Pet dander is a pain. Especially for those of us with sensitive allergies. Especially if you have a beautiful pet you love to hug and hold all the time, only to find yourself in sneezing fits and battling with irritated, watery eyes.
No, it sure is no fun not being able to enjoy the joys of having a pet in your home as much as you’d want to. And pet dander is not limited to just either cats or dogs! It can affect owners of cats, dogs, and even birds!
Love your pet but hate your allergies? Read these tips to reduce pet dander in your home!
If you have asthma, you can be in particular peril of suffering from adverse pet dander reactions. You should always check with your doctor to see if you are allergic to one of your pets. There are different tests that can discover whether you’re specifically allergic to pet dander or other allergens. If your allergies are sensitive enough, the best course of action may be avoiding pet ownership entirely. But if you capable of having pets in your home, here are some tips to help you reduce pet dander in your home, allowing you more freedom to enjoy your furry (or feathery) companions!
1. Set Boundaries
Keep certain areas, “pet free” zones. This should, at the very least, be the allergic person’s bedroom. If dander and allergens enter the bedroom, there is no safe-space in the home for the sufferer to retreat to in the event of an allergy episode.
2. No pets on furniture
Fabric couches are bastions for pet dander. If someone in your home suffers from allergies and is sensitive to pet dander in particular, it would behoove you to disallow pets on the furniture.
If you want to pamper your pets and not struggle with allergies, designate certain spots just for them!
Train your pets to keep off of couches, loveseats, anywhere an allergy sufferer may sit for an extended period of time. Especially beds! Really, any other upholstered furniture is a risk. If you want to spoil your pets, allow them one special seat that they can occupy. A “pet couch.” The pet knows they are allowed there and the allergy sufferer knows to stay off of it.
3. Bathe Your Pets Regularly
You have several options when it comes to the regular bathing of your pets. You can clean your animals the old fashioned way, in the bathtub. If you cannot wash your pets yourself, you can take them to professional pet groomers to take care of it for you! Maybe someone in your family would like to help you out.
Additionally, regular brushing, daily, will help with pet dander as well.
4. Use a HEPA Air Filter in Your Home
If you use a HEPA air cleaner a couple hours in your home every day you can greatly reduce pet dander issues. This is because pet dander can become airborne. That’s right, it’s not just on the couches and blankets! By attaching a HEPA air filter for your central unit, you can remove some of the pet allergens that may be floating in the air.
5. Clean Your Home Regularly
Because pet dander can become airborne, it can gather around your home just like other allergens would. For instance, think of how dust lands on the surfaces of furniture and counters. If you dust regularly, you can reduce the amount of free pet dander in your house. It’s best practice to dust when the allergy sufferer is not in the home.
Pets spend a lot of time on the rugs and carpets of your home. Therefore, the carpets are a very dangerous pet owners with allergies. The fabric of carpets can trap the dander and you can be sent into sneezing fits, even when the pet isn’t in the room!
If you have options for your carpets, opt for carpets with low pile. Make sure that you clean and vacuum them often. If you are a homeowner and can remove your carpets entirely and replace them with wood or laminate, that would be the most comfortable option for allergy sufferers.
Non-carpet floors make cleaning pet dander off the floor a much smoother and faster task.
