Dog Allergy and Allergic Reactions
A large percentage of Americans have tested positive for dog allergy. Even when some dog owners test positive, however, they may not be willing to acknowledge a connection between their pet and their allergic reactions. Sometimes, the emotional connection they have with their animal takes precedence.
Pet allergy can strike anyone at any age. Dog allergens are very small, sticky, and lightweight. Originating in a dog’s skin, saliva, and urine, the dander and saliva allergens are able to drift about your home, contaminating everything.
Aside from floating about, dog allergens also attach to a dog’s fur, which carries the allergens about. The allergen attaches to carpets, upholstered furniture, mattresses, and clothes. As you might imagine, animals that slobber a lot can be particularly troublesome to allergy sufferers.
Cat Allergies - Symptoms
Between six and ten million people in the U.S. have symptoms of cat allergy. These symptoms, however, are misunderstood by people. You might think they come from the fur or cat dander (scales of skin), but this allergen comes mainly from saliva and sweat.
The small size of this allergen explains why it easily bypasses nasal passages and lodges deep in the lungs, where it can cause allergic episodes and asthma.
This allergen floats in the air microscopically. After a cat licks itself, the allergen is deposited on its fur. Once it is deposited, dried specks of saliva can float off and drift around your home. This protein allergen can spread everywhere, attaching itself to walls, windows, and furniture. Amazingly, this allergen can still be present years after a cat leaves your home, so everything would need to be totally cleaned in order to remove the allergen.
Cat allergy can affect your eyes, nose, ears, throat, lungs, and skin. With regard to symptoms involving the skin, reddened or inflamed areas are usually caused by the scratch or lick of a cat. If a rash appears on the face, neck, or upper body, this would normally be associated with an allergy that is respiratory.
Symptoms of respiratory allergy usually occur between fifteen and forty minutes after one is exposed. However, these pet related allergy sometimes occurs several days after one is exposed.
The most common symptoms related to cat exposure are:
• red, itchy, or swollen eyes
• Reddened areas on the skin
• runny nose
• nasal congestion
• sneezing
• ears that become stuffed-up or itchy
• post nasal drip
• itching and horseness in the throat
• coughing and wheezing
• frequent bronchitis
Treatment Naturally for Both Dog and Cat Allergies
Receiving a series of acupuncture treatments along with herbal medicine for a natural allergy remedy that greatly enhances immune system function. Think of it like this: the human brain is programmed to respond to certain messages that it receives. Allergens cause the brain to respond in a particular manner. With treatment, the brain’s old patterns can be replaced with new patterns, thus alleviating illness. Chinese medicine gets to the cause of the allergies and changes the patterns of your body, so not are the symptoms alleviated, you really don’t have to suffer with allergies anymore!