Kitten vs cat allergies
October 31, 2011 7:57 PM Subscribe
No one seems to be allergic to my kitten. Are people more allergic to cats than kittens?
My kitten is about 8 weeks old, and I've had her for a few days. I am not allergic to cats, but my boyfriend, mom, and one of my friends all are. My boyfriend has slept in bed with her and didn't have the slightest reaction, my mom is highly allergic to cats and she held her for a few hours without any reaction. Same thing happened with one of my friends.
She isn't shedding, so I wonder if that is why (even though I've heard it's not actually the hair that people are allergic to).
Did I just get lucky or will it get worse when she's older?
My kitten is about 8 weeks old, and I've had her for a few days. I am not allergic to cats, but my boyfriend, mom, and one of my friends all are. My boyfriend has slept in bed with her and didn't have the slightest reaction, my mom is highly allergic to cats and she held her for a few hours without any reaction. Same thing happened with one of my friends.
She isn't shedding, so I wonder if that is why (even though I've heard it's not actually the hair that people are allergic to).
Did I just get lucky or will it get worse when she's older?
Has said kitten started cleaning itself properly? It's cats' saliva that usually does it for me.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 8:04 PM on October 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 8:04 PM on October 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
Anecdotal: my brother is generally fine around kittens. He swells up like a chayote squash around cats. This may be more because kittens kind of dart all over the place and cats are happy to just chill in your lap and deposit their allergens all over you. Maybe he's just been lucky around kittens. YMMV.
posted by phunniemee at 8:05 PM on October 31, 2011
posted by phunniemee at 8:05 PM on October 31, 2011
It does vary cat-to-cat (and breed is only sort of helpful - I have a pair of rescues that my moderately-allergic friend is totally fine with, whereas her rescues of equally indeterminate breed make her all wheezy. She spends a lot of time being wheezy.)
posted by restless_nomad at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by restless_nomad at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Her dad is an orange tabby and apparently her mom is siamese. She is gray and white. She cleans herself a LOT
posted by kerri13 at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011
posted by kerri13 at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011
Response by poster: Also she is totally fine to just "chill in your lap". She has her darting all over the place moments but mostly she loves to cuddle :)
posted by kerri13 at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2011
posted by kerri13 at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2011
Best answer: There are several cat breeds which shed fewer of the allergens to which most people react. This site has a list of some breeds. Perhaps your kitten is one of these?
posted by blob at 8:14 PM on October 31, 2011
posted by blob at 8:14 PM on October 31, 2011
I used to react to kitten scratches in a way I wouldn't to adult cats - a light scratch would puff up and itch like crazy. When I mentioned it to the vet I was working for at the time, she said sagely, "Kittens are filthy little beasts."
The people around you may be allergic to the protein in cat saliva, which is deposited on the cat when it washes itself. Perhaps kittens don't have the hang of good grooming yet?
posted by PussKillian at 8:19 PM on October 31, 2011
The people around you may be allergic to the protein in cat saliva, which is deposited on the cat when it washes itself. Perhaps kittens don't have the hang of good grooming yet?
posted by PussKillian at 8:19 PM on October 31, 2011
Best answer: It is primarily the "dander" or sloughed off dead skin cells that people are allergic to. It may be that because of her small size and healthy young skin that she is not shedding much dander at this point.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:25 PM on October 31, 2011
posted by Rock Steady at 8:25 PM on October 31, 2011
It's often the case that kittens are less likely to provoke an allergic reaction than adult cats, yes.
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:34 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:34 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I think another factor is that your house has only had a few days to build up the thick, healthy (yet invisible) layer of dander that you find in the homes of those of us with adult cats.
Give it a few months or years and every step your visitors take will kick up clouds of invisible dander, every time they sit on the couch it will release a poof of dander, and so on. Unfortunately, I bet with time, your family's reactions will get more and more severe.
posted by ErikaB at 8:45 PM on October 31, 2011
Give it a few months or years and every step your visitors take will kick up clouds of invisible dander, every time they sit on the couch it will release a poof of dander, and so on. Unfortunately, I bet with time, your family's reactions will get more and more severe.
posted by ErikaB at 8:45 PM on October 31, 2011
This is all rather interesting, because my anecdotal evidence is that I am a gazillion times more allergic to kittens than cats. As a result, I always thought that older cats were less dander prone than kittens, though I had no reason to believe this other than personal experience. Proof of this: I am not allergic at all to my new kitty-fon-roo (a 3 year old cat), Spot. I also concur that we cannot fully answer this question without pictures.
posted by ruhroh at 8:50 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ruhroh at 8:50 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
I fostered kittens for the San Francisco SPCA twice. I ended up at the emergency room twice for allergy-induced asthma. (Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time and thought it was a fluke.)
