severe pet allergies - anyone else?!

I've been feeling like crap over the last few weeks...took 4 covid tests last week, all negative. I also had my primary doctor do my normal, yearly blood tests - everything else was normal except a high LDL cholesterol, which isn't too surprising since I'm a big dude, but that wasn't causing my 'issues'....

I came home from work last night and my symptoms smacked me very hard: nose, eyes and lungs burning, chest got tight, throat constricted some, headache, dizziness/vertigo, etc.....then it dawned on me, I think I developed a severe allergy to my cats. we have 2, 1 we've had for around 11 years, the other for 9 or so. Never really had any issues, or at least if I did, it was mild and mostly controlled with my regular allegra and flonase I've been taking daily for years..

I ordered a larger air purifier to keep in between my living & dining room. we already have a smaller air purifier for our bedroom and we don't allow our cats in our bedroom as it is..

now the round of testing starts next week to fully nail down my allergens and get on a treatment plan.....

I hope it works out well for you, one way or another. When I was an allergist, one of the most difficult allergies to treat was pet allergy, not because of a lack of therapies (desensitizing injections, medications, etc.), but because most pet owners were unable or unwilling to remove the 'offending' animal(s) from the house. However, if there are multiple additional allergies, such as to dust mites or molds, then it's possible to treat those with an injection program, which sometimes can secondarily improve the pet allergy reactions enough to allow the animals to stay.

I hope it works out well for you, one way or another. When I was an allergist, one of the most difficult allergies to treat was pet allergy, not because of a lack of therapies (desensitizing injections, medications, etc.), but because most pet owners were unable or unwilling to remove the 'offending' animal(s) from the house. However, if there are multiple additional allergies, such as to dust mites or molds, then it's possible to treat those with an injection program, which sometimes can secondarily improve the pet allergy reactions enough to allow the animals to stay.

thanks. I have a skin allergy test scheduled for next Friday.

from what I'm reading, this seems to of helped A LOT of pet owners too:

The oral tranquilizer Acepromazine can be given at ultra-low doses in the cat’s food and provides relief for a great many allergy sufferers. While a single small study on the use of Acepromazine did not find statistically significant results, in practice, about 50% of people report a complete cessation of symptoms, 25% report that symptoms are improved, and 25% report no change. It takes 2-4 weeks to see results.

However, the formula is simple, inexpensive, and easy to try. The medication changes the chemical composition of the cat’s saliva, reducing the amount of allergenic protein secreted. It must be given every day to maintain the effect. Because the dose is so tiny, it has no effect on the cat’s behavior and can be given for life. You can give the recipe for “Ace Allergy Drops” to your vet: To a one-ounce dropper bottle containing 30 ml spring water, add 5 mg Acepromazine (1/2 ml of injectable 10 mg/ml, or one 5 mg tablet crushed, or half of a 10 mg tablet crushed). Instructions: Shake well before using. For an adult cat, add 5-6 drops of mixture to cat’s wet food daily. For smaller kittens, use 1-2 drops. Because there is no preservative, store the bottle in the refrigerator.

from: https://littlebigcat.com/allergic-to-cats/

once I verify what I'm actually allergic to, I may consider contacting my cat's vet to see if she'll prescribe it to try.

I've been feeling like crap over the last few weeks...took 4 covid tests last week, all negative.  I also had my primary doctor do my normal, yearly blood tests - everything else was normal except a high LDL cholesterol, which isn't too surprising since I'm a big dude, but that wasn't causing my 'issues'....

I came home from work last night and my symptoms smacked me very hard: nose, eyes and lungs burning, chest got tight, throat constricted some, headache, dizziness/vertigo, etc.....then it dawned on me, I think I developed a severe allergy to my cats.  we have 2, 1 we've had for around 11 years, the other for 9 or so.  Never really had any issues, or at least if I did, it was mild and mostly controlled with my regular allegra and flonase I've been taking daily for years..

I ordered a larger air purifier to keep in between my living & dining room.  we already have a smaller air purifier for our bedroom and we don't allow our cats in our bedroom as it is..

now the round of testing starts next week to fully nail down my allergens and get on a treatment plan.....

Hope you feel better, for high cholesterol I would suggest old remedy it work take it in morning and night time before bed apple cider vinegar 2 table spoons it have to be “mothers” I like and prefer ansectral brand and squeeze some fresh lemon countinue using it you’ll see results   trust me on this when I tell you it Works…

Alan H

All the best to you, Andrew.  I love cats but, unfortunately, am highly allergic to them.  I actually ended up in a hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland one year because my asthma had gotten so bad I could barely walk.  It turns out the friends I was staying with had a cat who liked to sleep with me.  If I know in advance I'll be staying with someone with a cat, a steroid spray will usually help me avoid issues like the one in Scotland but, sadly, I could never have one as a pet.  Perhaps knowledge and meditation have advanced greatly in the 35 years since my incident.  Again, I wish you the best and hope for a positive outcome.

