How To Manage A Cat Allergy? Can We Still Live With A Cat?

In nearly 50% of animal allergy cases, the culprit is the cat. This does not prevent more and more French people from adopting these little felines. There are indeed 7 million cats on the national territory according to the I-Cad. This is without counting those who are not identified and who are estimated at nearly 6 million! So many opportunities to make life difficult for the most sensitive people. Let’s take stock of the cat allergy symptoms his exact causes and see if it is possible to live with your cat when you are allergic.

Cat allergy: the main symptoms

Nose, eyes, skin, lungs are the main organs affected in people allergic to cats. The most common symptoms are:

• • Sneezing,

• • Rhinitis,

• • Conjunctivitis,

• • Chronic inflammatory skin disease, namely atopic eczema also called atopic dermatitis causing itching,

• • Sinusitis,

• • breathing difficulties,

• • Asthma attacks.

The subject is serious, because any allergy can give rise to complications. In a susceptible person in contact with allergen, his immune system responds excessively and in any case in an abnormal way. This is how the allergic reaction is explained.

A simple allergic rhinitis can turn into rhino-sinusitis or asthma. The quality of life of the person suffers considerably, especially as over time a consequent general fatigue sets in.

Cat allergy: the causes

Contrary to popular belief, cat hair is not the cause of the allergy but partly the saliva that the animal deposits on its fur when it licks itself. Allergens are also found in other secretions and in the dander. Male cats produce more allergens than female cats, but female cats can still be the source of an allergy that can really complicate the daily life of their owners.

Feld 1 And Feld 4, produced by the sebaceous and salivary glands of cats, are the two main causes of this famous allergy complained of by millions of people. It’s actually about allergenic glycoproteins causing histamine reactions more or less important.

These pneumallergens represent a scourge as they are among the two most important within the home environment. This can be serious for very sensitive people, that is to say genetically predisposed people, because Fel d 1 mainly persists for at least six months in the house after the total eviction of the cat and traces of it are even still found after two years, but in infinitesimal quantities.

The best solutions to manage your cat allergy

In the most serious cases of cat allergy, it is best to permanently entrust the animal to another family. A difficult decision to make, and that many cat owners categorically refuse. It is certainly possible to coping with a cat allergy, at least if the problem is not very important. But keeping your animal means accepting the risk of later complications. The decision is not reasonable when the allergy concerns a child.

Be that as it may, among the advice given by scientists, a person allergic to his cat, but who does not wish to part with his little companion, can improve his living conditions somewhat by intervening at different levels, namely:

• • Wash your cat imperatively and completely once a week,

• • Treat the cat with a allergy lotion Aller pet type,

• • Avoid all contact with the cat’s saliva and limit contact with its hair because these animals lick themselves frequently,

• • Replace all floor and wall carpeting with washable coverings (parquet, tiles, paint, etc.),

• • Remove all carpets from the home,

• • Permanently eliminate furniture that contains padding,

• • Install a filter air purifier High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA), i.e. a high efficiency air particulate filter,

• • Invest in a powerful vacuum cleaner with HEPA filter,

• • Ventilate all rooms several times a day.

At the same time, the allergic person who wishes to keep his cat at all costs has every interest in consult an allergist. She will thus be able to benefit from a adapted treatment and additional solutions may perhaps be indicated to him by the specialist, desensitization and others.

And if the animal vaccine was the solution? German immunologists and allergists submitted the idea of vaccinate cats to protect their masters against this allergy. The vaccine is not yet on the market. It will be necessary to wait a few more years for it to receive a Marketing Authorization (AMM). In any case, it would allow many people allergic to Fel d 1 protein to no longer present significant symptoms and therefore, to keep their little companion with them.

Extremely important since it is the third cause of allergy in humans, cat allergy should not be taken lightly. Of course, before definitively separating from your cat, you must do everything possible to try to live with him despite this. The heartbreaking decision will only have to be made if the manifestations of the allergy are on the increase and no solution has given a convincing result.