Can You Build Up an Immunity to Cat Allergies? Vet-Reviewed Tips & Facts

Cat allergies are frustrating, especially when the sufferer is a cat lover. Cat allergies can cause skin rashes, nasal congestion, and asthma discomfort.

A common wife's tale is that exposing yourself to cats can help you build immunity to cat allergens. But there's no scientific evidence that exposing yourself to a cat in your home will make your allergies disappear; quite the opposite. However, there are medical treatments and tips you can apply to reduce your cat allergies. Understanding how allergies work and what treatments are available can help hopeful cat parents best treat their allergies in a way that allows them to live with their furry companions.

While immunotherapy shots increase your immune system's tolerance to an allergen and allow you to tolerate being around cats, simply living with a cat is not an acceptable form of immunotherapy!

Common Symptoms of a Cat Allergy

Do you think you may have a cat allergy? Check out the following list of the most common signs of cat allergies and see if it checks out. If you have a lot of signs on this list when you've recently met a cat, you might want to contact your doctor and have an allergy panel done!

• Coughing and wheezing
• Hives or a rash on the chest and face
• Red, itchy eyes
• Redness of the skin where a cat has scratched, bitten, or licked you
• Runny, itchy, stuffy nose
• Sneezing

How Do Allergies Work?

Allergies are a result of an overactive immune system in humans. Our immune systems are intended to identify harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and parasites and eliminate them before they can take residence in the body. When the body identifies a threat, the immune system kicks in and attacks and kills the threat.

Allergies happen when the immune system identifies a harmless substance as a threat and attacks it as if it were a virus. Allergies are common and range in severity from causing some mild discomfort to being deadly.

When your body detects an allergen, the immune system will produce histamines. Histamines help your body remove the allergen from the system by having you sneeze it out, itch it off, or any of the other symptoms you may experience when having an allergic reaction.

People can have all sorts of allergies to everything from fragrances to cats and even water! Cats produce many allergens that can cause an allergic reaction, but cats' most common allergens are found in dander, saliva, and urine.

The most severe kind of allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening condition that can put a patient in a condition known as anaphylactic shock. When in anaphylactic shock, the blood pressure will crash, airways narrow, and the person may go into cardiac arrest. Fortunately, most cat allergies are not this severe but can still make life miserable.

Allergic signs may immediately develop when an allergen is introduced to the system. In other cases, it may take hours for the allergic signs to surface.

Cat allergies are among the most common allergies in humans. Additionally, 20% -30 % of people with allergic asthma will experience a flare-up when introduced to cat dander.

How Are Allergies Treated?

There are many different methods of treating cat allergies that range from non-invasive to somewhat invasive. There is currently no cure for cat allergies; those who have cat allergies will have to deal with them for their whole lives. The following methods can reduce allergy symptoms both before and during an attack.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines reduce the impact that histamines have on the body and reduce the allergy symptoms for the sufferer.

Decongestants

If you have trouble with your nose getting stuffy after you breathe near a cat, you might want to look into a decongestant to clear that up for you.

Nasal Steroid Sprays

Nasal steroid sprays are a standard allergy treatment available over-the-counter in many places under Flonase, Rhinocort, and Nasacort Allergy 24HR. But we recommend that you don't self-medicate without discussing it with your doctor first.

These medications dampen down the effects of an allergic reaction but don't treat the underlying allergy. The immune system will continue to overreact when the drug is out of the system.

Suppose you're looking to reduce your long-term allergy medication usage. In that case, you'll want to either start avoiding situations where cats might be or look into Allergen-Specific Immunotherapy if avoidance isn't possible or is unacceptable to you.

What Is Allergen-Specific Immunotherapy?

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is when purified concentrates of the allergen in question are introduced to the person's system through an injection or under-the-tongue tablet. They desensitize the immune system to the allergen and allow the person to tolerate gradually larger introductions of the allergen.

AIT has an efficacy of 85%–90% when reducing a person's allergen sensitivity. However, this process can take 3–6 months before any allergen relief is notable and 12–14 months before complete relief from symptoms is achieved.

AIT is also a considerable time commitment. For the 12–14 months that therapy is necessary, you will have to get your allergen shot every week religiously, or you may not see relief from your symptoms. Additionally, AIT may have waning efficacy over time as some patients have to return to clinics for booster shots because their allergy symptoms return.

Can Cat Allergies Be Prevented?

There is no way to prevent someone from getting cat allergies, but being around cats as a child does reduce the likelihood of cat allergies. Allergies can develop at any time in life, so just because you weren't allergic as a kid doesn't mean you can't be an adult.

New advances are being made all the time, and scientists are looking to try to reduce and eliminate Fel d 1 antigens from cats. Feeding your cat special foods, such as Purina Liveclear, can also help.

Are Hypoallergenic Cats Real?

There's no such thing as a truly hypoallergenic cat. While some cat breeds produce less dander than others, no cat is without dander. They all shed dead skin cells because they're all covered in skin!

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, you can't beat your immune system over the head with an allergen until it becomes desensitized to it. Even pharmacological intervention has limited efficacy when dealing with allergies. But hope is not lost for our allergic cat lovers out there! New developments in treating cat allergies are being made every day, and with the advances in immunotherapy already, they're looking very promising!

• See Also: I’m Allergic To Cats But Want A Cat: 10 Vet Approved Tips On What to Do

Featured Image Credit: Pormezz, Shutterstock