as far as my allergies go. I have always had cats. One sleeps near my face. I get allergy shots, now down to one every three weeks. Most of things I was once allergic too no longer cause a reaction. I hope cats get there eventually. I don't see much reaction anymore. I will add that I have asthma. Before shots, I was at about 50% lung capacity. After a few years of shots, my lungs are at 100%, and I almost never need meds or an inhaler. It is possible to get over this allergy.

There is a new cat food that is supposed to reduce the dander.

I'm Allergic to giant ragweed pollen. Every fall I have to spend a couple months on Claritin. It works well for me. I don't get drowsy on it and it cuts symptoms down to almost nothing.

Thanks all, this is great

Cats are evil anyway, nobody will miss it. Ditch the cat, take care of your kid.

Cat gone yesterday.

It's funny, I should've said dog. This thread would've gone very differently

I love that you talk to your patients about the side effects of Singulair. Our allergist has an excellent reputation, but over the course of the 4 hour visit where he prescribed Singulair not once did he mention side effects.

Our daughter was 6 at the time and we literally thought she was having a psychotic break because her anxiety and depression came out of nowhere and escalated very quickly. It was pure chance that I figured it out - a stranger shared an article in a mom group about it. I felt like the worst parent ever for not connecting the dots myself. When we stopped, she went back to normal pretty quickly so no long term damage done, thank god. Now I make sure to ask very directly a few times about the side effects of anything any of us are prescribed.

aglaohfour said:

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I love that you talk to your patients about the side effects of Singulair. Our allergist has an excellent reputation, but over the course of the 4 hour visit where he prescribed Singulair not once did he mention side effects.

Our daughter was 6 at the time and we literally thought she was having a psychotic break because her anxiety and depression came out of nowhere and escalated very quickly. It was pure chance that I figured it out - a stranger shared an article in a mom group about it. I felt like the worst parent ever for not connecting the dots myself. When we stopped, she went back to normal pretty quickly so no long term damage done, thank god. Now I make sure to ask very directly a few times about the side effects of anything any of us are prescribed.

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Yeah singulair definitely scares me. I bought a HEPA air purifier and some MERV 12 HVAC filters. Will see if that shows any improvement along with the basic OTC meds and go from there.