Dog Allergy help

MellyK12

I know this is a food allergy board but I don't know where else to post and I'm looking for some support or positive stories for children with dog allergies. DD is 12 months and we've suspected a dairy allergy since 6 months - she breaks out in hives if she even comes into contact with a dairy product, runny nose, itchy watery eyes, wheezing etc. Doc referred us to a specialist and her blood test results just came in - highly allergic to dairy and also dogs. Great that we have confirmation on dairy and I've come to terms with it over the past few months - sucks but it could be so much worse and we've already been changing our diet.

She has been a very sick baby so we've suspected something else. She's always sick and wheezing - doc thought it was asthma. Now the dog allergy totally makes sense since we have two golden retrievers. We are just heartbroken because they're our family too. We've had them for over 6 years and DD just loves them too. Does anyone have experience with this?  We're trying Zyrtec, she's on a daily nebulizer, vacuuming/dusting a lot, keeping the dogs out of her room, got an air purifier. She's still wheezing and sneezing.  Does it just take time or do we need to look at re-homing our dogs?  We would like to try easier things first but we will do what's best for our daughter if it comes down to that. It breaks my heart seeing her so miserable but we're not the kind of people that just gets rid of their pets either. Is it accurate to say that DD will still feel the effects of the allergen even with all these precautions?  She can't tell us and we don't have allergies so just trying to figure out how she's feeling.

Miller238

Your post breaks my heart.  We were there when my daughter was 9 months old.  I can remember the allergist calling me directly and him telling me to get the dog out of the house NOW.  My daughter has a very bad dog allergy, and it sounds like yours does too. Unfortunately, none of the precautions you are taking are going to work.  She will still be sick.  Dander is everywhere.  You can't see it.  And you can't get rid of it by vacuuming and dusting a lot.  It may reduce the amount, but it will be in the air always.  And after a dog no longer lives in the home, it takes a good 6 months for it to be gone.

We vacuumed all of the time, and dusted, and ran the air purifier.  Kept the two separate as much as possible (the dog was not allowed in my baby's room), my daughter could not touch the dog, etc.  It was so hard because that kind of meant that I couldn't touch the dog and then touch my baby.  We had our dog for 4 years and she was our everything.  We were able to find an amazing home for her within a couple of days.  I wanted to place her with someone that would allow us to visit.  We could not have asked for a better new owner for our "child" but it still makes me cry when I think about having to get rid of her.  Knowing our daughter was suffering, and nothing we did was helping, we knew we had to get the dog out of the house.  

My daughter is severely allergic to both dog dander and saliva.  Has yours reacted to saliva?  It has been 2.5 years now, and my daughter is still very allergic to dogs.  She picked up my friend's dog's toy the other day and broke out in hives :-(

Have you asked the allergist his/her advice?

 

MellyK12

We haven't seen hives with the dog allergy yet but she does have eczema on her body which we believe is from the dog allergy since she's been off dairy for 6 months now. I called the allergist yesterday because DD was wheezing all weekend and seems worse than before we were taking all these measures. How is that even possible!? She wants us to increase the nebulizer and Zyrtec for two weeks and see if that makes it any better. They know how much we love our dogs so they said that they start with these easier measures to see how she does before telling us to get rid of our dogs. I just have this sinking feeling though that it's not going to work and the guilt is killing me when I hear her wheezing and sneezing. Not to mention drugging her if she doesn't need to be. It's just heartbreaking to even think about saying goodbye to our dogs though. We rescued one and she's still skittish after 6 years with us around new people and environments.

 Did you try keeping the dog in one or two rooms of the house only?  Would it even work to do a trial period without the dogs if it takes 6 months for the dander to go away?  My mom could take them for a couple weeks to see if she improves without them in the house.

Thanks for your post. It helps knowing that someone else has been here before. We don't know anyone with a dog allergy.

Miller238

My daughter is now 3.5 and being around a dog for an extended period of time sets off her asthma.  We give her zyrtec and a breathing treatment before visiting my parent's house, but she will still have eczema and hives if she rolls on the floor or gets licked.

We did not try to keep the dog in one area of the house only.  We felt it wasn't really feasible and wasn't fair to the dog to be in a tiny area.

When I really sat down and thought about it, I had to think of my daughter's health.  Is it worth it to drug her up and give her all of these breathing treatments so that I get to keep my dog?

I will say that if I had an option for my mom to take the dog, I would have done that first in a heartbeat.  I would give her the dog, hire a cleaning lady to give a nice deep clean, get my air ducts cleaned, wipe down walls, etc. to help the dander get out and make it livable for my daughter. 

MellyK12

You're summarizing my exact thoughts. I think we're going to try taking them to my mom's house. At least we can still visit them whenever we want this way and know they're going to a good home.

 Thanks for the advice!

tnd81

Since you have the option of your moms house, I'd try that for a couple weeks. See if there's any improvement. My DD had dog allergy, not as bad as yours since it was never respiratory. Mostly red blotchy from saliva contact and she had eczema (not sure the cause). We also have 2 labs who are part of our family too. It's devastating. I tried the simple measures you mentioned. At one point the allergist asked if she improved while away from the dogs (we went on multiple week long vacations in hotels no dog has ever visited) and she didn't show any signs of drastic eczema improvement without dogs around.

We found the dog allergy at 10 mos. At 3 yrs old we had her skin tested, low and behold dog is the ONLY allergy she outgrew. She's holding onto her food allergies. I asked the allergist if this was a strange coincide that she outgrew the only allergen she's regularly exposed to and she said there absolutely could be a relationship there. Interesting. She was also one of the people 2 yrs ago asking me if my dogs were part of the family , insinuating to find them a new home. Thankfully I didn't and maybe I got lucky.  I think ideally it would be great if you could try your mom, see what changes and the. If she outgrows it you can have your pups back! GL... It's so hard.