How to control pet allergy symptoms

Allergists have said that removing dogs and cats from your home isn’t enough to avoid pet allergy.

They suggested the use of immunotherapy – allergy shots – combined with environmental changes to help control pet allergy symptoms.

“This is a common allergy that touches the hearts of so many,” said Dana Wallace, MD, ACAAI president.

“More than 90 percent of homes have measurable dog and cat allergens and 52 percent of homes have a pet. So not only is it a common allergy, but the allergen is everywhere,” Wallace stated.

And although individuals who are allergic to dogs and/or cats are advised to reduce their exposure to the animal, case studies have shown that cat dander is present even in places where a cat has never set a paw.

Allergists refer to this as “passive” exposure because the dander travels to school on students’ clothing and backpacks.

Dr. Wallace discusses the benefit of specific environmental interventions and the effectiveness of allergy shots for individuals who want to live comfortably with their pet.

She suggested some changes to reduce animal dander in the home, such as removing the animal from the bedroom to create an “allergy free zone,” using bleach to reduce the allergen on clothing or bedding, using HEPA room air cleaners and a HEPA vacuum, bathing animals regularly etc.

The changes were suggested at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Boston, Nov. 3-8.

Tips to Choose Pet Diet

As a pet owner, no doubt you want to give your dog or cat the best care possible. And caring for your pet means feeding him the best diet you can. By making your own pet foods, you'll be saving money, up to 80%. And to top it off, it's easy; making pet food at home is probably a lot less time-consuming than you may have thought. With hundreds of websites offering free pet food recipes online, it's now easier than ever to make your own pet food.

It is best that you read and re-read any and all labels found on the product of pet foods. It is not enough to just read them though, one should also try - as much as possible - to understand what a particular product description means. When a product label reads chicken-cat food, this description basically means that the food in the can consists ninety five percent of chicken.

Simultaneously, this same regulatory agency prohibits the use of many proven beneficial natural ingredients that one can find readily available for human consumption such as bee pollen, glucosamine, L-carnitine, spirulina and many other nutraceuticals. It would be easy to conclude that reason does not rule when it comes to what officially can or cannot be used in pet foods.

The vet declined to work on Tippy citing poor health possibly diabetes as the reason. Making a long story short, we strongly suspect that Tippy was fed some of the recalled dog food while at the vets. She got progressively lethargic over the week following the vet visit and began vomiting blood the last couple of days. She died a week after her visit to the vets on March 10 2007.

The consequences have been devastating! It is believed that thousands of dogs and cats have developed kidney dysfunction or died after eating the contaminated pet food. This serious dilemma has been extremely aggravating and scary for veterinarians and pet lovers nationwide.

Now with the on-going pet food recall pet owners have questions such as 'Has this food been recalled?' or 'Is this food the next one to be recalled?'...'Is my pet safe?' Wow this is confusing! And scary too! What exactly is a pet owner to do? How about learning a few secrets! Equipped with the knowledge of a few secrets of pet food, it's not nearly as confusing.

Now with a good quality pet food – feeding about 1/3 less – a 20 pound bag will provide you about 80 servings. If the better food costs $30.00 for a 20 pound bag – that breaks down to a little less than .38 cents a meal.

The problem in the pet food industry – is that most pet owners don't think in the same terms when it comes to pet food. They don't think in terms that there are fast food types of pet foods and there are sit down restaurant more nutritious types of pet foods. Now, imagine your pet eating this fast food type of food its' entire lifetime.

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