How to Treat Pet Allergies

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Dr. Ana Lamas and I'm a practicing allergist and immunologist in the Miami area. Let's talk about how to treat pet allergies. Pet allergies is a topic near and dear to many allergy sufferers. Often one thinks that allergy sufferers are more pet lovers than allergy sufferers, because when one as an allergist, suggest to the patients that they remove the pet from their home. Often what what happens, is that the patient removes the allergist and goes to seek another physician's advice. So how to treat pet allergies is very, very important. First exposure, we must have the pet in the non sleeping or bedroom environment of the patient, that is first and foremost. Ideally, the pet would be an outdoor pet but in many situations, that is not possible because of the weather outside. So if the pet is an indoor pet, he cannot go into the patient's bedroom. He cannot be allowed to jump on upholstered furniture, so that the dander becomes part of the furniture. The house should not have carpeting, because the carpet serves as a reservoir for that pet dander, it's obviously a reservoir for dust mites. But it is also a reservoir for pet dander. The patient must wash that pet, including cats. Many wonderful studies have been done on reducing the amount of cat dander by bathing that cat once a week, which is a very daunting task indeed. Once these measures have been taken, then there are medications which one can use for the symptoms of pet allergy. Whether they be nasal or respiratory symptoms which unfortunately are quite common. And then furthermore, if that has not helped enough, there is allergy immunotherapy which is quite efficacious for dander allergy."