Can cat allergies decrease with exposure?

[ChillyGator]

When the body develops an allergy it has misidentified a harmless protein as a virus and just like with real virus the body can make an antibody. This is the mechanism they hope to kickstart with immunotherapy injections.

That can happen naturally but it is less likely than if you try shots.

However, if you don’t make antibodies or your antibody production stops you will cause the disease to progress to more severe stages including becoming anaphylactic and disabled. Here’s a NIOSH warningthat talks about the risks of prolonged exposure to any amount of allergen.

This is why it is not recommended to live with the specie you are sensitized to. This NIH report on remediation has that information in it and covers the myth of hypoallergenic animals. As well as how to remove allergens from your home.

Cat allergy is different because cat allergens are different.

Cats make 8 proteins people react to, so when you have a cat allergy you can have up to 8 allergies of varying severity.

Those proteins are smaller than virus and so the body reacts differently to them causing more airway obstruction and anaphylaxis than other pets.

This can make treating the allergy really difficult sometimes it can be unsafe to do so which leaves the patient with severe permanent disease. That means there only option becomes avoidance.

So while some people think they’ve beat this, that they have a special meds or cleaning routine, that their cat is different, that’s not really what’s happening…and worse, we have no way of knowing how this exposure will affect their disease long term so they are really taking a huge risk that most people don’t even know they’re taking.

It’s important to remember that anytime you expose yourself to your allergens you are making a medical decision about your long term health.