Hypoallergenic cats

irelandrover

Hopefully someone here has some advice.

I am quite allergic to cats and dogs. We always had a dog at home and I never had an issue. Since I moved out and go back home I react to the dog. Therefore I think that while living at home I had built up a resistance.

My wife is a cat person and would absolutely love a cat. I have been reading up a lot recently on hypoallergenic cats. Does anyone have any experience with them? I don't want to jump right in and get one in case I have a reaction to it and it needs to be given away again. I would hate to do this to my wife but mainly to the cat. Letting it get settled and then having to remove it seems too cruel.

My plan is to go to some breeders and hold a number of different types of cats. Talk to the breeders and see how I react to the cat.

So I suppose my questions would be as follows:
- how long with the cats at the breeders would give me a good idea of how I'll react
- is there anything I could do in my house to limit the reaction. I read HEPA filter air purifier and vacuum cleaners
- has anyone that is also allergenic experience on building up a resistance and hypoallergenic a cats in general.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd love a pet about the house and the wife would love a cat.

tk123

It's more than likely the dander/skin you're allergic to. I had a cat and now two golden retrievers and have no issues with my allergies as long as I keep them well groomed - that included the cat btw! I had a slicker brush for him.

Magnate

Yeah exactly, it tends to be the saliva that people are allergic to. I'm allergic to both cars and dogs but I'm completely fine around dogs as long as they don't lick me. Cats tend to be worse because they like lick themselves clean, and then you have can a reaction just by petting them as there's allergen left on their hair. Keeping them groomed is definitely going to help, but you should look for a short haired cat that doesn't shed much.

Junkyard Tom

irelandrover wrote: »

We always had a dog at home and I never had an issue. Since I moved out and go back home I react to the dog. Therefore I think that while living at home I had built up a resistance.

If you're living around a cat continuously it's likely you'll build up a resistance to it just like you did with your dog.

irelandrover

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

If you're living around a cat continuously it's likely you'll build up a resistance to it just like you did with your dog.

thanks for all the responses so far.

I expect to build up a resistance as well. The only issue with that is if I don't. then its unfair on everyone involved. We'll have a kitten that we have grown attached to that will make me swell up. The kitten wil have a home. i'm trying to find a way to judge the reaction i will have to the cat.

mymo

Foster a cat from a rescue, if it works out, great ask to adopt!
If not they will understand.

Dandelion6

My family thought I was crazy for getting a cat because I was so allergic when I was younger. I've had him six months now and he's no problem. Yes I'm a little sneezier than I used to be, and I do need to take care not to rub my eyes after petting him, but the benefits far outweigh the hassle. He's an ordinary domestic shorthair.

Magnate

irelandrover wrote: »

The kitten wil have a home. i'm trying to find a way to judge the reaction i will have to the cat.

I guess you could let them lick the back of your hand and judge it by the rash? Though I would imagine that you're equally allergic to all cat saliva. The only factors really are how much they shed and how often they clean themselves. Definitely go for a short haired cat anyway.

Another option is to look into immunotherapy, I believe there's a place in Clontarf that does this. Or, if you were just looking to build up a resistance to your cat, you could take antihistamines or see your doctor about getting an antihistamine injection while you build up this tolerance.

threebagsfull

Don't go to a breeder - here's a list of hypoallergenic cats. Just let the cat rescue organisations around you know you're looking for one of those types and when they come up they could let you know. And as someone suggested before, you could foster them first to see if it works out.

mymo

My brother was allergic to a lot of animals including our cat (rabbit and gerbils too), we always had lots of pets as kids and it was just a bit of a sniffle or red eyes most of the time, he even had the cat sleep in his bed, he loved animals. Once he moved away from home, his allergies got worse when he came home, I believe he had a certain amount of resistance being around them all the time.

Hoovering daily, airing out the house and we used to rub the cat with a damp towel daily, this all helped.

irelandrover

Thanks everyone for the advice. Ill read up a bit more on it here and try to find a rescue where i'm living.

Themadhouse

There are no hypoallergenic cats.
Something like a Rex (Devon, cornish, Selkirk) are apparantly lower allergenic. Same as sphynx and also ragdoll. something like Burmese, tonkinese, Siamese, oriental ( v short fur which doesn't shed much) might be worth considering.
Both my wife and I are allergic and we have 9 cats. We used to live on antihistamines and our allergy lessened over time. We both can now handle any cat without getting a reaction.