cat allergies in toddler?

Hello,
I had posted a few days ago that our family wanted to get a cat. I know that my husband has no cat allergy at all, I am highly alletgic but after three years of allergy shots and zyrtec I have very few symptoms. I do have a toddler and a baby on the way and I worry about cat allergies with my children. We spent hours at the shelter yesterday playing with the cats, my daughter loved on the cat, kissed it, held it etc.... the only thing I noticed is a stuffy nose a few hours later. Do you think she is allergic?

It certainly is a possibility. I would want to know before bringing a cat home. It might create a difficult situation as I am not sure how much you could medicate a toddler with cat allergies. Some people are able to tolerate them if there is no carpet and no upholstered furniture. Maybe you could expose the toddler more to the cats somewhere besides in your home to determine how much it bothers the child.

I have found that different cat breeds can bring about different cat allergies. So don't give up! My brother would break out in hives around every cat he came into contact with, until he met a Siamese. That is the only breed he has had now with absolutely NO problems.There is also a difference between an allergy and an intolerance. Allergies bring about hives, rashes, difficulty breathing, ect. Intolerance brings about sniffles, sneezing, and other mild reactions that usually can be handled with antihistamines or building up an immunity by gradual introduction of the allergen. Good luck, I truly hope you can find a cat that works so your children can learn the love of an animal!

We have hardwoods and we have easy clean furniture. I wish there was a way we could expose her more. We have taken her to the shelter to see the cats three times and yesterdays stuffy nose has been the only sign. I do not want to get a pet we cant keep dunno what to do.

I would go slow and try to get it figured out first. I am sure you can read some posts here of members who had to give up their cats. That would be a heartbreaking thing. My husband cannot live in the house with cats. It took us awhile to figure out what was causing him to be sick. We solved our problem by putting up a fence and enclosure for the cats to be outside during the day. At night they sleep in a big cage in our garage. I miss them being inside but nothing else would work. Depending on where you live, you might not have the option to move them outside in a safe way. I hope you can find a cat that can join your family. Does anyone know about the furless kitties and the dander effect, allergies, etc.

With toddlers; the runny noses are so hard to understand.  If after 3 visits she only had a runny nose once I would be optimistic.  Do you have any friends with cats you can visit with?  I can understand why  you want to be as sure as you can before you commit to a cat.

My DD has been on seasonal allergy meds (zyrtec or claritin; occasionally benadryl) for a few years now and she is 4.  But they are truly seasonal along with dust we think.  I don't like to keep her on them any more than necessary because I have noticed it takes her a little longer to get over bugs when she is also needing her allergy meds.  But that could also be from the symptoms her allergies are causing just exacerbating things. 

I hope things work out for you! 

MoochNNoodles said:

Do you have any friends with cats you can visit with? 

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That's exactly what I was going to suggest. Good luck!