Cat Allergy Medicine
Is Cat Allergy Medicine an Effective Treatment?
If you often find yourself nursing itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose every time your cat comes around, you might want to consider looking into cat allergy medicine. While giving in to your own desires for a cuddly companion—or, your child’s harping for a kitty!—may have seemed like a good idea at the time, you might be having second thoughts now.
The good news is that you don’t have to start hunting for a place to re-home your fuzzy family member just yet. The most common causes of cat allergies are the fur, dander, and skin particles that come off of your cat. Think of these as tiny bits of cat dandruff. These particles release into the air through your cat’s most common movements, such as jumping onto the couch or rubbing against your leg. When these particles are inhaled by you, they often produce symptoms similar to hay fever, such as: watery or sensitive eyes and throat irritation that makes it difficult to breathe. You might even experience eczema-like symptoms (temporary dry, itchy skin) in areas that come in contact with a cat.
Ridding your home of a feline presence is one method to avoid the symptoms of your cat allergy, but it is an extreme one. There are several types of cat allergy medicine available on the market, but your preferences may be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing a treatment. There are over-the-counter agents, prescription tablets, and doctor-administered injections, each of which will be covered in this article.
The most notorious perpetrator behind many allergy symptoms (both pet-related and not) is called Histamine. Histamine is released into your system and attaches itself to cells in your nose and throat. When this happens, the result is an excess production of fluid due to the irritation caused by the histamine. Antihistamines are products, usually in the form of a pill or nasal spray, that work by blocking the effects that histamine produces. Benadryl is frequently recommended by doctors for allergy symptom relief, as are Claritin and Zyrtec. Antihistamines that come in the form of nasal sprays are quite effective in treating a runny nose and watery eyes; however they do not provide long-term relief and should not be taken for an extensive amount of time.
If you have tried over-the-counter remedies with no success, you may need a cat allergy medicine prescribed by a doctor. Your doctor may wish to perform a few tests before making a prescription, just to confirm that your allergy is indeed caused by feline contact. A skin test is very common and may be done one of three ways: 1) the doctor injects a small amount of the cat allergen into the skin of your forearm, 2) the doctor scratches the skin with a sterile needle and places the cat allergen on top of the scratches, or 3) a patch containing the cat allergen is placed on the skin where it will remain for 2 days. If a cat allergy does exist, any of these tests should result in swelling, redness, or irritation of the skin subjected to the allergen. Some common prescription allergy medications include Allegra, Clarinex, and Singulair.
Sometimes the best cat allergy medicine is the one that usually has the best long-term success—the allergy shot. Your doctor may recommend that you take a series of allergen injections that are designed to purposely expose your immune system to the allergen a little at a time. The injections generally start out at a frequency of one per week, then less frequently as your immune system begins to resist the allergen. Allergy symptoms may take anywhere from a few months to a few years to disappear. In severe cases, symptoms may never completely disappear.
So before you resort to kicking kitty to the curb, give one of these allergy medicines a try! Vacuuming carpeting and upholstered furniture several times a week can also rid your house of extra allergens lying about. Best of luck in finding a treatment that works for you!