Need help! *NON emergency*

My wife's allergies are flaring up badly, were both leaning towards it being caused by our fur children. Anyone else have experience with this and have good suggestions for how to control dog allergy and dander?





We want to exhaust all options before coming to a rash decision. Our furkids are our family, when I even slightly mentioned we might try and find 1 of them a good home to try and calm the allergies down, my wife cried like a baby, telling me she loves them and doesnt want to be without them. My wife is extremely important in my life, as well as my furkids. I just want to do everything in my power to try and keep her healthy and happy.

Allie would be a good one to help address this when we get back from our Best Friends trip. I know that her fiance is allergic to her kids. I would recommend starting with not letting the pugs sleep in the bedroom and increasing the frequency of vacuuming/dusting. I'd also look into allergy meds. Zyrtec helped me a lot with environmental allergies.

Chris, before you get too frantic about the furkids, I would get your wife in to see an allergy specialist physician, for those tests they do to see exactly what she's allergic to. Once you have the results, then you can start to work out the best course of action, which will hopefully involve a way to treat your wife and not rehoming the kids. Keep us updated!

She did see a specialist before we got our furkids, she has a boarder line bad allergy to dogs, not as bad as cats. We are looking at tons of different options and research, like distilled water, alleren or whatever its called, more hepa filters for the house, blocking off the bedroom, even though I think that would hurt stitch's feelings quite badly, he loves sleeping in our bed. I have no intentions of rehoming our kids. I love my wife dearly, I can't do anything without her, she is my rock. I just need to figure out how to make it easier on her.

I am allergic to my pug too, was always alleric to dogs. At one point I had three pugs.



That being said, I am allergic to my world, should really live in a plastic bubble. :)



To make my life easier, the pugs don't sleep in my bed and I vaccuum more often.



I also got tested to pin point my allergans (a ton of them) and get shots weekly. They are a huge help. The serum was created for me and builds up immunities to my allergans. They really work. For the first time in years I actually am not suffering.



So before making any decisions, look into seeing a specialist with your wife and getting her tested and the possibility of shots. Chances are there is more to her allergies, than the pugs.

I'm allergic to dogs (to all animals, cats and birds are the worst), and the only medication that has ever worked for me is Zyrtec (cetirizine hydrochloride). One of my major allergy symptoms is hives, and Zyrtec knocks 'em down before they even start, and doesn't make me drowsy.

Keeping Marlee very clean helps too (she gets a bath at least every 2 weeks, more if my allergies flare up). If your pugs sleep in bed with you, change the sheets frequently -- that helps. As much as Stitch loves sleeping with you guys, I agree that banning him from the bedroom is probably a smart move if your wife's symptoms don't improve.

If your pugs have toys, launder them often. That saliva build-up, especially on stuffed toys, is horrible for my allergies!

My husband is allergic to cats. We have 9. When he first pinpointed the allergy the Dr told him to get rid of the cats. He said no and went for shots instead. They start with low dosages of the allergen, increase the dosage and lessen the frequency. He now lives with these 9 cats without issues except when he gets really exhausted and his immune system is low. It is a lot of work, but amazing.

I'm allergic to dogs and bunnies and many other things. What really bothers me is the dog saliva,followee by the dander. I use Flonase and if my seasonal allergies are kicking my butt I use Zyrtec D on top of that.



One thing that really helped me over come 23 allergies was having NAET done to me. http://www.naet.com/ I also had suggested this to our friend's son. His allergies and asthma were so bad,he never could play and sports. After doing NAET he's able to play baseball and has cut back on over 7 meds.



You can also use NAET for dog allergies. This can be for a broad spectrum of different dogs or just for the ones in your household. The only reason I haven't done this yet for the dogs is because I have to spend time away from them and have to be in an environment where there's no dog hair,dogs in the area etc. Which means in your car,on your clothes and where ever you would go stay at.



Good luck,

Trish

My husband was allergic to our first pug. He took allegra for about a year and his immune system caught up. He's still prone to seasonal allergies but we sleep with the pugs and he does okay. The nettie pot also often helps give some relief.

As a fellow allergy sufferer (allergic to a whole mess of things including dogs, horses, cats, dust, dust mites, corn, oatmeal....the list goes on and on) I opted for the injection route! Best money I ever spent but you also must realize it doesn't decrease your allegies overnight. It took almost 3 years worth of getting the shots first 2X week, then once then starting over on another vial that helped decrease the next set of allergies using the same schedule.

Keeping up with the vacuuming, reducing contact with the saliva, washing your hands lots as well as changing your clothes after getting fur or slobber on you seems to really help my reactions. I still take oral meds (Allegra) and still have the occasional set of rashes or bumps especially during the lockdown winter period when Stubby is inside all the time.

My last major reaction was after a 2 day indoor dog show when my immune system just went into overload and I had to stay home for the last day. Despite the inconvenience of the allergies I would never be without my beloved furkid or horse. You gotta do what you gotta do. Best of luck in finding the best solution for you.