Cat Hair & Asthma

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, up to 30 percent of people with allergies have an allergic response to their pets. A third of pet allergy sufferers also have cat-allergic asthma, a severe respiratory condition in which the muscles around the airway walls become so tight and inflamed that breathing is very difficult.

  1. What Causes Cat-Allergic Asthma?

    • Cat dander is the allergen that triggers asthma.

      As with any other allergic response to a cat, it isn't your cat's hair that causes the problem. It's the dander--the old, dried skin particles--and saliva in your cat's coat that trigger the allergic response. Dander and saliva contain a protein called "Fel d1" to which allergy sufferers are especially sensitive. This protein is found in a cat's salivary and sebaceous (oil-secreting) glands. This protein causes all kinds of allergic responses but in as many as 30 percent of allergy sufferers, asthma is the result.

    Signs of Cat-Allergic Asthma

    • Diagnosis means removing yourself from your cat.

      It's usually quite easy to see when a person is suffering a cat allergy, because a cat-allergic asthma sufferer usually suffers watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, wheezing and starts struggling to breathe within a very short period of being exposed to cats or a cat-owning environment. In some cases there can be a delayed response of up to an hour after exposure, but the common factor of recent cat contact will usually still be evident.

    Diagnosis

    • Blood tests help diagnose cat-allergic asthma.

      The most definite way to diagnose cat-allergic asthma response is for you to remove yourself from proximity to cats and cat-owners for a period of several days to a week, and see what happens. Does the asthma get better? It doesn't help for you to take your kitty out of the environment because its dander will have infiltrated the air and soft furnishings within the home, to a point where removing the cat won't make a difference. Your doctor will also test for a positive cat-allergy response, using a skin patch test or blood test called a RAST. This stands for "radioallergosorbent test".

    Treatments

    • Vacuuming and steam-cleaning reduce cat-allergic asthma.

      Most doctors advise asthmatics to live without cats and cat contact, which can make it possible to get by without much need for medication. However, you should still keep an inhaler for those cases where you come into contact with a cat household. Your doctor will probably prescribe you an asthma medication, which could be a preventer, or a reliever. Medications can be taken by inhalation, orally or by injection. Relievers--called bronchodilators--are often given as inhalers and for milder asthma. They alleviate asthma symptoms during an attack. Steroid treatments may be given for longer term or severe cat-allergic asthma; they work by reducing inflammation, and making you less allergen-sensitive.

    Cleaning

    • If you decide to keep your cat, then thorough and regular household cleaning is needed. Allergens spread by cats are airborne so they're everywhere in your home, carried in dust particles. Vacuum as often as possible using a vacuum cleaner with a high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA filter). These filters are far more efficient, catching up to 99.7% of asthma-causing dander particles. You can also buy HEPA air filters for each room of the home. If possible, get rid of carpets and soft furnishings and steam clean hard surfaces. Get someone who isn't allergic to regularly brush your kitty outside to keep allergens down.