Is it possible to live with a dog if you're allergic?

Millions of people enjoy sharing their homes and their lives with pets, even those who are allergic to animals. Thankfully, there are many solutions that can allow an allergy sufferer to keep their beloved pets while successfully managing their allergies. You'd be surprised to know how many people with allergies that aren't life-threatening are able to live happily with their pets. In many cases, the benefits of having a pet outweigh the drawbacks of pet allergies. If you're allergic to your pet and your reactions aren’t life-threatening, there are many ways to reduce indoor allergens and allergy symptoms so you and your pet can live together more comfortably. A combination of approaches—medical control of symptoms, good housecleaning methods and immunotherapy—is most likely to succeed in allowing an allergic person to live with pets. Be glad you didn't let allergies break up a beautiful relationship It's worth it to preserve the bond between you and your pet by checking if you're truly allergic to your pet and, if you are, to try these solutions. Join the large number of animal lovers who manage their allergies and live happily and healthily with their beloved pets. Whether someone has an allergic reaction depends on both the individual person and the individual animal. A person with animal allergies may react less to dogs with soft, constantly growing hair, or a specific cat or dog may cause more or less of an allergic reaction than another animal of that same breed.

If you must sleep with your animal or they enter your room while you are away, you can also consider using impermeable covers for the mattress and pillows on your bed and wash them often. Allergists suggest that you purchase a high-efficiency HEPA air cleaner to keep in any room of the house you see necessary. This will help purify the air where the pets are present or have been spending a lot of time. We all know pets shed like crazy, and brushing and washing them at least once a week can help rid them of loose fur which may have other allergens attached to it. One concept to note is that it isn’t always the fur itself causing your allergies. Certain household pets must remain in a glass casing, like reptiles and amphibians, but with mammals like cats and dogs, keeping them outdoors for much of the time isn’t a problem. The more time they spend outside, the less time they have to shed fur on all of your furnishings and clothing, leaving you susceptible to your pet dander allergies.

Many people are often told by their caregivers that if you’re allergic to cats or dogs which are the most common that it’s best just to find new homes for your pets. In reality in this country most people really don’t want to get rid of their pets and quite frankly even when they do many of their friends and family have have cats and dogs too. So it’s really hard just get rid of your pets. So the question becomes if you can’t avoid your pet or your animal then what are your alternatives. Things like room purifiers, particularly in your bedroom, I would definitely keep the pets out of your bedroom if possible. Medications like, oh, any number of antihistamines or medications like the leukotriene inhibitor, such as Singulair, can be very effective at helping to kind of soften many of those allergic symptoms, especially if you can be taking them on a regular basis. If that doesn’t work or doesn’t work well enough, then we consider things like allergy shots or immunotherapy. Very effective at managing both cat and dog allergies. And if taken long enough, they can practically be curative.