allergic to my puppy?

[starfish]

sometimes when i'm playing with my puppy (10 month old Pug) i get a rash in the spots of my body that he has contact with. it gets itchy but not unbearable. what worries me now is that a couple minutes ago i grabbed him and i got the sneeze treatment. itchy eyes and nose. it's a miracle i still have a nose lol.

do you think it's necessary a special allergy test? he's my baby, and i dont wanna lose him, but if i hang out with him too much, allergy strikes hard.

what to do?

[Stickler]

uh-oh...

As someone who lives with creatures and has creature allergies, it does sound like you might have an allergy to the doggie. That said, there are ways to live with doggies/kitties, even with allergies:

Touch animals only with hands or feet, wash hands/feet afterwards(yes, I scratch my dog with my feet).

Keep animal strictly out of bedroom and off the furniture.

Always keep bedroom very clean; take bath or shower before lying down.

take meds before touching the dog.

It is fall-maybe the dog is getting dust/pollen on his coat and you are reacting to that?

You can get a skin-stick test, but those are very expensive.

[Cetkat]

It sounds like you probably are allergic to him.. simply because of the rash. Is he an inside dog and bathed regularly?

There's no reason to get an allergy test unless you're having other problems and need to know what to stay away from. Dust and pollen are most common, but you can't get away from those.. and you already have a link for the rash. If it is your doggie that you're having a problem with, it's pet dander.. not him. There are special shampoos that are supposed to help.

Unless the reaction is really bad even with the bathing and shampoo, you don't have to get rid of him if you don't want to. Sometimes people can keep their pets and do ok.

I'd try the special shampoo, washing your hands after playing with him, and using some allergy medicine..

[Bumble]

Hi,

I am allergic to my dog, too.

The allergy doctor gave me a long list of tasks, and said if I did all of them on a regular basis, I probably could keep my dog. Well, I am the poster child for Inattentive ADD -- I do nothing on a regular basis.

My pdoc said so as to not set myself up for failure, I should hire someone to clean my house and bathe my dog (huh? Like I can afford that)

I did, however, manage to scrape up the dough for a good HEPA air cleaner (that I run in my bedroom at night), and a Roomba robot (that sweeps up the dog hair off of the tile floors every day) I heart my Roomba .

These two things have made a big difference.

The other things I try to do is avoid dog saliva (she likes to sneak a big gross kiss on my face whenever she can get away with it, and that's bad news for me), and I also try to take a quick shower at night to wash all allergens off before bed.

Now, if I can invent some sort of automatic dog washing system. . . .

-- B

[starfish]

thanks for your replies

i think me and the pup will be ok. i do wash my hands and forearms after playing with him. he lives outside most of the time so there's not as much hair as when he was a baby puppy and lived inside.

i was allergic to a bunch of things when i was a kid, from which only remain dust, pollen and some kinds of grass.

i dont bathe him too often, i know i should but i need help with him. he's small but extremely hyper and makes me laugh a lot so i need someone to hold him while i'm rubbing him with shampoo

am i hijacking my own post? lol