dd possibly asthmatic and we have a cat!

Person_one

chocdonuty wrote: »

wow, so many replies unfortunatly im not the tidiest person about so this will have to change! ,we do have carpets in the flat as laminate is not allowed unfortunatly. I hoover daily with a good hoover bought especially for the cat and it is brill for picking up the hair but there are always little clumps of fluff on the carpet, oh the joys of a big fluffy cat lol. not sure about grooming as he is an indoor moggy so we have nowhere to do it, although he gets a brush by me now and again before I hoover.
I'm presuming it is the cat plus the cold weather that is causing the symptoms as the is the only different thing in her life.
The thing that makes me think is that we did have a cat before but she was an outdoor cat who was a short haired female and during the time we had her, dd used to cough at night, at the time I thought it may have been due to the mould in the old house but now im not so sure. (we moved 2yrs ago) we should know for certain next week when she goes back to the asthma nurse with her peak flow readings, which are quite low but again not knowing much about asthma, im not sure whether to worry or not:o

You could groom the cat in the bathroom or the hall and collect the hair into a bag then hoover afterwards perhaps? As long as your DD isn't around until the hair is cleaned up its better than nothing.

Have a good long chat with the asthma nurse next time you see her, ask if she can recommend any books for laypeople, the better understanding you have of the condition the more you'll be able to help your daughter live with it.

meritaten

my son has severe brittle asthma - and his consultant was adamant he should get rid of the cats! He is a real cat person and adores his cats. so he insisted on allergy testing. I cant remember everything he is allergic to - but, he WAS NOT allergic to cats.
In fact, I think I will PM him to come and give you more info!

You CAN get allergy testing on the NHS!

a peak flow reading is not going to tell you whether you are allergic to anything. its only going to tell you whether your lungs are performing well 'at that time'!

there are many 'triggers' for asthma, allergies are only one aspect. some people find cold/heat, dry air/moist air exercise/lack of exercise a trigger! Doctors seem to disaprove of pets and they are among the first things Doctors 'blame'.

your GP wont want to order an allergy test - as said - its expensive and they can only test for so many allergens at a time! they start with the common ones though like dust mites, pets and foods. its helpful if you can rule things OUT though!

Oh and if DD has even 'mild' asthma - I would learn as much about Asthma as I could - it can be life threatening and YOU need to know the warning signs! Dont ever take it lightly hun!

ellay864

I must admit I did instinctively react against the comment on mild asthmas as you should never under-estimate the condition. My dad died of asthma so I'm well familiar with life with an asthmatic. And sadly in his case cats were a trigger...even our lovely short-haired one who rarely came in the room my dad spent most time in, and never went in bedrooms. But my mum's asthmatic friend has 6 cats and no problems with them. As others have said, do try to find out firstly IF it really is asthma - some doctors are quite quick to throw it is as a possible solution, and it's not always easy to get proper testing, and then what the triggers actualy are. You're right that cold weather can aggravate asthamtics, and also the dryness from heating being on can make it worse too, so it may not be all down to Morris!

Elle7

I have asthma. I grew up with 14 cats...I was told they were probably the trigger, as were my sisters. We were all tested, eventually, and none of us are triggered by cats. I think it is often given out as a 'top' trigger, but if they tested everyone it would be much, much less.

Introduce good hygiene, like washing her hands after she's played with the cat if she doesn't already, and give him a good brush every once in a while outside or in the bathroom so you can clean up the hair. Hoover whenever you can, and you'll find you get rid of most triggers - dust is just as likely to be a trigger as the cat.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

hey all. ive had asthma since 3 (diagnosed) i was told at every stage the cats must go or you will not get better consultants and hospital doctors and GP all insisted i get rid of my pets, even told meritaten a number of times that she must rid the house of the cat and dog (meritaten is my mum) mum refused as i didnt show any sign of an allergy towards the house pets at the time.

came last year and hounded by my consultant to GET RID OR THERE WONT BE ANY TREATMENT LEFT SHE COULD GIVE ME i insisted on HER proving ME wrong, i insisted that if the pets are my trigger of asthma attacks then perform a allergy test if i'm allergic ill will rehome, she did order the test and guess what no reaction to cat dander or furr, allergic to dogs though but only certain types of dog, grass pollen im allergic to and tree pollen.

she apologised and looked suprised.
if they get insistant ask for it to be proven with an allergy test.

lister

Elle7 wrote: »

I have asthma. I grew up with 14 cats...I was told they were probably the trigger, as were my sisters. We were all tested, eventually, and none of us are triggered by cats. I think it is often given out as a 'top' trigger, but if they tested everyone it would be much, much less.

