how to handle pet allergies?

[praline]

Last week I went to an allergy specialist for the first time. I have taken allergy meds and nose sprays for YEARS but lately they have been getting worse. I do live in an extremely high allergy location and most folks suffer with them due to the swamps and hot humid air.

The test came back this afternoon and I do not have outdoor allergies like I thought I had for MANY years. It seems I am allergic to pet hair!!!!
I told my mom and she about dropped the phone she was laughing so hard.

Don't worry, none of my babies will be leaving me (even though the Doc said that was the best route to take ..dumb doc)

I have been googling and reading up on how to handle pet allergies in the home. I do own a air purifier and I am going to buy 2 more. That should help a great deal. I don't have carpet so that should be easy to handle.

Anyone else out there have pet hair allergies that care to share how you keep the allergy under control? Thanks!

[MowMow]

I scratch..a lot.

The only medicine that works for my itchy eyes is Cetrizine (Zyrtec), I buy the Walmart version.

The only thing that keeps me breathing through my nose is constant cleaning. I dust almost every other day. My apartment is small so one dust rag and 15 minutes gets every surface dusted. I have every surface that MowMow lays on covered with a blanket, pillow slip or sheet. I wash all of those once a week.

I vacuum really well twice a week and sometimes three times if I have to keep the apartment closed up. Sheets and blankets have to be stripped off the bed and washed at least weekly as well, there is no way I can skip a week or I can't breathe at night and often the top blanket has to be washed twice a week (if he's shedding a lot).

Every morning when I make the bed I pull the blankets and top sheet off and shake them all out over the side of my balcony. I pull off one corner of the fitted sheet and shake it like crazy to get the cat hair off it. Then I leave the bed open to air for a half hour or so before I make it.

Also, once a week (always right before I shower) I give him a good grooming. I brush him out really well, take a cotton ball with mineral oil and swab out his ears and check his nails/trim if needed..THEN I shower right away because it makes me sneeze, cough and my eyes itch like crazy.

[praline]

The doc wants me to try this Omnaris spray. He said it works pretty well on pet hair allergies. Last time I took a spray it burned a hole inside my nose

I did talk to the boys and they are willing to bathe Bentley and groom him for me. That way I don't have to have all that hair floating around my face.
I bathe him outside due to the huge mess he makes in the bathroom.

I am pretty good about keeping dust down and pet hair. I wash our blankets and sheets every Saturday I am thinking I should do at least my bedding again some time mid week. I am debating removing my curtains in my bedroom. I wash them maybe once a month. Sasha loves sitting in the bedroom window and rubbing herself against the curtains so they are a cat hair magnet ~ but bedroom window with no curtain just sounds strange, even if I do have blinds. At the same time breathing beats strangeness hands down.

Do you use the allergen mattress covers and allergen pillow covers? I hate the idea of sleeping on plastic? I am not sure if it works enough to suffer with the "crinkle crinkle crinkle" sound.

When you do your wash, do you use plain laundry soap or the kind that prevent allergens? Febreeze has a spray that is supposed to get rid of allergens as well ~ do they REALLY work or is it all marketing stupid stuff?

Anyone have any luck with the pet shampoo (for dogs or cats) that is supposed to help with allergens to dander? I have seen lots of brands but again not sure if they are any better then plain old pet shampoo?

Do you still let Mow up on the couch? I am trying to decide what to do about the couch. Bentley likes to snuggle with me on the couch as do the cats. I have a pet hair remover vacuum but not sure if I can handle the emotional side of kicking them off the couch I like my babies next to me while watching movies hehe

Sorry about all the questions! I just want to make sure I am thinking of everything that could help me.

[marie73]

Originally Posted by MowMow

The only thing that keeps me breathing through my nose is constant cleaning.

Wow, how dirty IS your nose?

[MowMow]

@ Marie ~ It's bad man, if I don't vacuum out the inside of my nose daily I leave trails of dust behind me.

I've tried all kinds of nasal sprays and I really don't like them. They work but I kept losing my sense of smell. There are certain times it's great not to smell but..... all in all it was a bad deal.

I tried those dumb pillow case covers because I have to use feather pillows. I can't sleep on anything else BUT the crinkle noise drove me up the wall. I ripped them off the first night and just wash my pillows every 5 or 6 months. I have a hypoallergenic mattress pad but not a mattress cover. I wash the mattress pad weekly with my sheets and I vacuum the pillow top mattress every week while the sheets are off.

I can deal with the strangeness. I have blinds in my apartment but I never bothered to hang up curtains (I don't want to worry about filling in the holes later). I wash the blinds once a month as the construction close by causes a lot of dust to build up on them. While I'm washing the blinds I take a lint brush to the screens to get rid of the dust that collects on them.

For laundry detergent I'm a hardcore Arm & Hammer person, I've used it for as long as I've lived on my own. I like the kind with the oxy clean in it and I don't use anything special for allergies.

