Cat Allergy Home Remedies
Contrary to what many people believe, an allergy to cats is not your allergy to their fur. Instead, what is causing your allergy symptoms is exposure to their saliva, dander, and possibly urine. Cat dander refers to the skin cells that cats shed from their bodies. Fortunately, there are home remedies that you can employ to help reduce the severity of your allergy to cats.
Vacuum Often
One of the ways that you can reduce the amount of cat dander in your home is through the use of a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. Standing for High Efficiency Particulate Air, this kind of filter is designed to pick up allergens like pet dander and keep them inside the vacuum rather that redistributing them, as some vacuums can do. The less pet dander in your home, hopefully the less severe your cat allergies are.
Clean Household Surfaces Often
Wipe down surfaces in your home with a damp cloth often. This way you will pick up any remaining allergens such as cat dander that might have settled on these surfaces where you could be exposed to them. You should also wipe up any accidents your cat may have on your floors that are covered by linoleum and clean any urine stains from carpeting as soon as they happen, since exposure to cat urine can also be a factor with your cat allergies.
Don’t Let Your Cat Lick Your Skin
Cats sometimes show their affection for you by licking your face or your hand. While your cat means well when he does this, if your body is reacting adversely to his saliva, this can be a bad habit. Because of this it is best to train your cats not to lick your skin, and for you to avoid petting them right after they’ve been cleaning themselves so you aren’t exposed to their saliva.
Purchase An Air Purifier
Purchasing an air purifier is one way that you can help to keep the cat dander in the air down. An air purifier will filter cat dander out of the air so you aren’t breathing it in. As an added benefit, it will also filter out other allergens that may be affecting you.
Take Quercetin and Bromelain
Quercetin is a bioflavonoid that inhibits histamine products. If you take 250 mg of quercetin twice a day, it is likely to control your cat allergy symptoms, as well as other allergies. One thing to keep in mind is that it can take up to 4 weeks before you notice that it’s working, but that is typical with many herbal and natural remedies as they need to build up in your body before you notice a change. If you decide to try quercetin, you should also take bromelain with it as it will help your body to absorb the quercetin. Take 250 mg of bromelain twice a day as well. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, quercetin should not be taken by pregnant women (see Reference 2).
