Help - cat allergies

RainbowJack

Hi,

I'm new to this but here goes - we got 2 new kittens on sunday and they are just adorable and great fun. But my partner thinks he may be allergic as everytime he's near the kittens he starts sneezing and also seems to have sinusitis - is this just coincidence??? My daughter also has a sore throat since Sunday!!! Also this morning the kittens decided to climb up Daddy's legs while he was only wearing a housecoat (they do this to me all the time but a first for him!!) Now apart from little scratches, welt-like bumps have appeared where the kittens were on his legs!!!

Don't know what to to - have made an appointment with the doc for 12:30 today so am praying its just a timing coincidence that they got sick when the kittens arrived! (Thank god kittens are settling in great and are not sick!!!)

Not sure if i'm making sense but any advice would be greatly appreciated???

planetX

Probably allergies, but don't panic yet. A lot of people will get symptoms for a week or two and then develop immunity. I used to get quite badly allergic to other peoples cats, but now that I have my own I'm fine.
The welts are a reaction to the scratches, I think most people get that too. It won't be an issue once the kittens grow up a bit.

af_thefragile

You could give the kittens a bath and it'll get rid of the allergic proteins on their body for a while atleast...

RainbowJack

Thanks PlanetX - was in the waiting room in the doc's when I saw your reply, it calmed me a bit!!! The good news is the doctor is fairly certain there's no allergies to the kittens so we can all relax again!!

Is that some sort of a sick joke to bath the kittens???

boomerang

I'm highly allergic to cats - I get the weeping eyes, snorty, runny nose, wheezy chest etc.

But I find so long as I stay in contact with cats, the allergies don't flare up. I haven't handled cats in a long time now, and I have a cat staying with me for a week. My allergies are pretty bad today and yesterday but by the end of the week it'll be grand!

Hope this gives you a bit of hope

af_thefragile

RainbowJack wrote: »

Thanks PlanetX - was in the waiting room in the doc's when I saw your reply, it calmed me a bit!!! The good news is the doctor is fairly certain there's no allergies to the kittens so we can all relax again!!

Is that some sort of a sick joke to bath the kittens???

I heard it helps. The allergy is caused by protein in the cats saliva and dandruff so if you give the cat a wash, it gets rid of the protein from their fur and such...

builttospill

I have a strong allergy to cats and I have two indoor cats! I'm fairly sure it's only one of them I'm allergic to seeing as I had no problems with the first one we got which is a maine coon, supposedly more hypoallergenic that most. The cat I'm allergic to is a male which I've read have more allergens than females. Since we got the second one over a year ago I had serious problems with my lungs up until a point where I couldn't take it anymore so I went over to Poland 2 months ago to an allergy clinic.

I am now taking a Seretide inhaler which eradicates the symptoms and I'm also looking into immunotherapy. For almost a year I was in and out of the doctor's here in Ireland where they kept giving me antibiotics and even steroids to clear my lungs. Once I finished them my chest infection just flared back up. Not once did they make the connection that it could be an allergy and even when I said it to them they didn't really take me seriously.

After wasting ridiculous amounts of money on appointments here, my OH made an appointment with an allergy specialist in Poland so over I went where I spent a day in this high-tech lab undergoing loads of tests to determine the problem. The results came back: cats-high allergy, house dust mites-high allergy, horses(which I'm never around)-medium allergy, grasses-low allergy.

The fixed me up with Seretide which has worked wonders while they talked to me for ages through my OH, who was translating, about my diagnosis and options. They were really friendly and helpful and it cost abut the same as a doctor's appointment here in Ireland, bearing in mind that I was in the clinic in Poland for about 4 hours, hooked up to all sorts of equipment that I'd never seen before. In Ireland I'd be given the bums rush out the door after 10 mins. The Seretide inhaler in Poland costs less than a fiver while over here it costs seventy something quid.

You see Ireland doesn't have any proper allergy medical practices because allergies aren't seen as a big thing here. In Poland a large amount of people have them so there is a demand for it.

Obviously when it comes to the problem it does help to rid your house of as much cat hair as possible and ban them from the bedroom. very hard to do with mischievous cats I know. Now I just get a stuffy nose which I can handle as long as my lungs are ok and I can breath.

JustAThought

Hi! Very interested in your post! Is love to know where/ the practice in Poland... Sounds like a great investment.
BTW Serotide here costs e120.!!! Can you really get it in Poland for just e5!?

tk123

JustAThought wrote: »

Hi! Very interested in your post! Is love to know where/ the practice in Poland... Sounds like a great investment.
BTW Serotide here costs e120.!!! Can you really get it in Poland for just e5!?

Wow a fiver!? My seretide 250 is 80 odd every month!! :mad:

JustAThought

tk123 wrote: »

JustAThought wrote: »

Hi! Very interested in your post! Is love to know where/ the practice in Poland... Sounds like a great investment.
BTW Serotide here costs e120.!!! Can you really get it in Poland for just e5!?

Wow a fiver!? My seretide 250 is 80 odd every month!! :mad:

My Serotide 250 is e120 a month!!! Where are you getting yours!!? 80 is a good deal!!! Maybe it's discus thou ?

builttospill

Hi,

Having consulted my OH she has informed me that I get the seretide discus at such a cheap price cos her aunt has the same problems and has an ongoing prescription for it herself. However, if you were to go to Poland and buy one with a prescription for yourself it would work out at the equivalent of E27 which is still a whole lot cheaper.

Here is the website for the allergy clinic I went to:

http://www.centrummedyczne.com.pl/

Now, this clinic is out of the way seeing as it's near to where we were staying in Poland but I imagine there are loads more located in the bigger cities.

Oh-my OH has also told me that there is a Polish doctor in Dublin who deals with allergies. Here is the website:

http://www.medicus.ie/en/index.php

Hope this helps.

Groom!

Just on a separate note.....a friend of mine's daughter was highly allergic to rabbits, cats and horses, and they had all 3.

She brought her to a homeopath who prepared a homeopathic remedy in the form of drops. They worked brilliantly.

RainbowJack

Groom! wrote: »

Just on a separate note.....a friend of mine's daughter was highly allergic to rabbits, cats and horses, and they had all 3.

She brought her to a homeopath who prepared a homeopathic remedy in the form of drops. They worked brilliantly.

Would be interested in finding out more about this - have never had to deal with allergies before and even though the doc said it wasn't an allergy OH's symptoms are still there. We have got an air purifier as recommended by the pharmacist and he's taking anti-histamines and nasal spray so is getting some relief but not a whole lot.:(

JustAThought

builttospill wrote: »

.

Here is the website for the allergy clinic I went to:

http://www.centrummedyczne.com.pl/[/

Oh-my OH has also told me that there is a Polish doctor in Dublin who deals with allergies. Here is the website:

http://www.medicus.ie/en/index.php

Hope this helps.

Thank you so
Much for all the info you posted: I will definitely follow up on this : huge thanks.