I think I'm suddenly very allergic to my cat maybe? What gives???? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by dingus@lemmy.world to c/cat@lemmy.world

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Hi. I've had my cat since August. He sleeps in my bed every night and has done so since I've got him. I've always had an incredibly mild allergy to cats...mostly when they scratch me I sometimes get very itchy (but not always), or if there are a metric buttload of them in the room (as in a shelter), my throat and eyes will be a bit scratchy. Otherwise I'm fine.

In the past several weeks, I have been sneezing a fuckton and when go to bed and wake up in the morning my nose is entirely stuffed up and runny. It goes away once I'm up and moving, but I'm still periodically sneezing whenever I'm at home. The litter boxes are NOT in my bedroom.

Any tips??? I don't want to kick him out of the bed. :(((

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[-] Coolcoder360@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Do you have good air filters to filter the cat dander and cat hair? What about how often you brush the cat or wash bedding?

It could be that you've finally gotten enough cat hair building up at home that it is starting to be a lot.

Making sure you have and change the air filter on your HVAC system or getting auxiliary air filters can help remove airborne cat dander or cat hair. This will also help if it's a combination of cat and pollen or other things, air filtration is great.

If the cat is shedding all over your bedding at night then washing it regularly will likely help with that aspect. Get a furminator comb and use that to help remove loose hair from your cat and be able to dispose of it without needing them to shed it wherever, that can also help reduce hairballs.

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

First of all, wash your sheets if you aren't doing it regularly. Then have a quick look around fo mould. Lastly, minimise laundry left on the floor and vacuum more if they're carpeted. A third of our time is in our bedroom, so things can get blocked up if stuff is in the air.

If that's all good, okay, time to start considering the cat 🥺 The most common allergy is from their saliva on themselves from cleaning, or skin falling off from cleaning. If they're cleaning themselves in your bed or shortly before coming into bed, that's most likely it.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago

Has the cat's diet changed at all? My understanding is that the allergy has to do with a protein that some cats produce, and it ends up on their fur through the saliva. Certain diets can reduce or eliminate the protein.

I don't have any brands to recommend, but here is the study if it gives you something to go off of

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6764009/

[-] celeste@kbin.earth 0 points 4 months ago

There are apparently cat foods that reduce the production of what humans are allergic to, but I struggled a bit to find an article about it that didn't read like a paid advertisement. I guess here:

https://www.aaoallergy.org/hypoallergenic-pet-food-myth-or-magic-solution/ This looks real? Would love info from someone who knows more on this.

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 0 points 4 months ago

Anecdotally, but one of my cat-allergic kids spent the entire day at a friend's house with their cat who was purportedly fed this kind of food. Now, my kid pre-dosed an antihistamine early in the day, and their friend vacuumed before, but this was allll day in a studio apartment, and they didn't have a single symptom at all. Based on prior experience, that's unusual.

[-] celeste@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago

You know, an anecdote still seems like more legit data than some of the articles I saw. Unless... you're also sponsored???? (joking) There does seem to be a lot of potential in targeting the allergin cats make, so I'm genuinely hopeful about these kinds of treatments.

[-] greatwhitebuffalo41@piefed.social 0 points 4 months ago

According the an allergy doctor I follow on several social media places, this is legit. It also comes in a powder you can sprinkle on any cat food. The protein is found in chicken eggs where the chickens have actually been exposed to cats food most of their lives. It won't work for everyone but from what I can tell the science shows it'll at least improve things!