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Living with cats and landlords, reducing pet allergens

June 19, 2002

Larry Kalstone with Allerpet has written some informative material on this subject. I asked him to share his thoughts on the question above.

Here is Larry's response:

This is probably the most frequent letter that we receive . . . and the most difficult to answer.

Your lease determines whether or not you may legally have a cat. Most landlords tend to look the other way about keeping a pet while still keeping their legal position. Once 'burned' by an inconsiderate pet owner, in particular a cat owner, is usually enough for a landlord to stop a second episode of an uncaring cat owner or a 'dirty' cat. It is unfortunate that too many pet owners are not considerate of those around them. Consequently, they present problems for the rest of us.

It is virtually impossible to remove cat odor and imbedded allergens from carpeting that has been on the floor for a long period of time. It is even worse if the cat urinates on the carpet or "sprays" on the furniture or carpet. At the moment, I know of no product that is 'absolute' in its working ability to remove odors and allergens, but there may be one or two on the market that are a little better than the rest.

A do-it-yourself steam cleaning of a carpet should help some. Professional steam cleaning is better and sending the carpet out to be cleaned is the best hope . . . but no guarantee if your boyfriend has serious problems.

A good floor cleaning and a heavy waxing should take care of hardwood floor problems.

Cat allergens are another story. Basically there are two 'parts of the cat' that cause a person to be allergic. The most important by far is the Fel d 1 allergen. It is emitted from the skin's sebaceous glands onto the hair. They are also deposited onto the hair from the cat's saliva during its normal grooming process . . . the self cleaning or licking. The heaviest production of these allergens is around the genitalia and the base of the tail. 'Stud cat' tail is probably the ultimate production. Virtually all formal testing of cat allergies is about Fel d 1 and its effects. As a rule, female cats shed less Fel d 1 than do males, but this is rather insignificant in the overall picture.

Dander is simply the shedding of dead skin cells. All animals do it including us. It is the protein makeup of dander that that causes allergy problems.

I'm afraid that what I've said is not going to help you get a cat now, but it may in the future by telling you that there is a way to significantly reduce the number of animal allergens from entering your environment . . . brushing or combing on a daily basis; bathing or using a product like Allerpet on the animal once a week or so; and airing out your house or apartment as often as possible (not during heavy pollen periods).

Larry Kalstone
Allerpet

Thanks, Larry, for this informative response!

Allerpet has been formulated to remove cat allergens while keeping your cat's coat conditioned and moisturized. If you'd like to try a bottle, click here.

Larry has also written an informative article about Fel d1 here.

AllergyNursing.com recommends: Allerpet Solution for Animal Dander Control I'm proud to recommend these quality products from National Allergy Supply. Read my comments about this advertiser here .