Domestic pets and allergens

No matter how clean the home is or how completely dust mites and mold spores have been eradicated, no one with asthma should live in a home with an animal. About half of people with asthma are sensitive to allergens produced by animals, mainly cats and dogs. If a baby, who has a tendency to inherit allergies, is exposed to a cat during the first few months of life, there is an 80 percent chance that he or she will develop an allergy later on.

These animals are scrupulously clean and spend much of the day grooming them. But it is precisely their cleanliness that causes the problem. As they lick themselves, they shed tiny specks of saliva on their coats. Saliva contains a protein that becomes airborne as it dries. This is the main allergen for those people who are affected, so it does not matter if the cat is long-haired or short-haired.

Cats produce more allergens than dogs and therefore more people are allergic to them because they clean themselves a lot. Most people who have that allergy know it the moment a cat jumps into their lap and the cat invariably seems attracted to people they don’t like. But it is not necessary that some come into direct physical contact with the cat, there does not even have to be a cat in the house.

Cat salivary protein has been found in homes where no cat has laid a paw for many years. Salivary protein is the main allergen, but animal skin and fur flakes, the mixture called dander, can also cause symptoms, mainly because they also contain salivary protein.