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hypothetical dog discussion

kwaldykwaldy member
in November 2015 Moms
I've got two dogs. And while I've been cleaning lately, I've become hyper - aware of how much they shed (a lot, I should add.)
I have always been a firm believer that dogs are a part of the family and you don't just get rid of them when they're no longer convenient to have. I know too many people who have gotten rid of their puppies when they weren't cute and little anymore, and it has just broken my heart.
HOWEVER, I was thinking this morning... what happens if my child is allergic to my dogs? Will I get rid of them?? It's not something I want to think about, because my dogs were my first babies... but what would you do if you were faced with this situation?

Just curious :)
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Re: hypothetical dog discussion

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    rubirubi89rubirubi89 member
    In my case we have a big property so worse case scenario I'll put them outside. 
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    HopefulMNMomHopefulMNMom member
    We have a yellow lab who sheds a lot and this crossed my mind several weeks ago. He was our first "baby" and we could never get rid of him. I would just clean as much as possible and consider building an outdoor/indoor kennel attached to our garage. We live in MN so not having an indoor space isn't an option. Luckily LO is here and isn't having any issues!
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    KeHill08KeHill08 member
    My dog is my rescue pup. I'm completely attached to him and when DH and I got married, he knew we were a package deal. He absolutely loves Chase too and we have already decided that if our baby is allergic to Chase or our cat, we would do everything possible to keep them. If we would exhaust all of our options, we know my parents would take them in, especially since my dog grew up there (I brought him home one day in high school... surprise guys!) and they are quite amused by our cat. They also know how much it would tear me apart to have to have my fur babies not be able to be with me, and are beyond amazing when it comes to helping us!
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    Nataliegz12Nataliegz12 member
    We have a dog and my youngest ended up allergic after we rescued him and got him home. We have just learned to manage, in her case its more about her touching him so as soon as she does she washes her hands. We also trained him not to jump or lick her. My older girls spend a lot of time with him and he's outside with them most of the day, after dinner he comes in for the night. Its a lot of work in the cleaning department but I feel we made the commitment and he's part of the family.
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    Peanut1128Peanut1128 member
    I have a cat and I am allergic to them. It's not fun living with an animal you are allergic to, but I would feel bad giving her up. I have air purifiers with allergen filters in a few areas of my home and the cat is never allowed in my bedroom at the recommendation of my allergist. I also take Allegra or Zyrtec daily to minimize my congestion, red eyes and what not. It is possible for kids to outgrow allergies.
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    Pontot31Pontot31 member
    I had the opposite issue when I was a child. We always had at least 3 cats or dogs when I was little. When I was in high school we were down to just one cat and I started showing symptoms of being allergic. Turns out being around them most of my life kept the allergies away and when I wasn't exposed as much my allergies came out.
    Now I'm not sure I could handle having a pet, even though I'd like one. My husband is also allergic. I start to wheeze and need my inhaler if I get too much dog or cat fur on me.

    I think it really depends on the severity. If it affected my kids' breathing I think I would have to strongly consider my options, as hard as it would be.
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    MercyC1130MercyC1130 member
    Oh man, I was thinking about this the other day. I'm with you PPs though; exhaust all options. My dogs are my best friends for sure.
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    AmoLovesAudAmoLovesAud member

    My mom adopted one of her older cats from just this kind of thing.  Though to be fair, they had the kid first (he was 4), then adopted a kitten, then found out kid was allergic to kitten.  So we took her in.  She was crazy skittish, since she lived with a preschooler and a toddler, but once she realized no one in our house was going to pull her tail or anything like that, she was a total cuddle bug.  I still miss that kitty, she was a sweetie.


    Thankfully my only pet right now lives in a cage, so I don't think I'd have much of a problem keeping kid and pet separate if she was super allergic.  But I agree with others, try every option possible before rehoming; you adopt a pet for life, not just while they're cute/convenient (kid in situation above was deathly allergic, it set of his asthma big time.  So it was kind of understandable.)

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    wimamaof2wimamaof2 member
    edited November 2015
    We would exhaust all options. We have 3 dogs (2 of them were rescued) and we are deeply attached to them. My DH and I have set up boundaries. Our doggies are not allowed in the bedrooms. We can have the gate wide open and they will sit and wait until we come out. It took a little while for them to learn because 2 of them used to sleep in our bed until we found out we were expecting.
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    ZoeH3ZoeH3 member
    My aunt had a large lab who liked to wip his tail around. He was strong enough that he actually left welts. This became a big problem when her daughter was starting to walk around. They really had no choice but to get rid of him. Winters get really cold here and having an outside dog is just not do-able.
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    savyjohn1savyjohn1 member
    I have read (DO NOT QUOTE ME ON THIS!! I AM NOT A DOCTOR) that children who grow up with pets actually have less allergies than children who grow up without them. We have a small farm and I am always worried one of the kids will be allergic to something we bring in, but haven't had any problems so far. We do have house pets also, and our dogs were our babies before our babies.
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    MargaretC5MargaretC5 member
    My parents faced this issue with my sister who was alergic to our cat. My mom used to bath the cat once a week using an anti dander shampoo. She also cleaned all the carpets every other week. The cat was not allowed in my sister's room either. It was a lot of work, but it worked out. My sister also loved the cat and would of been crushed if we got rid of the cat. I did not know it at the time but my mom also had a back up rehoming option already arranged (my aunt), just in case my sister got really sick and the cat had to go, luckly that never happened.
    I love my pets but if a child is alergic I do think it can be appropriate to rehome a pet, it really depends on the situation.
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    gipfishgipfish member
    Bathe them in Allerpet once a week, and brush them with a furminator or shedding blade frequently. I don't think I could give up my pup!
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    violetigerlilyvioletigerlily member
    FYI, Just thought I'd add here that in our child birth class they said that in the first few weeks babies often sneeze to get residual amniotic fluid out of their airways and that allergies are generally not the cause and would be diagnosed later in life.

    I'm not a pediatrician and neither was she, but it's a good point to bring any potential allergy concerns to your pediatrician before making drastic changes or assumptions at home as there might be something else going on, even if it seems obvious to you regardless of his you feel about possibly rehoming pets.
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    Unica1302+Unica1302+ member
    I've had my dog almost 10 years and cannot imagine our life without him. Both DH and I are deeply attached so we would exhaust everything and anything. Absolute worst case scenario my furry baby would go with my parents which is where he lived his first 4 years and visits still multiple times a week. But from what I've read having pets increases immunity to those kinds of allergies...
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    jscasherjscasher member
    It would kill me to give up my dogs! I've actually tried to NOT go out of my way to avoid them coming into contact with my son, I figure it's good to expose him to them early on so his body gets used to their "germs." I've also read that dogs mouths are cleaner than ours! But of course if I had to give them up for my baby's health I would, but only after trying everything else.
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    brbeck7brbeck7 member
    This has been my only real fear since we found out we were pregnant. I work with animals, volunteer with a local rescue, and obviously have fur babies of our own. I would say vacuuming, baths, and minimal contact. I would be absolutely heartbroken if I didn't have my boys anymore, since they will make the BEST big brothers for our little girl! Hopefully you won't need to find an answer to this and your little one will have no issue! 
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