Need an opinion on exposure to dogs

Yes Yes and Yes. We have a dog and had her for years. My son has terrible eczema and the dog never bothered him. Then we got a new dog, and it flared up. We didnt know why so I had him tested and he was a 2+ which I thought was impossible because we already had a dog with no trouble.
Dogs have different dander. He can pet a dog at the park and know immediately he was allergic because his hands feeling warm. The dogs we have do not bother him. They mostly live outside and rarely are in his room.
Hope my experience with allergies and dogs helps, everyone is different, even dogs.

I had terrible asthma, and I always resented my mother for smoking, even though it was just in one room in the house. And my father who has Alzheimers and has terrible lung problems (was in a coma for a few months because of pneumonia and even now has to have breathing treatments several times a day). And she still smokes--only in one room, but the house is saturated with it.

My mother wants to move closer to us so that she can help care for DS while I work and for a baby if that comes to be, but there's absolutely no way I'd let my children spend large amounts of time there because of the damage smoke can do them--and I simply wouldn't allow a baby there for more than 20 minutes at a time--and not very often. We limit our time at their house now as it is.

Having said that . . . I think it's important for children to go to their grandparents' homes. Strong memories are created, and children need to have those memories--unless doing so poses severe health problems.

And it's true that a person can be more allergic to some dogs than others. DS' allergist said that if we get a dog, that it's important that we spend a lot of "face time" (up close and in the face contact) with each dog we're interested in to see which ones we react to the least. He said there are even variations to dogs coming from the same litter.

If your DS hasn't had a problem with the dander on your mother, maybe she won't have a problem at her house. It won't hurt to test it, will it? I'm a little ignorant here, because DS doesn't have eczema. I'm assuming that the benefits of a test outweigh the risks of a flareup. But I could be wrong.

Regarding the PA though, I'd find out about the dog's food before taking my PA child. There have been threads about the safety/unsafety of certain dog foods for PA folks.

[This message has been edited by McCobbre (edited May 25, 2005).]

How close are your parents? Is it close enough for a day trip or do you need to be there overnight?

If they are close enough that you can spend a few hours, then I would suggest going there for a short time & see.

If you need to stay overnight, can you afford to get a hotel room? Then you can spend the day & stay at a hotel for the evening.

Now might be a good time to visit as the weather is nice and she can spend a good portion of the visit outside.

A suggestion -- bring a change of clothes and change her & you & other people before you leave. Put the dirty clothes in a sealed plastic bag.

Good luck.

E.

I would second ElleMo.

Here's what we do when we leave the house of anyone who has a cat. We cover our car seats with towels before going to the house. After leaving, we wipe our hands before getting in the car and then once we leave, we go to a place where we can change clothes and then wipe down whatever inside the car may have been touched with cat dander. And we put the other clothes in a bag. I react to dog or cat if someone who has pet the animal touches something that I touch later. It's awful during business meetings (or interviews at this point) to have a wheal on my face from shaking hands with someone who obviously has a pet and then touching my face unconsciously.

The hotel idea is great. If that's not possible and this is an overnight trip, your mother should keep the dog out of the room where your DS will be staying for six weeks prior. And when washing sheets and towels, fold them in an area where the dog doesn't go. My friends will say, "but this towel is clean." Yes, but you folded it on your bed, where your cat naps. Not helpful.

People with a pet allergy can sometimes fare well with the pet in their house, as long as their (the humans') sleeping quarters are relatively dander free. That was true for us when we had a dog. She stayed out of our bedroom, out of the guest bedroom (in case a guest was allergic) and out of the bathroom, because I couldn't have dog dander on our towels.

Dog allergy has been a big issue in our home.
William tested positive for cats and dogs when first tested at 2yrs.
when he was exposed to dog , for a prolonged period he would have an eczema flare up, but as this was always combined with dustmite, I knew this was going to happen and adjusted his skin routine to cope with it.
However, over the past couple of years( he is 9yrs old ), his reactions to dog have risen ( with his bean and peanut allergy) and from being mild ezcema he started to be covered in hives, and itch his exposed flushed skin. Now he has difficulty breathing.

To visit my mother who has at times not only her own long haired dog, but my sisters very old dog in the house as well, we have worked out a short compromise.