Absolutely. It is unfortunately an easy get out for a busy doctor. If someone presents with asthma/allergy symptoms, and they ask if it could be the cat, it is a dead cert pretty much every time they will be told it is very likely.

As a volunteer for a cat charity I get asked to take in often in excess of 50 cats/kittens a week. Something like 25-50% of those who are in home environments will be because of an allergy. The callers are usually desperately upset because they think they will have to give a up a much loved pet on their doctors advice. We always advise people to go away and find out as much as possible before seeking to rehome. We hear back from very very few of them.

The same lazy advice is also given to pregant women with regard to Toxaplasmosis as well, which represents no risk at all with normal hygiene procedures, but many doctors still insist on advising cats are rehomed if asked about it.

Person_one

lister wrote: »

As a volunteer for a cat charity I get asked to take in often in excess of 50 cats/kittens a week. Something like 25-50% of those who are in home environments will be because of an allergy. The callers are usually desperately upset because they think they will have to give a up a much loved pet on their doctors advice. We always advise people to go away and find out as much as possible before seeking to rehome. We hear back from very very few of them.

I really hope nobody ever has a severe asthma attack after you've turned them away.

I'm all in favour of keeping animals where possible but it seems like some people are seriously misunderstanding and vastly underestimating asthma. On average, someone dies of asthma every 7 hours.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

The only thing that can confirm it is proper hospital allergy testing. Until there has been proper testing, you may as well stick a pin in a list of potential causes, and get rid of whatever the pin lands on - it's as accurate as assuming the cat did it.

Otherwise, it's regular cleaning, as many hard surfaces as possible, damp dusting and mattress vacuuming (as house dust mites are usually implicated in asthma), regular ventilation, careful attention to avoiding damp, condensation and the resultant mould spores and washing bedlinen on a hot wash, as 30 just doesn't kill everything. Minimising contact with pollen, showering regularly (as it washes small particles from the nose and hair) and looking at extremes in temperature and humidity.


The example I give is my sister, who has hospitalised regularly as a child with asthma. Once with a collapsed lung. As soon as she moved out from my mother's house (which needs a damn good clean), she was completely symptom free. Even with cats and dogs in her house, which the hospital - and all the other 'experts' had insisted were the real cause of her asthma after they initially convinced my mother to move house because she lived near farmers' fields and they originally blamed pollen for all asthma when allergies became the latest trend to study. She lives in the middle of the countryside with cats and dogs and hasn't had an attack since she left home.

Or my daughter. The allergy specialist immediately said it had to be the cat, without bothering to check first. Immunological tests showed that it wasn't - it was the mould in the rented accommodation we were living in at the time. We moved. She has been fine ever since.

dizziblonde

Person_one wrote: »

I really hope nobody ever has a severe asthma attack after you've turned them away.

I'm all in favour of keeping animals where possible but it seems like some people are seriously misunderstanding and vastly underestimating asthma. On average, someone dies of asthma every 7 hours.

So WHAT?! The charity are meant to have elastic walls just because you want to lay the guilt trip on someone on the internet because you're in a strop because someone mentioned the other day that people DO use it as an easy get-out to justify dumping pets they're bored with now a baby's come along? If the charity doesn't have room - they don't have room.

You really need to get this chip off your shoulder instead of utterly hijacking someone's thread where they asked for advice to the point where it's become useless for them.

Doctors immediately jump to the "get rid of the cat" line without allergy testing or anything as it's an easy "suggestion" for them to make so they can look like they're doing something when they're not. Can add my family to the list that, when actually allergy tested, found that it wasn't the cats that were the trigger at all as well. Quite why we still think it's acceptable to just demand a family member's booted out in preference to actually trying to diagnose the problem is beyond me - but hey-ho let's just jump to assumptions and continue to just view animals as disposable commodities without even questioning or exercising some independent thought on the matter.

Person_one

dizziblonde wrote: »

So WHAT?!

I say someone dies every 7 hours and you say 'so what'?

You say 'SO WHAT?!'

What's wrong with you?

Its not a chip on my shoulder at all, its true, look it up. I just find it a little depressing that attitudes towards allergies don't seem to be moving on much, when you've spent your life having people roll their eyes at you and try to tell you you must just hate cats/dogs/birds/XYZ food and the allergy is a cover story it gets a bit annoying! Asthma isn't even an allergy! It just happens that it can, sometimes but not every time, be triggered by an allergic response.

If you read my first response you'll see that I genuinely hope that the cat can stay, but that if it is a trigger then that should be taken seriously, that's all. Seems sensible to me, and the cat can be a trigger even without a true allergy, that's why its still important to keep up the anti-cat hair regime even if skin tests come back negative.
(I never realised there were so many doctors, immunologists and microbiologists on the Pets board either!)