Air purifiers -- any experience if they help with cat allergies?

Cataria · Jun 4, 2016

Hey all!

I have a couple of friends that live out of state that I would love to come visit me at some point, especially since I have plenty of room in my house for visitors to stay. Problem is, a couple of those friends are at least mildly allergic to cats -- one owns a cat and says she manages it by keeping her house clean and the other takes allergy medicine when she is around cats, so I don't know how severe their allergies are or how difficult it would be for my allergy medicine friend to stay in a house with a gazillion cats. My dad are two of my siblings are somewhat allergic as well, and they tend to stay away from my house for that reason.

I was looking at air purifiers, and I was curious if they would have any effect on reducing the number of cat allergens in the air. Anyone have any experience with this? I have absolutely no cat allergies, so I wouldn't be able to tell if is making a difference or if I would be just wasting my money.

davey · Jun 4, 2016

Cataria said:
Hey all!

I have a couple of friends that live out of state that I would love to come visit me at some point, especially since I have plenty of room in my house for visitors to stay. Problem is, a couple of those friends are at least mildly allergic to cats -- one owns a cat and says she manages it by keeping her house clean and the other takes allergy medicine when she is around cats, so I don't know how severe their allergies are or how difficult it would be for my allergy medicine friend to stay in a house with a gazillion cats. My dad are two of my siblings are somewhat allergic as well, and they tend to stay away from my house for that reason.

I was looking at air purifiers, and I was curious if they would have any effect on reducing the number of cat allergens in the air. Anyone have any experience with this? I have absolutely no cat allergies, so I wouldn't be able to tell if is making a difference or if I would be just wasting my money.

Great question.
Mom brought in a cat here and I am allergic to cats. I like them, but I really should not have them indoors...where there is carpet. I am allergic to dander and saliva.

Mom gave me a purifier BEFORE we had cats as I am also allergic to dust and dust mites. I think it helped somewhat. That is not a great answer for you.

What has helped me more with allergies is the Dyson vacuum I bought. It takes out of the AIR and CARPET, and also sofa and pillows if I want, microscopic allergens. I used to have to leave the house when anybody vacuumed as it made me have a very runny nose, and now I want to vacuum because I feel so much better as it is being done.

Anybody have other ideas to clean the air please add here! I really need to know too.

Cataria · Jun 4, 2016

Which Dyson vacuum do you have? I let my Roomba (non-HEPA filter one though) handle my floor vacuuming, but I recently bought the Dyson Absolute v6 for the furniture, stairs, etc. and it has a HEPA filter. Haven't had any cat-allergic people over since I got it so I'm not sure if it's made a difference on that account, but I'd love to know!

Oooooh, and carpet is a factor? Good to know! I was thinking about ripping out some of the carpet in my house at some point and that would be a great reason to if it will help with allergies.

StefanZ · Jun 4, 2016

Air cleaner with HEPA filter, and a good vacuum cleaner with HEPA or similiar filter, are among the standing advices.   I dont know the Dyson brand, I suspect its something extra good. I will try to read on it.   Dust is an old enemy, and thus - most carpets too, especielly if they arent easy to dust off. Carry out and beat out the dust, for example.

Try to make every surface easy to clean of with a damp cloth - or equivalent.

Make sure the litter is dust-free, made of some dust-free material. And take away the wastes often.

The cats themselves. A trick is to learn them to swim, and let them swim/waddle in common water every tenday. That water may of course be lukewarm so its nice and pleasant for them. Otherwise, its possible to just shower them off. So bathing with soap isnt necessary. Bathing with soap similiar dry off their skin if done too often. Just water is better.

There is also a quicke: clean them off with a damp cloth shortly before your allergic friends come in...

Do not smoke. Live health-some. Exercise, so you are in good shape.

No cats in the sleeping room. Which is probably the greatest sacrifice by an allergic cat owner - as sleeping with the cat in the bed is one of the great pleasures owning a cat: you sleep so nicely, and your rheumatism gets better.

If you are an astma-allergic, be double careful, as this may get really nasty and dangerous.   Have suitable anti-attack medicines handy in several places. If you get an attack, you can get the antidote immediately, even if in full panic - everybody shall be able to find it in a flash.

If you arent allergic yourself but have the visitors allergic, prepare as well you can, by airing out, cleaning out, Tell the visitor to have his medicines with him - preferably including these stronger antidotes (what is theirs name). Be sure you know where they are easily reachable.

Keep close contact with your doctor.   Although you may try also some alternative therapies, There are several, more or less efficient.

If you do try any of these alternative therapies - be sure you anyways have contact with your doctor.   Otherwise these therapist may be punished for malpractice.

They are allowed as a supplementary therapy - NOT instead of.