First the allergy nurses told us that we should never let william be in a room with a dog.
I thought about that, and decided that this was not helpful in any way !

So we, call my mother in advance,( who has ripped up her carpets and put wooden flooring down)and she sweeps and damp dusts the house and puts the dogs in the garden or in a room away from william.
I give william an antihistamine when we leave our home, and once at my mums, give a inhaler if he needs it.
William does not have asthma, and only needs his inhaler if in contact or in a closed room with a dog.
If things get worse, we leave, or william goes in the garden to kick a football around , or we all go out somewhere away from the house and dog.

I am aware that dog allergy can be life threatening, but with all aspects of severe allergy , other factors do increase the risk and severity.
my parents smoke, and my son likes to jump on beds, ( something my mother is OK with, I , however AM NOT!!, this has nothing to do with his allergies more my concern over buying more beds at home!!LOL)
These contributing factors can cause a severe reaction, so while we are at my parents I am watching carefully to monitor my son. If he coughs to much we go home, even if we have only been there a few mins, it has caused some friction family wise, but this is the best i can do at present.

From what I have read about dog dander allergy, its an allergen that you cant escape from, in schools for instance a large amount of dander is on the childrens coats from home, and they all hang close together on the pegs.
You can have a continual low level reaction to dog dander , that goes unoticed if you have always had a dog in the home. Other reactions , allergy wise will be more troublesome,for instance, dust mite allergy, pollen , and of course asthama and ezcema may be more troublesome.
Often a allergy to dog is discovered once the dog leaves the home, and then re-introduced.
Which causes a more noticable reaction.
Its best of course to rely on skin prick testing and blood tests to get the full range of a persons allergies.
As far as allergiess are concerned , a dog allergy is a dog allergy.
intestingly a expert was explaining that this is not always the case for food, a different varity of chick pea, may only give a mild reaction, as the protiens are slightly different. But of course, its not something we would like to experiment with!!

sarah

I've been in a similar challenging position. My son is pa/nuts/eggs/dogs/cats/roach/dust/pollen/ and full body severe eczema. He's had it all since birth and he's now 5.

My husband and I tried everything to keep eczema under control. We prohibited him from being around dogs/cats, we pulled up all carpet in our house to get rid of as much dust as possible, kept him inside during high pollen days and made him shower instantly after coming inside on low pollen days, we cream him up 2x or more a day, medication out of his ears, regulated the temperature in house, and more.

what we found out is that you can't control everything and even if you COMPLETELY ELIMINATE all of his allergic elements he will still have eczema. He will still have flairs. We decided that it was in our son's best interest to deal with the eczema but still try to let him have a semi-normal life. We started taking him to the zoo like normal kids, we let him stay all night with his grandma (who has a dog) like normal kids, we let him play outside on high pollen days like normal kids. You know what? he didn't get any worse. Stayed the same. But he's a lot happier now that he gets to do more normal things instead of living in a bubble.

Now if you tried it and he got severely worse you might consider having the grandparents visit you instead. Its different for all people and for all comfort levels.

I would try it. If you can, do it on a pleasant day, so that if the dog allergens bother her, you can continue your visit outside. I wouldn't plan to sleep over until I knew she was fine. I can deal with animals for about 2 hours, and then I need to leave. If she is on a daily preventative, it may not even bother her at all. If you fine that it does bother her, you could leave, and then deal with the flare, if needed. If you don't try it, you may miss out on an enjoyable situation that may be completely fine for her.

My PA daughter tested slightly positive to dogs and cats when she was one. A year later, she still had never had direct exposure to animals....until a few days ago. I let her pet (one time) a small spaniel of some type that hardly sheds if at all. She loved the dog and I thought everything was fine. Well she must have touched her eye with the hand she used to pet and within a minute, her eye swelled up and was like a slit. It bothered her so much and the next day, after 2 doses of benedryl, it was still slightly swollen. Her cheeks got a little eczema, but I'm not sure if it was related to the dog.

