Help! DS is allergic to my IL's house!

[sewaneecook]

My ILs have nearly 20 indoor cats plus they take care of about 10-15 roaming neighborhood cats and they have 3 indoor dogs.  My cat allergies aren't bad and a Zyrtec gets me through a visit.  However, DS gets a dry hacking cough while there and it continues for nearly a week after every visit and keeps up the whole family at night.  He also coughs for a few days after my ILs come over to our house to visit.  They only live an hour away, so we see them quite frequently.  Zyrtec helps him a little, but not completely. 

Is there something else we can do?  I don't want this to get in the way of his relationship with them, but it seems to get worse each time we see them.  Luckily my MIL has stopped taking in strays after realizing the cats are causing such a problem for DS, but until they start dying off, they are here to stay (and most of them are only 5-7 years old). 

[SweetSilver]

Does she realize how serious this could become?  If he's coughing (possibly from allergic asthma) when they come visit and for an entire week after you visit, this is serious.  

It is no easy thing to give away cats, even if you wanted to (other than putting them down....yikes!).  So this situation could exist for awhile.  Is this the only place he reacts?  How does he do while visiting a one-cat house?  This could help you decide what to do.  

If we've been visiting a dog-house, I will take care to remove clothing after we get home, wash my younger daughter's face and hands before putting on clean jammies.  In the days of lovie blankies, those would be washed immediately as well.  Also, we would give her "doggie medicine" *before* visiting.

If the IL live only an hour away, then I hope that means you don't spend the night!  When they visit, medicate your son beforehand.  And, it might be good to get him evaluated by an allergist, because if this is asthma this could get really bad.  Life-threatening bad.  

That's what your ILs need to know.