I keep Benadryl and Claritin in the medicine cabinets of my friends who have cats. I walk in the door and head straight for the bathroom. My friends' cats have never sent me to the ER but I don't stay at their place for days or weeks. The kittens I had for around three weeks both times.
posted by shoesietart at 9:35 PM on October 31, 2011
I keep Benadryl and Claritin in the medicine cabinets of my friends who have cats. I walk in the door and head straight for the bathroom. My friends' cats have never sent me to the ER but I don't stay at their place for days or weeks. The kittens I had for around three weeks both times.
posted by shoesietart at 9:35 PM on October 31, 2011
Like ruhroh, I had owned a cat so I didn't consider myself allergic. But I think I acclimated to my cat but new cats cause non-stop sneezing, runny nose and if the exposure is long enough, asthma.
posted by shoesietart at 9:38 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by shoesietart at 9:38 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
I looked into this when I got my kitten and found no one was allergic. I found a bunch of references that suggested that yes, there's some substance that kitten dander doesn't contain that adult cat dander does, and most allergy sufferers have no problems with kittens.
Another factor for people who have not had a cat before is that their house will be pretty much cat-fur free for a few months until the kitten has settled in. So for visitors who would react to the general fur and dander around the house, this won't have started yet.
posted by lollusc at 10:08 PM on October 31, 2011
Another factor for people who have not had a cat before is that their house will be pretty much cat-fur free for a few months until the kitten has settled in. So for visitors who would react to the general fur and dander around the house, this won't have started yet.
posted by lollusc at 10:08 PM on October 31, 2011
Best answer: kerri13, the reason carmicha was asking for a photo was not because we *need* one to answer the question, it's because it's an unspoken rule that you must SHOW THE CUTENESS in a cat AskMe!
posted by Specklet at 10:22 PM on October 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Specklet at 10:22 PM on October 31, 2011 [5 favorites]
My sister has major allergies to cats. All of my previous cats would cause her to sneeze and wheeze and sniff and suffer. Our current Evil does not. She's a Maine Coon mix.
posted by onhazier at 6:27 AM on November 1, 2011
posted by onhazier at 6:27 AM on November 1, 2011
Best answer: I have two family members (one blood, one non) who are allergic to cats except for Siamese cats (I've read that this is the same with other people). It's possible because your kitten is half-Siamese is why your family/friends aren't showing allergy symptoms.
posted by deborah at 8:01 PM on November 1, 2011
posted by deborah at 8:01 PM on November 1, 2011
Response by poster: Oh I gotcha :)
Here she is!
(and again!)
posted by kerri13 at 12:18 AM on November 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Here she is!
(and again!)
posted by kerri13 at 12:18 AM on November 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Oh my. She's a cutie.
I used to be HIGHLY allergic to cats. And when I met my then wife-to-be and she told me she had a cat I thought "this relationship is doomed." As it turns out her cat was the first cat I wasn't allergic to. And, since then, we (now married for many years) got another cat, who I'm not allergic to either. I do get allergy shots for cats and did before I met these two kitties. But I also know that allergies come and go. Perhaps it was love or perhaps I just am not as allergic to cats as I used to be.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 9:22 AM on November 2, 2011
I used to be HIGHLY allergic to cats. And when I met my then wife-to-be and she told me she had a cat I thought "this relationship is doomed." As it turns out her cat was the first cat I wasn't allergic to. And, since then, we (now married for many years) got another cat, who I'm not allergic to either. I do get allergy shots for cats and did before I met these two kitties. But I also know that allergies come and go. Perhaps it was love or perhaps I just am not as allergic to cats as I used to be.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 9:22 AM on November 2, 2011
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posted by DoubleLune at 8:02 PM on October 31, 2011