Itchy watery eyes, sneezing, hives are not fun to experience anytime. When the symptoms of caused by your pet or a family member or friends pet it can turn in to a serious problem.

Our daughter was allergic to dogs and cats when she was younger. Her allergies when she was exposed to a dog or cat would cause several different reactions with Asthma attacks being the most severe. After having her tested it showed the extent with allergies to most things. She under went allergy shots for the most severe allergies mostly being seasonal. Since we already had a dog at this time we asked the allergist for his advice as how to deal with pets and allergies. His advice was to just see how she responded to the dog and to make sure that we kept the dog bathed and groomed to keep the dander down. He also advised that we keep the dog out of her room and off the furniture. He also said that with children and allergies to pets that most children grow out of their allergies and in some instances it was helpful if you had a pet since it could speed up the process of growing out of the allergy . Our daughter didn’t seem to have severe reactions to our dog but other dogs would simply cause her misery. We were lucky that she did outgrow her allergy to dogs but the allergy to  cats remain.

There are myths surrounding owning pets and small children. I’m sure most of us have heard that you shouldn’t have a cat with babies since the cat will smell the milk on the baby and suck the air out of the child. Doesn’t make sense where these myths come from or why, but most can be repealed if you speak to your Veterinarian.

Remembering that different breeds have different hair and dander, some more than others, will help you reach a decision if you are faced with allergies and your pet. We spoke with a Veterinarian before choosing our pet and learned the breeds to avoid that seems to cause the most problems with allergy sufferers. There are some breeds that are considered “Hypoallergenic” such as Schnauzers and Poodles, due to the low dander and shedding.

Allergy sufferers and pets can live happily together when you are an informed and responsible pet owner.