Has anyone's child developed an allergy to the family pet?
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Most places won’t test until over a year old I’ve discovered. And if it is suspected asthma they won’t formerly diagnose as “asthma” can occur really easily in children’s bodies and is often outgrown, but if they are formerly diagnosed then traditional asthma is meant life long so they will have the diagnosis on their record forever even if they outgrow it in early childhood. This happened to my eldest, he had severe asthma and needed two types of puffers, it was scary and horrible. He had an asthma plan and all the asthma gear and symptoms. He had asthma (as in the same inflammation of the airways and such), BUT he outgrew it around 4/5yo and hasn’t needed his puffer for well over a year now. It’s something to do with children’s young bodies being extra sensitive to allergens even if they aren’t really allergic to the allergen, their body freaks out anyway as an extra precaution.
My youngest has allergies, we haven’t identified them yet (other than fig, and possibly latex), he is 10mo now. At 8wks old I put some aloevera gel across his cheek and it instantly blistered and swelled up and it was horrible, he ended up on the burns unit of the children’s hospital as it was a chemical burn due to the allergy. He’s then had sudden rash and hayfever symptoms at 9mo when eating fig for the first time, and it then got even worse the second time he ate fig (he’s not touched it since obvs). He also reacts to something randomly and idk what, but he’ll break out in hives and needs antihistamines and idk what the trigger is. At his 1yr appointment the doctor will do a referral to immunologist, and then the wait is apparently 2yrs 🙄 Or the expensive path is only 3mo wait so I’m weighing the options. My 2nd, who was part of an allergy study, has no problems 😅😂 Logically the one kid part of a trial that would have meant any issues were covered and sorted by the trial is fine.
Most allergies develop after 2 years old. I have cat allergies and have 2 cats and am just praying my heart out my baby girl doesn't get them! If she does I will test her. You can call allergy clinics around you and ask your questions, you don't always need a referral.
I talked to my kids pediatrician about it because my children were not allergic to anything and I have two cats I'm in your same boat and my youngest ended up with allergies to the cat and my middle child ends up with late allergies to the cat so what I ended up doing was I asked the pediatrician about it and they said that they recommend to give them like Claritin or like some sort of allergy medicine and supplement them with inhalers also to help with the wheezing and whatnot and then they said the next step would be if it gets any more severe that they would allergy test them and that eventually would have to get rid of the cats
It’s unlikely to be the cat, especially if the cat has always been around and it’s only just started. I’d be looking at any other changes. New perfumes, cleaning products, plants, etc at your house. How old is your child? It could be something seasonal, or something that is sprayed in the neighbourhood (mosquito fog, pesticides, weed control, etc). Also ensure you’re cleaning all your bedding and clothes and such with bleach (Clean Cloth Nappies is a FB group that can help heaps with that side of things) to ensure no mould is causing problems. If you have carpet or just in general, I’d be getting your house inspected for mould. Mould can cause allergy symptoms and live in aircons and ducts and walls and hidey holes you can’t see and don’t expect, but it’s there causing problems anyway.