Watery eyes, rash and even asthma – this is how allergy to animal fur may result with. Despite experiencing problems with heath, many allergy sufferers decide to let a pet stay at home. Luckily, there are ways of dealing with allergy to animal fur – frequently, they are rather costly. Also, it’s a good idea to choose a four-legged friend that emits as little amount of allergens as possible. Animal fur allergy: What’s it, what’re the symptoms and how to treat it?
What’s animal fur allergy?
Fur itself doesn’t trigger allergy reactions. Instead, everything that cumulates on fur causes allergy, and this is:
- exfoliated epidermis cells,
- secretions such as salvia,
- excrements like urea or stool.
The conceptualization ‘animal fur allergy’ mostly relates to hypersensitization to cats, dogs, bunnies, rodents and horses.
Animal fur allergy – Symptoms
The most common symptoms of animal fur allergy are:
- watery eyes,
- sneezing,
- runny nose,
- rash,
- itchiness,
- cough,
- breathing difficulties.
What’s important, animal fur allergy can lead to development of chronic sinusitis or asthma.
Animal fur allergy – How to treat it?
Of course, the best way of staying away from allergy is avoiding the allergen. When the symptoms of allergy aren’t severe, it’s enough just to limit contact with the allergen and this equals picking a special location for the pet to stay and wash it frequently. In case of strong allergy reactions, many people decide to say goodbye to the beloved pet. The others undergo a special treatment which usually begins with taking anti-allergy drugs: antihistaminic, corticosteroid nasal sprays, mucosal decongestants and other. When an allergy sufferer manages to define the main cause of the allergy, they can decide to undergo a treatment that aims at getting desensitized to allergens. Such vaccination leads to making the immune system resistant to a particular allergen and teaching it how to tolerate the seemingly dangerous agents. Desensitization lasts 3-5 years.
How to minimise the risk of animal fur allergy?
A person who wants to have a four-legged friend at home can minimise the risk of allergy occurrence through choosing the right breed of an animal. Among others they are:
- Mexican hairless dog or Chinese crested hairless dog,
- sphynx cat,
- Baldwin or skinny guinea pig,
- fuzz rats.
All the breeds are characterized by entire or almost complete lack of fur, and lack of fur equals decreasing number of allergens to minimum. It’s also a good idea to go for dog breeds which, instead of fur, have hair; such dogs don’t moult excessively, some of them don’t moult at all, which also contributes to limiting contact with allergens. The very breeds are yorkshire terrier, poodle and schnauzer.
