Living with allergies AND cats

Do you suffer wheezing, sneezing, watery eyes and itchy eyes and arms around your cat?

For me, these allergy symptoms are a small price to pay for the company of my cats – although some mornings when I wake with a heavy head and red eyes I wonder!

Cat allergies are not caused by cat hair as most of us assume. They are caused by
a protein found in cat saliva, urine and skin cells, or dander. The immune systems of people with allergies mistake this harmless protein for a dangerous invader like a virus or bacteria and mount a full scale attack on it.
Here are some tips for minimising our allergy symptoms without giving up our cats.

• Made your bedroom a cat free zone
  
• Reduce the load of cat allergens in your bedroom by washing or replacing bedding, curtains and pillows. Then cover pillows and mattress with allergen-proof covers.
  
• Open windows wide at least once a day to air the house and dilute the allergen load.
  
• Send your cat outside, preferably into an outdoor run, to disperse some of the dander
  
• Eliminate allergen traps such as carpet, rugs and upholstered furniture as you can.
  
• Carpet accumulates up to 100 times more allergens than vinyl or wood flooring. If you can’t take it up steam clean it regularly and vacuum with a high efficiency particulate arresting (HEPA) filter or us and allergen-proof vacuum cleaner bag.
  
•  Brush your cat outside and/or in an outside enclosure to minimise contamination of your home with dander.
  Wipe the dander away with a moist cloth or wipe to remove saliva and dander.
  
• Spray the house with anti-allergen sprays
•  Use a low dust cat litter and ask non-allergic family members to clean the litter box frequently
  
• Take the anti
  histamines, decongestants, eye drops and aerosol inhalers your doctor recommends. Antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E also have anti-allergen effects.