Stifle the Sniffles

Animals, Sept, 1999 by Pamela H. Sacks

A guide for allergic pet lovers

When Lynn Boucher was 19, she moved to Massachusetts to groom dogs at a kennel. It wasn't long before she developed a scratchy throat; her eyes became itchy and watery, and she began to sneeze. She assumed she had a cold-and a stubborn one at that, because it seemed to hang on and on. Homesick and not feeling well, Boucher returned to Maryland, where all of her irritating symptoms quickly disappeared. She soon realized that she had suffered from a reaction to the dogs she had been washing, clipping, and brushing. And with this in mind, Boucher figured out that she also sneezed and sniffled when she was around cats. Boucher's discovery of her allergies, however, has not stopped her from happily spending the last 24 years as a professional dog and cat groomer, an occupation in which she tackles the trickiest tangles that a full-body coat can create.

She concedes that her success has come at some cost, and she recounts a conversation with a doctor who urged her to change her career. "I said, `Naah,'" she recalls with a smile. "This is what I like to do. How many people can say they actually work in a job they like? I've wanted to work with animals all my life." Boucher's problem is a common one. She is among an estimated 20 to 25 million people in the United States who suffer from allergies to pets. For one out of every five of these people, an allergic reaction to animals can trigger an attack of asthma, a disorder marked by coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.

Not long ago, doctors who specialize in allergies and pulmonary diseases had one piece of advice for such sufferers: the pet must go. But times have changed, and Boucher's attitude seems to be the rule rather than the exception these days. Few people will part with a pet even if the allergy in question causes potentially serious health problems. "Given the feelings people have about their cats and dogs, they'd just as soon get rid of their doctor," remarks Oren P. Schaefer, an allergist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. This intense commitment has prompted doctors to reconsider how best to treat their patients, and they have come up with strategies that include medications, household modifications, or both.

Nearly all allergies to pets are caused by a glandular protein that the animal secretes onto its skin. As the skin is shed, tiny flakes, known as dander, float around in the air and stick to walls, carpets, furniture, and clothing. From there, they can easily make their way into noses, eyes, and throats. A person also can have an allergic reaction to the protein in a pet's saliva or urine. Contrary to widespread belief, a pet's fur or hair itself is not the cause of the problems. "The animal's hair may get a coating of the protein as well, but it's the skin flakes, because they are so tiny, that go everywhere and concentrate a hundredfold over what the animal carries," explains John S. Sullivan, an allergist who practices at the Fallon Clinic in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Schaefer and Sullivan both say that the most effective way to minimize an allergic reaction is to keep a pet outdoors at all times. Since most people would consider this poor pet care, at the least they recommend barring the dog or cat from the bedroom. Another recommendation--one that is likely to raise a howl of protest from allergy-plagued animal lovers--is to handle the pet as little as possible. Meanwhile, sufferers can take a few simple steps that, put together, are likely to remove up to 85 percent of the dander from the home.

Much of the carpeting, a magnet for the miniscule flakes of skin, should be removed, and what remains should be vacuumed through a filter that returns clean exhaust to the air. Schaefer suggests that vacuuming be done just once a week because the suction kicks up the dander. "I recommend getting someone else to do it, which makes a lot of my patients happy," he says. The doctors also recommend that upholstered furniture, another handy reservoir for dander, be removed and replaced with chairs and sofas covered with leather or vinyl. The air itself can be cleansed with a high-efficiency filter that pulls small particles of dander from the atmosphere, they advise. Finally, a cat or dog will cause far less allergic reaction if it's washed once a week. "People laugh about it when it's a cat," says Schaefer, "but a good grooming removes the protein on the surface."

Boucher can attest to the efficacy of the grooming remedy. She tells the story of a client who was desperate for help because she had developed an allergy to her sheltie. "Can you shave her down?" the woman asked. Boucher replied that she could but the dog would not look particularly pretty. "It's my last chance to keep her," the woman said. The sheltie's shampoo and close clip did the job. Boucher now grooms and trims the dog regularly, and the owner's allergic reaction is at a livable level.

Dogs and cats are not alone in producing allergic reactions in humans, the experts warn. Many people who are inclined toward allergies become sensitive to more than one thing in their daily environment-and that can include the pet parakeet or canary. Sullivan sees more patients who cough and sneeze in the presence of ferrets now that the small, furry critters have become popular companions. But of all the members of the animal kingdom, it is cats that engender the most widespread allergic reaction in people. No one knows just why; doctors theorize that cats tend to live indoors and find their way around every nook and cranny of the home, leaving behind a residue of dander wherever they go.