I am a regular poster (LolaRuby) but have had to change my username as apparently I'm no longer recognised.
Anyway - 8 weeks ago I had a baby and from about 2 weeks of age he always had a blocked nose, was very mucousy, was constantly sneezing and regularly had watery eyes. My HV ,entitled that it potentially an allergy to my 3 cats. My baby is now constantly sneezing and has the more horrendous barking cough.
All the above are symptoms of a cat allergy.
I'm heartbroken and I feel guilty.
I don't know what I'm asking really - I'm just confused as to what to do.
My baby will always come above my cats, obviously, but I feel so sad.
Congratulations on your new baby! What an awful dilemma to be in and obviously he has to come first. Would it be worth putting your cats in a cattery for a couple of weeks or asking a friend to look after them to see if your baby's symptoms get better when they're not around? If they do then you have some tough choices to make I guess. I know someone who has asthma and after a couple of really bad attacks where she almost died she sadly had to make the decision to have hers rehomed - a friend took one of them so she still sees her. Good luck.
Hi Claire it's Carol. I didn't realise it was you. Many congratulations on your baby boy.
I don't have any advice I'm afraid. So many on here will though but maybe just don't realise it's you. I feel so sad for you. I know how much the girls and Brian mean to you. We all went with you on the journey of Brian moving himself in. I have been wondering how you were getting on but never anticipated this. I really hope that help will come along soon. If not then maybe change the title of the thread so people know it's you or if you can't do that then start a new one.
Hi Claire,
Congratulations on your new baby
Have you thought about an air purifier to help reduce the amount of cat dander/dust? I'm suffering from hayfever and have just ordered one from Amazon - when I was researching them I saw they can help with pet allergies too.
I hope it's ok to post this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Choose-an-Air-Pu ... Cat-Dander" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Claire, many congratulations on your little baby boy - how exciting.
I agree with putting the cats into a cattery and see if it's definitely them. The hayfever season this year has been horrendous. Because of the very wet winter quite a few plants that would usually start flowering a bit earlier were late, and others earlier because it was a warm winter (if you know what I mean) so everything is really hitting out with a double whammy.
Also, and I understand this is a big ask, try and replace as much carpet as you can with laminate / wood flooring as that will also with any potential allergy issues.
Good luck - it's such a tough position to be in and I really hope you find a solution that works out for everyone (((hug)))
Congratulations on the arrival of your little boy! So sorry to hear about his health issues though. I really really hate to say this, and I don't say it lightly, but at the moment you do need to put his health needs first. I think the idea of putting the cats in a cattery for a few weeks is a really good one. Then deep clean the house to remove as much cat fur and dander etc as possible, and see how things go. If the allergic reactions go away, stop the intensive cleaning for a while to see if it's just house dust mites he's allergic to. If no reaction, deep clean the house again and bring just one of the cats home and see what happens. If the reaction returns, then with such a new baby, you may have to make some difficult decisions.
We all had allergies in our family, my brother by far the worst, with terrible asthma, eczema, and hay fever. My sister and I had asthma, but less severely. We had always had a cat, and occasionally guinea pigs, hamsters, etc, and Dad smoked a pipe. We just didn't make the connection. His worst allergy though was simply house dust mites, which is one of the commonest causes, and occasionally he would be taken into hospital into a sterile environment just to give him and Mum a break. Luckily my sister and I grew out of our allergies, but my brother never did, and one of his daughters now has it, although not as badly as him.
As Ria says, getting rid of carpets and having laminate floors is a big help to keeping the dust down, if it is house dust mites. But if it's confirmed that he has a severe allergy to cats, you'll have to see whether that can be managed. I know how much you adore your cats, so I do hope it doesn't come to this.
This is a real worry for all concerned, and of course your little boy has to be your main consideration. The symptoms you mention are of course those for cat allergy, but also of other allergies, e.g. dust allergy.
I'm not a parent and have only had to deal with my own allergies - I would suggest that you find advice, somewhere, about "acclimatising" baby to the conditions in his home. I know with other types of allergies that people are introduced to the allergen slowly to build up their tolerance. You don't want to protect him from everything after all, or he'll be allergic to everything.
Perhaps if you do a huge clean, especially of the baby's room, install an air purifier, and wash all of his clothes and bedding separately from all other items which might be dusty or furry. Keep the cats out of his room of course.
I would imagine that with some exceptions that babies would become used to allergens in the atmosphere just as adults do - I am allergic to cats but I've always treated the symptoms when they are severe and over time the severity of the symptoms has reduced significantly.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Please don't get straight into "get rid of the cats" mode - do your research and perhaps consult an immunologist. I've just looked at the "Allergy UK" website - while they do say pretty much "get rid of the pets" first and foremost, by also providing information about how to treat your home etc they silently acknowledge that there are people who won't do that.
I've just had a thought - wouldn't any sort of allergy be very unusual in one so young? A baby should carry its mum's immunity, especially if breast fed, shouldn't it? I guess that's a question for a specialist.
Hi Claire, I may be way out on my suggestion here but does your baby have any digestion problems? My youngest had all of those symptoms plus reflux and wind and colic and they were all caused by milk allergy/ intolerance.
I do rescue and had 14 cats when my eldest was born, I always said I would get a heated summerhouse in the garden for the cats if my children were allergic but thankfully it never happened.
Hope all works out for you all, normally allergies in the environment take months to have an effect so do try and remain open minded about causes for now x
