Decontaminating your house is a costly hassle, and may not be effective. But there are easier ways to decrease allergy and asthma reactions to cats. Give this a six week trial if you can, before deciding to get rid of your cat. You wouldn’t want to find out that you have lost a good friend and are still having allergies from pollen, dust, molds etc.

• Make the bedroom the cat-free room – you’ll need to give up sleeping with your cat, at least until your symptoms are gone.
• Start wiping your cat down once a week with Simple Solution Allergy Relief Cats or Allerpet/C – available at PetSmart. These products have an enzyme that inactivates the cat dander.
• Once you’ve started the weekly wipe-down, it will take about six weeks for the dander already around the house to lose its “ouch”. If you want to speed up the process, ask a good friend to use a HEPA filter vacuum on the whole house, including furniture and drapes.

If you are the vacuumer in your house, even with a HEPA filter you might want to consider an allergy mask while
vacuuming.

• Wash the cat’s bedding in HOT water regularly. Use bleach if you can.
• Use dust-less unscented litter.
• You can wipe the cat down mid-week with plain warm wash-cloth.
• Wash your hands after petting the kitty before you touch your face, which is the most sensitive.

It takes a while for the dander to settle down – use your human allergy medicine regularly for the first few weeks, then see if you can cut down. (If you have asthma, make sure you do this under careful medical supervision!)

If your doctor recommends getting rid of your cat, make sure he/she is willing to have a discussion about alternatives. If he/she doesn’t seem to like cats and care about your relationship with your cat, consider a second opinion.