Hey to all. My wife and I have two cats (had them since they were just 6 weeks old) and a doggie. Unfortunately, I have a cat allergy that makes me sneeze wildly - and unfortunately, my sneezes are no where near "dry".

My allergist has prescribed Allegra, and I take it daily. It seems to work 95% of the time. I also have a big ol' HEPA filter running 24/7 in the bedroom. That seems to help as well.

Does anyone have any other good ideas for keeping the cat allergens out of my nose?

Yes, I know getting rid of the cats would make life much easier. And really, if I didn't love our pets so much I probably would. I'd like to try everything possible before making the house occupants 2 less.

I tried immunization shots for cat dander a few years ago... it helped some, but not enough to live with cats in the house.
I understand it does work well for some people though.

Sorry for the bad news, but there is nothing that will take away your cat allergies 100%. You are allergic to the cat dander which has already made its way into your home's ventilation system, which means dander is being distributed in every room of your house. I am very allergic - lips bubble, rashes form, eyes swell so much that if I poke the whites of my eye, it will fall over my lower eyelid and touch my undereye skin, and I have asthma attacks w/in 15 min. I can't live with a cat, but my b/f's mother is a little allergic and she chooses to live with three cats because she loves them a lot. If your symptoms are just a runny nose and a little eye itching, I'd make the sacrifice :tu:

Hey to all. My wife and I have two cats (had them since they were just 6 weeks old) and a doggie. Unfortunately, I have a cat allergy that makes me sneeze wildly - and unfortunately, my sneezes are no where near "dry".

My allergist has prescribed Allegra, and I take it daily. It seems to work 95% of the time. I also have a big ol' HEPA filter running 24/7 in the bedroom. That seems to help as well.

Does anyone have any other good ideas for keeping the cat allergens out of my nose?

Yes, I know getting rid of the cats would make life much easier. And really, if I didn't love our pets so much I probably would. I'd like to try everything possible before making the house occupants 2 less.

I have pretty bad allergies to pollen and dust that can get debilitating if the wrong trees are around in the springtime (as well as a bunch of uncommon food allergies). Seriously, though, if you're allergic to cats and you have cats in your house, well, that's going to be a tough haul, so nothing will totally get rid of it. The biggest problem for me was bedtime; the amount of time I spent in bed was long enough that if the allergens were there, they pretty much had me all day. Here are a few tips -

- Don't let the cats in your bed, and change your sheets regularly.
- If you want to institute this rule anew, buy new pillows and blankets.
- Wash your hair and your face before you go to bed to get allergens outta there (this is the big one, helps immensely for most airborn allergens).
- Spend as much time outside as possible.
- Try to designate "safe" rooms that you keep relatively clear of allergens where you can hang out (this doesn't work if the central air or central heating is on, of course)
- Have somebody non-allergic do very thorough vacuuming and dusting when you're not in the house. It'll kick a lot of stuff into the air, but it's also necessary if you're going to live anything resembling an allergy-free lifestyle, even with heavy medication.
- Get rid of the frickin' cats and move somewhere new (I know, I know, not really an option, but the only thing that will really solve this problem).

I never had pets as a kid because my mom was allergic to dander. I just assumed that, if you have somebody allergic in your house, you just don't have pets. But to each his own, and you gotta do what you gotta do.

Good luck!

Bathing the cats on occasion helps, so I hear. Yes, I know, some people protest this as being 'cruel'... but my cats don't cry foul just when they get bathed. They get upset when they're moved, they get upset when they don't get extra helpings of food, they get upset when you're not waiting on them hand and foot the let them in and out of doors. The fact that they hate having a bath hardly stands out amongst all of the other things they hate:)

So... have someone bathe the cats on occasion. Every couple of weeks or once a month (and yes, thoroughly clean the house at the same time). (I strongly suggest having one of the hand-held spray nosel/shower head things. I don't have one, but I've used one on a cat at the animal shelter. MUCH easier). See if that helps.

wow, thanks for the replies everyone!

Lisa - I too did the shots for a while. I didn't find they made much of a difference, and the allergist basically said there was a chance they wouldn't. It was worth trying though.

woeisemma - Wow! I'm lucky that my allergic reactions don't come close to what yours are. Most of the time, I'm fine. The Allegra in my system takes care of the dander in the house. That and I try to make sure cats don't sleep on my face :) I think part of the problem is that my wife and I haven't had a lot of time to clean as of late and, since we're cooped up inside more being close to winter, yeah... I figure we just need to buy an extra box of Kleenex at the store every so often.

PeteBDawg - Quite a list you have there, thanks! I too have pollen allergies (Birch and Alder myself, you?) and March through April is tough. I've since marked my office as "safe", as well as both bathrooms in the house. Luckily my wife has no allergies so she's ok - this also means she gets to do the vacuuming and cat box cleaning. I think that's fair ;) I'll definitely try to be better about washing my face every night, thanks for that tip.

Human Clay - We do actually bathe our cats every so often. Personally, I don't think it's crual - in fact, I think our cats look funniest when they are soaking wet. heh. We bathe them in our utility sink - it's nice and deep and they can't really escape. Luckily, our cats are only upset when we bathe them or when the dog steals their food.

Thanks again you guys, I appreciate the responses. My wife did a big ol' cleaning of the bedroom today and turned the HEPA filter on high for a couple hours. I bet that'll help.

Yeah, and I was forced to grow up with 4 cats. I was sick every day for 8 years.

woeisemma - Wow! I'm lucky that my allergic reactions don't come close to what yours are. Most of the time, I'm fine. The Allegra in my system takes care of the dander in the house. That and I try to make sure cats don't sleep on my face :) I think part of the problem is that my wife and I haven't had a lot of time to clean as of late and, since we're cooped up inside more being close to winter, yeah... I figure we just need to buy an extra box of Kleenex at the store every so often.

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Hmm. I sneezed when I read this topic name, maybe that's mine.

But no, I don't have any serious ones, I live with cats all my life and have even had as much as 16 kittens at one time, I think the only thing that annoys me is too much sunlight, I sneeze constantly.

sneezing with too much bright sunlight is an actual medical condition - I don't remember the name, but I remember it's an actual condition.

so, there ya go, you have a condition. good job :)