help!!! cat allergy advice

Talk to your pharmacist - is there a product called Zyrtec or its equivalent there? The generic name is cetirizine. My MIL is allergic, and when she comes to visit, she takes a zyrtec and has no problems at all.

Originally Posted by xLaydeexTaniax


right, as most of you know i have 3 cats and no its not me thats allergic its a close friend, who wants to come stop over but is allergic. are there any people on here that have cats and are allergic? if so how do you cope? do you take tablets? what do you suggest i do? any help appreciated thanks =)

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It's really going to depend on the severity of your friend's allergies. I have allergies to some cats, but not all. I've noticed that males bother me more than females, which I've heard is due to the strength of their urine(like when unaltered males spray, even using a litter box). Don't know if that's true or not, but males do tend to bother me more than females. If I know that I'm going to be around cats that I'm not sure if they'll bother me, I always take an allergy medication before I go. I don't take anything prescription, just OTC allergy medicine.

Also, my cats are used to being groomed. I will bathe them occasionally, usually only when needed, but I will spray them with warm water once or twice a month and I brush or comb them daily. I've read that helps to keep the dander down. I do frequently vacuum and sweep to keep the amount of cat hair down and I run the HEPA air purifiers. I've had people to visit that are allergic to cats and haven't had a problem. The things I do came from reading different sites. Here are a few with information (since you aren't allergic, you can pick and choose the options that might help your friend)...
http://allergies.about.com/od/allerg...catallergy.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_4868823_prev...allergies.html
http://cats.about.com/od/allergiesan...ergictocat.htm

I hope these help!

Erica

I'm allergic to one of my cats, Thai. I only suffered from seasonal allergies before we adopted him. I take an Alavert before bed, otherwise I can't breath through my nose by morning. It doesn't help that he sleeps with us but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's not his fault that I'm allergic to him. Just the way it turned out.

I want to add, your friend needs to check with an MD before taking any allergy meds, especially if they take any other meds. I've had bad reactions to other OTC allergy meds, due to the other drugs that I take. That's not fun!

Originally Posted by spudsmom

I want to add, your friend needs to check with an MD before taking any allergy meds, especially if they take any other meds. I've had bad reactions to other OTC allergy meds, due to the other drugs that I take. That's not fun!

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Very good advice! Some meds may not interact, but have similar effects that combined can drastically affect heart rate and/or blood pressure. You don't want to find yourself fainting!

Others, like Claritin are strong inhibitors of more than one CYP isozyme. You know how you hear that you shouldn't eat grapefruit with certain meds? That's because grapefruit is a CYP 3A4 inhibitor - as is Claritin. A lot of drugs need 3A4 open to metabolize on, if not they'll metabolize a lot slower and build up in your system. Some histamine 2 blockers (acid reducers) can inhibit other drugs, so even take them with caution. No one wants to OD.

If anyone is ever curious whether two drugs or even foods can interact, look up the generic name + CYP. Generally you can find a table with a lot of them listed. Sometimes a pharmacy and even doctors may not have complete information, so double checking this way is useful. ( I take a drug that's a 2D6 inhibitor that no one is familiar with. I won't risk another drug interaction because of other's mistakes. )


To the OP: Ask your friend when they plan to come over and do some extra cleaning before they do? that's what I would do + some of the other things listed.