That’s a tough one to deal with after you’ve welcomed the cats into your home and become attached to them. 

If you’re aware of possible allergies before you get pets then there are things you can do to reduce the risk of severe allergic reactions. Back when our kids were small and we wanted to get some dogs but our son had asthma so we researched the various breeds and found that the standard poodle was the closest thing to non-allergenic out there do we wound up with a couple of those dogs. No regrets, they’re great dogs. We also decided that we wouldn’t let the dogs sleep with the kids. They weren’t happy about that but it was to reduce the risk of allergic reaction. When we house trained the dogs we cordoned off the upstairs (bedrooms) and the living room/dining room areas with baby gates. Once trained the barriers came down and the dogs stayed out of those areas. It was amazing-you could be playing with the dog with a tug or a ball with him chasing you but if you ran into the living room they would stop at the invisible line. We would have my mom babysit the kids and the dogs made her nervous so I told her to just go and sit in the living room. The dogs would lay down at the invisible line and stare at her. Good dogsanyway, we never had any allergy problems and my son eventually outgrew the asthma.

All the best to you, Andrew.  I love cats but, unfortunately, am highly allergic to them.  I actually ended up in a hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland one year because my asthma had gotten so bad I could barely walk.  It turns out the friends I was staying with had a cat who liked to sleep with me.  If I know in advance I'll be staying with someone with a cat, a steroid spray will usually help me avoid issues like the one in Scotland but, sadly, I could never have one as a pet.  Perhaps knowledge and meditation have advanced greatly in the 35 years since my incident.  Again, I wish you the best and hope for a positive outcome.

thanks, Freddy. there does seem to be treatments out there to make it more manageable and/or tolerable. personally, I'd find in incredibly hard to not try to control/manage the allergies in some way and resort to getting rid of my cats that I've had for a decade when all of my close friends & families have pets too.

air purifiers have come along way too and they're affordable these days too.

That’s a tough one to deal with after you’ve welcomed the cats into your home and become attached to them. 

If you’re aware of possible allergies before you get pets then there are things you can do to reduce the risk of severe allergic reactions. Back when our kids were small and we wanted to get some dogs but our son had asthma so we researched the various breeds and found that the standard poodle was the closest thing to non-allergenic out there do we wound up with a couple of those dogs. No regrets, they’re great dogs. We also decided that we wouldn’t let the dogs sleep with the kids. They weren’t happy about that but it was to reduce the risk of allergic reaction. When we house trained the dogs we cordoned off the upstairs (bedrooms) and the living room/dining room areas with baby gates. Once trained the barriers came down and the dogs stayed out of those areas. It was amazing-you could be playing with the dog with a tug or a ball with him chasing you but if you ran into the living room they would stop at the invisible line. We would have my mom babysit the kids and the dogs made her nervous so I told her to just go and sit in the living room. The dogs would lay down at the invisible line and stare at her. Good dogsanyway, we never had any allergy problems and my son eventually outgrew the asthma.

we keep the cats out of our sleeping bedrooms (our middle bedroom is our office/computer room) and then in those rooms, we have smaller air purifiers. I've been bringing those down into my living & dining room for the time being to help clean the air while I wait for a larger unit to arrive.

cats are very hard to keep confined as they can find their way through tight spots and basically jump over any and all child/pet fences, more or less.

we'll see how it goes once I figure out exactly what I'm allergic to and see the route the allergist thinks we should take. I also have a message in with my cat's vet to try to get that Acepromazine medicine to see if it helps out any at all.

welp...I did my allergy test this past Friday afternoon and everything that I was allergic to was pretty mild, with dogs probably causing the most reaction on my skin. I was mildly allergic to: dogs, cats, pigweed, bermuda grass & lamb's quarters.

since I'm still having fairly frequent heart palpitations and fluttering, even when sleeping, it's off to get an ekg test done tomorrow AM, just to be on the safe side.

welp...I did my allergy test this past Friday afternoon and everything that I was allergic to was pretty mild, with dogs probably causing the most reaction on my skin. I was mildly allergic to: dogs, cats, pigweed, bermuda grass & lamb's quarters.

since I'm still having fairly frequent heart palpitations and fluttering, even when sleeping, it's off to get an ekg test done tomorrow AM, just to be on the safe side.

All of those specific allergies respond quite well to immunotherapy (allergy shots), with significant improvement usually seen within 3 months.

welp...I did my allergy test this past Friday afternoon and everything that I was allergic to was pretty mild, with dogs probably causing the most reaction on my skin.  I was mildly allergic to: dogs, cats, pigweed, bermuda grass & lamb's quarters.

since I'm still having fairly frequent heart palpitations and fluttering, even when sleeping, it's off to get an ekg test done tomorrow AM, just to be on the safe side.

All the best with that ekg test, Andrew.  I hope your problem is nothing serious.