When I lived with Luna she went to the groomer's at least every other month (or monthly if it was shedding season). With her thick coat and huge size it was just easier to let the groomer deal with it.

MowMow goes wherever he wants. I have fleece blankets on the couch/armchair in the winter and flat bed sheets on them in the summer so he can always lay on them. Those get washed weekly with the rest of his 'bed' covers.

[praline]

Have you seen these light bulbs?! I was reading about how they really do work. As light bulbs go, they are on the pricey side but it sounds like you only need 1 per 12'x 12' area.
Purely Products > Pet CFL | Control Your Pet's Dander with Pet CFL

The video demo is pretty cool to watch LOL
I am adding this to my "needs more research pile" before I buy one. I would hate for it to be a scam lol

[praline]

For laundry detergent I'm a hardcore Arm & Hammer person, I've used it for as long as I've lived on my own. I like the kind with the oxy clean in it and I don't use anything special for allergies.

I used this same stuff for ages!!! I loved it. I very recently changed in the past month to the Tide sport. I like it better for my family. I live with 2 funky teenage boys and their dirty laundry; There are days their laundry hamper scares me
After a weekend camping trip, I would have to double wash their clothes. With the Tide Sport it gets the smell and stains out the first go around.

My hubby took this photo on a recent scouting camping trip. Can you guess which bed is my son's? He took the photo as he knew I would read messy boy the riot act when he got home



Same camping trip, same child. I don't know why teenage boys have such an aversion to being clean



This is my oldest. He is somewhere between not caring if he smells funky and GIRLS hehe



Their laundry is the pitts and the arm and hammer just wasn't cutting it on some loads like the Tide sport.

[LeeLuMonster]

My fiance is allergic to cat hair...
I bathe Leelu every 2 weeks with a dander reducing cat shampoo, vacuum every 2nd day (smaller apt) and wash bed sheets and couch sheets/pillow cases twice a week.
Try and comb her every 2nd day but she's such a lil bum with it grrrr.
I try getting him to wash his hands with soap after every time he touches her...which he doesn't, then he rubs his face and complains about how itchy he is MEN!
I think the main thing is keeping them bathed...I've experimented seeing how long I can go between baths and he really feels a difference if I've gone too long, he gets itchier, more phlegmy/stuffed up. Two weeks seems to work well here.
Good luck!

[spockally]

My son is allergic to dust mites and cat dander. I have been reading so many books lately about allergy and learned many things to avoid the contact with allergens. Last week, we removed all the carpet upstairs to replace with hardwood, so no carpet in my house. It should help a lot because I heard that vacuuming just stirs dust and pet dander (what we are allergic to is actually cats' protein that is attached to the hair) and ends up making our allergy worse. I use Swifter every day to take off dust and cat hair (I have 3 cats). I encased his pillow and mattress with hypoallergy cover. The first one for pillow, he complained about the noise, so I bought a little more expensive one which is much softer and thus makes less noise. I heard that I am supposed to encase ALL pillows and mattress in house because air circulates in the house through A/C and I am planning to do so soon. My cats are not allowed to go to his bedroom. So everytime I sweep his room, I see much less dust and hair, well almost nothing. I LOVE hardwood! Much cleaner! I wash his bedding stuff and dust the furniture at least every week. I cover our couch with slipcover and wash it every week. Occassionaly, I use a roller with sticky tape to remove cat hair from couch. Of course, in spite of all these efforts, my son (soon 7 yr old) grabs my cats, hugs, fights (pretends to fight), chases, cuddles...... so I am not sure if my work to keep him away from cat hair is doing anything, but I am trying. He was given nasal spray as well ( I fogot the name) and I am not using it yet since it is steroid base. I prefer not to give him any daily medication due to the risk factors. Oh, we have HEPA filter everywhere! 2 big ones downstairs, 1 big one upstair hallway and each one for each room..... I clean filter as well every week. Also, we put the filter on A/C venteration for his room. What else? I will write it again if I remember something else.... Hope you feel better!!!

[praline]

Thanks for the ideas!

I used to have an Austin Air purifier and I hated it. So big and bulky and loud!

I did some reading and bought these:

Amazon.com: 3Q AP04A Twin Pack Electrostrostatic Ionic Air Purifier, Cleaner: Everything Else

Amazon.com: 3Q AP04A Twin Pack Electrostrostatic Ionic Air Purifier, Cleaner: Everything Else

They are so cheap I can have one in every room and not worry about replacing filters. I got the 2 for now to see how well they work.

I also ordered a couple of those light bulbs. I don't use a couch cover but I might start placing a blanket or sheet on the couches.
We have hardwood and tile as well, I ripped the carpet out long ago. I hate carpet!

I am debating the pillow case. I fear I will be like mowmow and rip it off the first night. I am so picky about pillows.

I am not thrilled with this nose spray. It works but OMG does it burn
I think sticking a red hot poker up my nose would hurt less. LOL

I am hoping with a few changes in the house I won't have to take the spray very often.