Btw, its essentially so with our Forum too... We are for advising and supplementing, and that is good. But if you are in real troubles, its the vet whom is your place.

davey · Jun 5, 2016

Yeah I used to have a job at a retailer and one year got a great deal for employees only on a Dyson, I think I paid $199?
It never needs bags, no filter replacement...you just wash it in cold water! It is durable too, made of airplane grade plastic as I recall.
I got one of the first models, now they have the purple one for long cat and dog hair. They sell most the parts you need with the vacuum, but there are others if you want them...not needed though.
When we first used it on the carpet I just did one short strip down the middle of the living room, say 15 feet...my gosh the thing needed emptied. It took out this facepowder-fine dust. We had been breathing it.
I have had it for about a decade and as it said the power does not get weaker, it stays super strong.
I cannot say more how much it means to me to have this vacuum, and I recommend it to anybody, allergies or not. Because carpets and furniture get dust and dust mites, and this thing gets it out.
Who wants to breathe that? Ew.

davey · Jun 5, 2016

StefanZ said:
Air cleaner with HEPA filter, and a good vacuum cleaner with HEPA or similiar filter, are among the standing advices.   I dont know the Dyson brand, I suspect its something extra good. I will try to read on it.   Dust is an old enemy, and thus - most carpets too, especielly if they arent easy to dust off. Carry out and beat out the dust, for example.

Try to make every surface easy to clean of with a damp cloth - or equivalent.

Make sure the litter is dust-free, made of some dust-free material. And take away the wastes often.

The cats themselves. A trick is to learn them to swim, and let them swim/waddle in common water every tenday. That water may of course be lukewarm so its nice and pleasant for them. Otherwise, its possible to just shower them off. So bathing with soap isnt necessary. Bathing with soap similiar dry off their skin if done too often. Just water is better.

There is also a quicke: clean them off with a damp cloth shortly before your allergic friends come in...

Do not smoke. Live health-some. Exercise, so you are in good shape.

No cats in the sleeping room. Which is probably the greatest sacrifice by an allergic cat owner - as sleeping with the cat in the bed is one of the great pleasures owning a cat: you sleep so nicely, and your rheumatism gets better.

If you are an astma-allergic, be double careful, as this may get really nasty and dangerous.   Have suitable anti-attack medicines handy in several places. If you get an attack, you can get the antidote immediately, even if in full panic - everybody shall be able to find it in a flash.

If you arent allergic yourself but have the visitors allergic, prepare as well you can, by airing out, cleaning out, Tell the visitor to have his medicines with him - preferably including these stronger antidotes (what is theirs name). Be sure you know where they are easily reachable.

Keep close contact with your doctor.   Although you may try also some alternative therapies, There are several, more or less efficient.

If you do try any of these alternative therapies - be sure you anyways have contact with your doctor.   Otherwise these therapist may be punished for malpractice.

They are allowed as a supplementary therapy - NOT instead of.

Btw, its essentially so with our Forum too... We are for advising and supplementing, and that is good. But if you are in real troubles, its the vet whom is your place.

I gotta disagree with the swimming thing. Cats are self-cleaning, and if they get a bath, by golly they will lick themselves dry. It is not just dander (skin) but also saliva that cause allergy problems. If they lick themselves or us we have problems. Nothing anybody can do about it. Just is.

I used to have allergy shots but I could not get over it.

StefanZ · Jun 5, 2016

Davey said:
I gotta disagree with the swimming thing. Cats are self-cleaning, and if they get a bath, by golly they will lick themselves dry. It is not just dander (skin) but also saliva that cause allergy problems. If they lick themselves or us we have problems. Nothing anybody can do about it. Just is.

I used to have allergy shots but I could not get over it.

Interesting observation. This means, these bath wont work for everyone. for those with danger allergy yes, but perhaps not for those with salivia allergy.

The tip should work, I saw it for the first time in an article, where they had done experiments on reducing allergy, and found letting the cats swim was one of the tricks which really worked. That is why Im retelling this tip- although its very rare cats do swim, or people let their cats swim. Even if its entirely possible.

handsome kitty · Jun 5, 2016

Are you inviting people to sleep over? I have a friend who stays here and is allergic. I make sure I was the pillows, sheets and blankets right before she gets here.

davey · Jun 6, 2016

StefanZ said:
Interesting observation. This means, these bath wont work for everyone. for those with danger allergy yes, but perhaps not for those with salivia allergy.

The tip should work, I saw it for the first time in an article, where they had done experiments on reducing allergy, and found letting the cats swim was one of the tricks which really worked. That is why Im retelling this tip- although its very rare cats do swim, or people let their cats swim. Even if its entirely possible.

I do not trust articles really. I trust things such as my allergist, where I had shots, who I asked questions, and the medical books I read about my allergies, and what we needed to do.
Sigh, but mom still adopted this cat so...I just have to have serious runny nose.

I had read many "articles" which said to get "hairless" cats as they are "hyperallergenic." LOL! No they are not. They still have skin shed (dander) and lick (saliva), so it only makes for less long fur around the house.

Here is more information on cat allergies, what it means. It seems the pee the cat does on my carpet is another reason I have serious issues. http://www.aafa.org/page/pet-dog-cat-allergies.aspx

So as you can see a person may have a mild to severe allergy, and mine is mild by the way, which may lead to symptoms of sneezing and runny nose like a cold which is miserable, to having a sinus infection develop, or trigger an asthma attack which can lead to hospitalization. It really depends on how bad the allergy is to cats. And by the way ALL allergies work like this...they are serious, and if a person says they are allergic to your pet, or a food, or any plants in your yard, take it very seriously. I have met people who think people with serious allergies are just mean or over reacting.

blueyedgirl5946 · Jun 7, 2016

It has never helped my husband to have them.

Air purifiers -- any experience if they help with cat allergies?

Cataria

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davey

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Cataria

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StefanZ

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davey

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davey

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StefanZ

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handsome kitty

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davey

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blueyedgirl5946

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