What if LO is allergic to my cats?

[vegasgrl]

I had never considered this before, but a friend of mine told me I should think about just getting rid of my two cats since my LO might be allergic and I won't have any idea until I bring him/her home. I would so hate to bring my infant LO home only to have them sniffle their way through there first months. Thoughts? (I was actually extremely allergic to cats (starting at about age 8) until I had a couple for a while and got over it...)

[mom0810]

It's a possibility, but you won't know until you bring the baby home. I would not get rid of the cats until you have some kind of confirmation.

[KarlaC]

Originally Posted by vegasgrl

I had never considered this before, but a friend of mine told me I should think about just getting rid of my two cats since my LO might be allergic and I won't have any idea until I bring him/her home. I would so hate to bring my infant LO home only to have them sniffle their way through there first months. Thoughts? (I was actually extremely allergic to cats (starting at about age 8) until I had a couple for a while and got over it...)

Err yeah why not wait & see if your lo is even allergic to begin with before you just put your cats out?

Eta I had a dr tell my my oldest dd was allergic to my dogs when she had repeated ear infections, thankfully I didn't get rid of them because it was food allergies, not animal allergies.

[evinmom]

If baby isn't even here yet, I wouldn't jump the gun and assume it will be a problem. My DH is severely allergic to cats. He had horrible asthma as a toddler/child because his parents would not get rid of their cat even after they discovered he was allergic to it. We never owned cats because of DH's allergy, but our DS (6) is not allergic to cats. Our DD (3) is though. We first noticed the allergy sometime around age 2 when we were visiting friends who own cats. Unfortunately most of our friends have cats so that makes life a little more difficult for us now. Unlike DH's parents, if we had cats and then discovered our LO was allergic, we would find them a new home. What DH went through as a child was terrible.

[SunShineSally]

My friend was told that with the baby basicly breathing in all the dander while in utro that there is less of a chance that the child will have that allergy. Now that I have cats dogs irritate my allergies but when I had a dog cats did my sister was allergic for a while then "out grew it" after a month or so with her kitty. I would not worry about it I do not plan to rehome my 3 kitties!!!!!

[evinmom]

All the theories on allergies are just theories. No one knows for certain. My ILs had their cat before DH was born. He developed a cat allergy and then asthma around age 2/3. That cat lived with them for 16 years and DH did not ever outgrow the cat allergy. Even now being around certain cats causes his asthma to flare up again. He has ragweed allergy but no asthma with that.

[mom0810]

evinmom, would you please check out the other thread here in pets about cat allergy? It's cross posted in allergies, too. I think this woman could use your perspective.

[phatchristy]

There are multiplestudies which show that children who grow up in homes with cats and/or dogs have LESS a risk of allergies/asthma long term. So go figure!

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/200...runc_sys.shtml

As far as the DC are concerned, you do not know that your child will even be allergic to cats. And, if you have an existing cat, chances are they'll be less likely to be allergic. So I don't see how getting rid of the cats while you're pregnant would be a reasonable decision.