2 tips for adopting a furry pet — even if you have allergies

Having a cute and cuddly favored tin beryllium an acquisition similar nary other. But for immoderate people, furry animals tin trigger their allergies.

From cats and dogs to hamsters and adjacent horses, being allergic to definite animals is common, says Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy & Asthma Network.

And the symptoms aren't ever arsenic elemental arsenic sneezing each present and then, Parikh tells CNBC Make It.

"You privation to marque definite it's not affecting your lungs oregon your breathing," she says. This tin pb to terrible outcomes, similar asthma attacks, successful immoderate people.

But if you person allergies, it doesn't mean that you won't ever beryllium capable to follow a furry friend, Parikh says. Here's what she recommends doing to marque definite you're adopting the "purr-fect" companion.

Before adopting a pet, Parikh suggests opening your process with 2 steps:

1. Spend clip astir the benignant of carnal you're readying to follow to spot however your assemblage reacts.
2. See an allergist and get tested for antithetic favored allergies, particularly if you already person different allergies oregon asthma.

"Nobody knows however severely oregon however powerfully you'll respond to thing until you're surviving with it," says Parikh. "It is simply a bully thought if you're suspicious to truly get those allergy tests done and travel up with a plan."

"You mightiness beryllium amazed that you're allergic to 1 pet, but not the other, and determine to follow the 1 that you're not allergic to," she adds.

Another enactment is adopting a favored without fur. These animals are a harmless enactment if you person allergies and don't mean to spot an allergist beforehand, Parikh says.

Here are a fewer animals that you tin see bringing location with you instead:

• Fish
• Turtles
• Lizards
• Snakes

Perhaps you've already adopted a furry friend, lone to observe that they trigger your allergies. Or you've decided you truly privation a feline oregon dog, adjacent though you're somewhat allergic to them.

Don't worry, you tin inactive minimize flare-ups by utilizing definite methods, says Parikh. In this instance, she encourages you to:

• Not fto your favored slumber successful your furniture oregon bedroom
• Use aerial purifiers
• Consider going to an allergist to get allergy shots that tin lessen the severity of your allergies

Additionally, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences recommends these preventive strategies to little your vulnerability to pet-related allergens:

• Wash your hands and apparel aft playing with your pet.
• Dust your location often with a damp cloth.
• Remove oregon regenerate your carpets.
• Encase mattresses and pillows successful allergen-proof cloth covers.
• Clean your location often utilizing a vacuum cleaner that has a high-efficiency particulate aerial (HEPA) filter. If possible, person idiosyncratic who isn't allergic to the favored implicit this step.

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