Everyone is different and if you decide to expose her to a dog, I would make sure benedryl is close by in case there is a reaction of any type.

dgood - that's exactly how my ds reacts every time. He was also diagnosed young (5 mos) and was a 1+ on his skin test....his reaction to dog is much worse than any other allergen he's allergic to. My parents have a dog and we still go over, but it's really hard keeping an 18 mo old from a dog. About once a month I end up giving him benadryl, rushing him home to bath him and change his clothes. We still go though, because its Nonni & PopPop!

We have had dogs for 20 years. Fortunately when we had our son, who is PA, he seemed to get desensitized from all the exposure to dog hair and dander and saliva. Maybe it helped him to not develop more food allergies, maybe it keeps his eczema around, we don't know at this point.

My point here is that having had many dogs over the past decades we have been amazed by the variety of foods(including peanuts) that are used in dog foods and treats. Peanut shells are used in some low-cal dog foods to provide bulk without extra calories. Peanut butter is used to flavor milkbone-type dog biscuits, as well as the really expensive "gourmet" dog cookies. I see peanut butter flavored rawhide chews, and pig's ears when I go to the pet food store. I help teach a dog obedience class and there are sometimes students who bring peanut butter to class to let their dogs have a little taste of straight PB for a treat. Our dogs, of course, do not ever get any of these products. But just be aware that it's out there and lots of people feed these things to their dogs because the dogs love it and it's so readily available. So be careful to find out if peanuts have been eliminated from your parent's dog's diet (even chew toys and treats). I always explain to my son that every person and every dog in our household eats peanut free food so that we can kiss him without making him itchy or sick. Never thought I'd say something like that to a child.

This past Sunday we were at my mom's whom doesn't own any pets because Aidan is so allergic to dogs & cats. Well she has a toy room for her grandkids & my son was playing with his cousin's stuffed dog that she had brought from home that she had left behind.

We don't go to his cousins house because they have a cat. We have tried visiting there previously and gave him meds like the allergists said, but he is so sensitive that his ezcema went crazy & little hives popped up all around his face & arms& tummy. Well that is exactly what happened when he played with this toy. Poor baby, he was so miserable. We choose to not go over to my sister or brother's because of the risk involved. Both understand because they've seen his little face swell & him screech from the hives & ezcema. They are both welcome in our house, but unfortunately our situation calls to be extreme.

Now before my brother got divorced, his wife would put the cat up & clean & vaccuum the day we went for Easter. He did fine that day. So maybe that will help your family.

Good Luck,
mandi

**I thank God he didn't have an asthma attack

Try it and see how she does. My son tested positive to dog when tested at 18 months. We have a dog and he does react to her occasionally. ( We find a hive or two on his face every once in a while after playing with her). He also has eczema but he doesnt seem uncomfortable except for the occasional complaint of itching and request for lotion or medicine. (as far as we can tell his eczema has little to do with the dog) Over all we chose to keep the dog.. She is allowed in the living room and kitchen area some of the day and is outside or in the basement the rest of the time. Our kids love her soo much so since he seems to be o.k. with her around we decided to keep her. My sister in law invited us to stay with her this summer and she has two dogs with dog hair EVERYWHERE so we are not going to try that but will go to my motherinlaws that has a small dog and a good house keeper (he has been there before with no difficulty). I personally dont worry to much about a couple of hives (from dog )as long as he is not uncomfortable.

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Lalow
James 3yrs, NKA
Ben 2 yrs, PA and MA and SA

We had to make it a rule that my kids couldn't go into anyones house with pets. Both my sons are allergic to cats and dogs. Some family members weren't happy, but I was not going to risk my childrens health to make them happy.

The first time my son was in my aunts house with cats, he had an anaphylactic reaction, so be aware it can happen.

The thing that would concern me about your child, is they way they reacted to you after being in your parents home. If it was from the dog, I probably wouldn't risk it.

As far as her not reacting to grandma when she visits, my sons don't react when one family member with pets is around either. However on Christmas there were several people with pets in the house, and my one son did react.

Its a tough decision, but if you try it, I would give her Claritin or something like it before you go. Good luck.

Hello All:

Thanks for much for all your replies, you have given me alot of good advise and things to consider. If I do go I will let you know how it went.

regards,

chuser

I would try it. In fact, I did try it. My youngest DS is allergic to dogs and cats. My mom has an indoor dog and we have never had problems. I just make sure that DS washes his hands often.