Shelby McLean of Bountiful, Utah, has been allergic to cats for as long as she remembers. Yet as a receptionist at the Animal Medical Clinic and an owner of several mostly-indoor cats, her devotion to animals overpowers her allergies.

"I just love them," McLean says of her cats, "Once you take on the responsibility of having an animal, you take on an obligation to do whatever you can for them. I can control my allergies...so that helps me keep them."

McLean is not alone in her decision to keep cats despite her allergies.

"It's estimated that about 15 to 20 percent of the [U.S] population are pet allergic, but over a third of those choose to have pets anyway", says Jeff Werber, a veterinarian with the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles. "I'm one of those 15 percent."

PET ALLERGY SYMPTOMS
People with pet allergies tend to have other allergies as well, Werber says, sucah as seasonal and food allergies. Common, mild symptoms are similar to what people experience with a cold: runny or stuffy nose, coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes and scratchy throat and/or neck.

"The big thing with allergies is the 'I' for itch," says Clifford W. Bassett, an allergist in New York.

Severe symptoms include skin reactions, such as redness and itchiness similar to poison ivy or oak, and, in extreme cases, full-blown asthma. For people with severe allergies, Bassett recommends they see an allergist. Allergists can conduct a skin test to see exactly to what and how severe their allergies are. Non-allergist can perform blood tests that produce similar reports, but the resulgs are not specific, Bassett says.

The actual allergen that triggers pet allergies is called FEL-D1, which is in cats' skin and saliva. So hair length, or have hair at all, has nothing to do with a person's allergic response to cats, according to Werber. Every cat is potentially allergenic; somone can have two of the same cat breeds and be allergic to one but not the other.

"So don't kid yourself and think you're going to get a shorthair cat and be fine," Werber says.

However, a recent study on the relationship between cats and human allergies conducted at The Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., suggests otherwise. The study looked at 300 different cats and people's allergic responses to them, and notable distinction between darker colored cats and males and stronger allergic reactions, Bassett says. He is currently working on a national replica of this stuyd to see if it yields the same results.

TREATMENT OPTIONS
Plenty of management options are available for people with pet allergies. McLean incorporates several tricks to keep her allergies under control. She says that her biggest weapon is the Clairton D she takes daily, in combination with Advair disks she uses occasionally to help keep her airways open.

Next in her defense line is good old-fashioned cleaning and strategic placement of cat beds and blankets. McLean keeps five pet beds in various spots around the hosue and old quilts or blankets on the places her cats prefer to lie. McLean tries to vacuum every other day, wash the blankets every couple of weeks and wash the beds about once a month.

Besides cleaning, another alternative is subcutaneous immunotherapy, which is a repeated series of allergy injections administered throughout several months. About 75 percent of patients see results by six months, Basset says.

And for some lucky people who grew up with allergies, they may outgrow them. For a child with mild or even moderate allergies, years of subjection to the allergen may build resistance, Werber says. However, he notes this technique is often unsuccessful with adults.

"By the time I went ot vet school, I was not nearly as miserable as I was when I was a kid," Werber says. "I grew up terribly allergic to cats, and now I have four."

With this new arsenal of knowledge, the next time allergies attack, you'll be ready to fight back.

6 EASY WAYS TO SUPPRESS PET ALLERGIES
To keep your cat allergies to a minium, Jeff Werber, a veterinarian with the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, gives these suggestions:
- Dust and vacuum your home regulary.
- Brush your cat regularly.
- Bathe your cat regularly, using hypoallergenic soap. If your cats hate baths, mist them with distilled water every few days. This dramatically reduces the amount of dander emitted.
- Train your cats to sleep in certain areas or restrict them from your sleeping quarters.
- Wash your clothes frequently.
- Buy an air purifieer with a HEPA filter that collects dander and other allergens.

Laura Lee Bloor (from the May 2006 issue of Cat Fancy)