Pet Allergies and Relationship?
August 26th, 2004 by admin
lisbonlux1977 asked:
My boyfriend is severely allergic to my dogs. Both nights he attempted to sleep at my place (after washing sheets, vacuuming the carpet, kicking dogs out of the room, he left in the middle of the night because he couldn’t breath. He said he was going to a Dr. since he has never been tested for allergies and I am not sure it is my dogs he is allergic to (he plays with his cousin’s cats- 4 of them- and feels absolutely nothing). I wanted to know if that could be a deal breaker for someone. He knows I love my dogs dearly and we have plans to have a family together, but every time he can’t breath when he is at my place, I just can’t help but wonder.
Loosing the dogs is not an option. I have had one of my dogs for 8 years and the other one for 5. They are my family.
Anybody there who has pet allergies and worked it out?
My boyfriend is severely allergic to my dogs. Both nights he attempted to sleep at my place (after washing sheets, vacuuming the carpet, kicking dogs out of the room, he left in the middle of the night because he couldn’t breath. He said he was going to a Dr. since he has never been tested for allergies and I am not sure it is my dogs he is allergic to (he plays with his cousin’s cats- 4 of them- and feels absolutely nothing). I wanted to know if that could be a deal breaker for someone. He knows I love my dogs dearly and we have plans to have a family together, but every time he can’t breath when he is at my place, I just can’t help but wonder.
Loosing the dogs is not an option. I have had one of my dogs for 8 years and the other one for 5. They are my family.
Anybody there who has pet allergies and worked it out?
- Posted in Pets
August 28th, 2004 at 12:16 pm
Yes, me actually. I am allergic to dogs and cats and have owned both. What I did is take Zyrtec for the first month ( Zyrtec used to be prescription only but is now sold over the counter and is the ONLY allergy medicine that has ever worked for me). And then eventually my body becomes used to there dander. I got a kitten 3 months ago and haven’t taken my Zyrtec for about 2 months now. Don’t get rid of them, he just needs to build up a tolerance. And I found that Sam’s Club has the cheapest price for Zyrtec. Good luck!
August 30th, 2004 at 2:58 pm
I’m severely allergic to cats, and my boyfriend’s son has a cat. Since I couldn’t convince them to burlap sack the cat (just kidding) I have had to take benadryl all the time, and zyrtec daily. We live together, but at the cost of chronic rashes, wheezing, and continual medicating, which wears on me
I’ve recently started getting allergy shots to try to cope with it, too. It isn’t easy, and I can definitely see it being a deal breaker if the allergies are too severe. He might be able to take medicines and if he gets tested and it is the dogs then get shots to help deal with it- but shots can take a long time to start helping so unfortunately it might not be a quick fix. Some people do seem to build up a tolerance, but this doesn’t happen for everyone and in some cases the prolonged exposure just makes things worse.
It can be worked through if you two are really serious about making it work. Kicking the dogs out of the room for the day might not be enough, they might have to be booted out for good so that he will have a room with minimal dander to sleep in. I keep the cat out of our room so that I have a “safe” room.
Good luck, I sincerely hope it’s not the dogs.