Question for those with cat allergies

[maeve]

Do you ever react to just being around someone who has cats, even if you and the person are in your pet-free house?  Now, I will get stuffy if in the same house with a cat--even if I don't see the cat.

We had DD's birthday party on Saturday.  She was perfectly fine before the party but about the time the party ended, her eyes were watering up a storm and she was a bit sniffly.  About 15 to 30 minutes after the party's end time (when the last guest was finally picked up), DD's eyes were not only watery but swollen, red, and had a little bit of discharge (which was not thick and green.  DH gave DD her Patanol drops but I really didn't like the look of her eyes so we took her to an urgent care clinic; we went to the clinic less than 30 minutes after that Patanol had been administered.  The doctor we saw thought because of the glassiness of her eyes that it looked more like viral conjunctivitis but that the lymph node near her temple was not swollen, which is usually the case.  He decided to treat it as if it were bacterial and prescribed gentamycin drops.  DD's eyes really started to look better even before the first dose of drops and she had no discharge or crusty eyes on Sunday morning.

One of her party guests has four cats. Even my eyes were a little itchy and I was a little sniffly.  I, however, have worked really hard to break my habit of rubbing my eyes, and I've never rubbed them the way DD does (she grinds the heel of her palm into her eyes).  I'm really think that this may have been allergies.

So is it possible to react to the dander on a person who has 4 cats even if you're not in a setting that has any pets?

[hezzier]

I don't see why not.  The person could have been petting the cats before coming to the party.  Did she hug the person?  Touch the person's clothes?  Sit near the person?  I don't see why the dander couldn't have transferred to her and then she rubbed her eyes.  Not knowing much about cats...do they shed a winter coat like dogs?  Because my house is filled with dog hair (all the time but worse in the spring)...there is no way I can leave the house without some attached to me.

[maeve]

DD and her friends are 11 and at that stage where they do tend to hug each other.  DD may have been sitting near this guest at one point; I'm not sure the girls were doing karaoake downstairs (I pretty much left them to their own devices).  My understanding is that cat dander is particularly small and sticky.  I'd heard of a study that showed recently that even completely pet-free homes still have dander from cats/dogs that people have been exposed to outside the home.

http://www.natlallergy.com/article.asp?ai=137

I've just never seen DD react this way in our own home.  Her eyes often end up ready, itchy and watery when she goes inside the neighbor's house (despite being told not to) because they have a cat.

[maeve]

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=8&sub=16&cont=63

[SilverLining]

Elmo has reacted from cat hair that came  to our home on someone elses clothing.  According to the allergist, Elmo's cat allergy is extreme.  I'm not sure most people would be bothered by it...but he sometimes is.

[rebekahc]

DD has reacted several times from sitting near cat owners.  She said she can tell who in her class owns cats because her eyes will itch when sitting near the cat owners.  She's also reacted from putting a stuffed animal on her bed that had been at a cat house before it came to us (it was a team mascot go home with the MVP type of deal).

[Mookie86]

My dh is cat allergic.  He can't go to someone's home that has cats unless he takes Benadryl first, and that's even if they make sure the cat stays out of the room where my dh is.  DH has had reactions to cat owner's clothes even when they weren't at their home.  It definitely lingers on clothes, so it's an ongoing issue even when you're away from where the cat lives.  DH's allergy cup is more full in the spring, and that's the worst time for his cat reactions.  Fortunately, he's not as bad as a friend, who is anaphylactic to cats.  However, DH can do without the itchy eyes, tingling throat, etc.

[Mfamom]

YES!!!!  this happened to me when I was on a bowling league several years ago.  There was a lady who was on a different team and she was always talking about her cats and she was not the most well kept lady. 
I tried to be nice to her because many of the ladies were rude with her.  She would always come and talk to me and I'd start sneezing etc.  I finally deducted that it was from her having cat dander on her. 
It took me awhile to figure it out and i'm positive that was the problem. 

[GoingNuts]

This happens to my girlfriend.  When the kids were little, she'd let her son come here, but he had to change out of this clothes as soon as he came home.  They'd go straight into the wash.  (Yes, I have a cat, as you can tell from my avatar. ;-) )

[Dewey]

Yes - this happens to me! Not all the time, but often, especially if my allergy cup is full, just being near someone who has a cat or has been around them will make me start sneezing. I am pretty severely allergic to cats - I've gotten hives from contact with cats - but I've read that cat dander is extremely small and light, so it gets everywhere and is really hard to get rid of entirely.

[Janelle205]

Like others have said - I have had the same problem being around people who have cats - and for me, it almost always starts with itchy eyes, and moves on from there.

I'm pretty allergic to cats - they had to wipe my last test for cats pretty early on because the wheal was overtaking the other tests.

[Penny]

I'll be fine inside a house where a cat lives, until I sit on a piece of furniture that the cat has been on - then my asthma kicks into high gear and I start wheezing.  So I'm guessing that if I were to hug someone who has been holding a cat, the same thing would happen. 

[maeve]

Thanks everyone.  I really suspect that what we were dealing with was allergic conjunctivitis most likely from the exposure to cat dander and pollen playing outside.  DD is clearly even more sensitive to cats than I am. 

We're going to have to be careful when we go to BIL's for my nephew's graduation.  They have two cats and a dog.  It should be a fun party for many reasons.

[krasota]

The fel d1 protein is very sticky.  Cat people track it with them everywhere.

We wipe down the furniture (leather, wood) and replace slipcovers (just sheets that can be washed) after cat people visit.

[SkyMom]

My dd is also very allergic to cats.  We have noticed over the years if someone comes to visit who has cats that she will immediately start with the eyes and scratchy throat.  We limit even family who have cats visiting our home.  The sad thing is that all of her school friends have cats and she is unable to visit their homes without reacting even if the cats are not in the room.  Even benedryl before a visit only works for a brief time    We always hope for a new friend to come along with no cats!