Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Cats In Hats, No Cats With Allergies

Are you allergic to cats?  They may be allergic to you.

Yes, you read that correctly.  There is some proof that the home environment that people keep their cats in may case asthmatic responses in cats.  Some examples of things that may cause asthmatic responses in cats are cigarette smoke, dust, and human dander.  (This is no joke the study was done by University of Edinburgh's Hospital for Small Animals.)

I have a large list of moderate ‘environmental’ allergies.  Cats, not surprisingly, are on that list.  The beautiful cat that we put to sleep a couple of months ago was not an allergen.  I had read a book when we first got him that said if you bath your cat for about 6 months they will stop producing the enzyme that gets on their dander to induce the allergic/asthmatic responses in humans.  The cat himself though seemed to have allergies, and my wife and I would discuss this frequently.  He would wheeze when he slept, even when he wasn’t over weight.  And he would make this odd snorting noise when ever he would get a good purr going if being petted or paid attention to.  It is good to know that I wasn’t that far off base with the assumption that he had allergies.

ABC News On-Line

Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?