As a dog allergy person who has nonetheless been around many dogs as a trainer, breeder, and owner, Candice has learned not to trust the promise of a “hypoallergenic” dog. I’ve met low-shedding, hypoallergenic Poodles and Portuguese Water Dogs that are supposed to not cause their allergies, but they have done so often. But she has also met soft, long-haired breeds such as huskies and spitz that cause sneezing. “I’ve experienced more misery with short-haired dogs,” she told me. That includes Belgian Malinois, Fiore, with whom her symptoms got so bad that she started taking allergy shots. With that, Fury’s full, equal-fur sister Fernando? Absolutely fine. No reaction!
Candice—whose last name I do not use for medical privacy reasons—is not alone in discerning the lack of rhyme or why dogs are allergic to it. in studiesAnd the Scientists found There is no difference in the amount of Can f 1 dog allergens found in homes with hypoallergenic versus non-allergic breeds. I found one study No difference In the amount of allergens on the fur of different dogs, too. I actually found another more allergens On the fur of hypoallergenic breeds. Hypoallergenic It doesn’t seem to mean much at all.
“Not really, really, is a dog that is 100 percent hypoallergenic. Even hairless dogs can cause allergies,” says John James, a spokesperson for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The AAFA Medical Scientific Council: “It’s really a marketing term.” When I asked several allergists across the country if perplexed owners were allergic to their pricey, supposedly hypoallergenic dog, their answers were unequivocal: “All the time.” One of the biggest sources of misinformation on this topic is, in fact, a former US president. Stukus, referring to the first Portuguese water dog, Bo, told me, “When President Obama was in office, they had a hypoallergenic dog because their daughter was She suffers from allergies, and that hasn’t helped matters.” “Everyone has Portuguese Water Dogs.” And—surprise—they can still cause allergies.
technically speaking, Hypoallergenic It means the dog is less likely to cause an allergy, not because it never causes an allergy, although this distinction is often lost in colloquial use. But even then, there is no such thing as a consistently hypoallergenic strain. This is because although breeds that shed a little bit of their fur or hair are usually considered hypoallergenic, the fur or hair itself is not a cause of an allergy. Rather, they are proteins found in dander, small flakes of skin, or saliva. All dogs make these proteins, and all dogs have skin and saliva.
However, it is true that one person may find one dog less sensitive than another. Studies that did not find a clear pattern of low allergens in hypoallergenic breeds found differences between puppies of dogs same education. A smaller dog will generally shed less dander than a large dog. As for size alone, “It makes sense that a Chihuahua would be less problematic than a Great Dane,” says Richard Locky, an allergist at the University of South Florida. Dogs also make a whole host of proteins that can cause allergic reactions. The most famous of them is Can f 1, although there is Seven more. Some people may be more sensitive to one of these proteins than others. Some dogs may make one of these proteins more than others. Whether a particular human is allergic to a particular dog depends on these details – and can’t be predicted from breed alone. For this reason, doctors recommend that anyone with allergies spend time with a particular dog before taking them home. “I literally say, ‘Have your child hug him, and rub his face on him,'” Stokos said. ‘If nothing happens, that’s a good sign.’
People with allergies can also develop a tolerance to a particular dog over time. For example, Candice eventually developed a tolerance to the German Shepherd mix, a Tesla, despite initially getting tears and sneezing. Additionally, allergy shots, also called immunotherapy, can help people build tolerance by gradually increasing exposure to allergens; Candice eventually turned to them with Fury. The inverse explains this principle Thanksgiving effectwhere people who leave for college come home suddenly allergic to their childhood pet after not being exposed for a long time.
Steroid sprays and antihistamines like Claritin and Allegra, which are available without a prescription, can also be used to control allergies these days. This wasn’t always the case, recalls Loki, who began practicing medicine in the 1960s. At the time, there were no good medications to control allergies, and he was only telling patients to keep their pets outdoors. He told me, “That doesn’t go away anymore.” Now, a few dogs are kept exclusively outdoors, especially in cities. They sleep in our homes and even in our beds. As dogs have become so physically involved in our lives, dog allergies can no longer be as easily ignored as it was when the animals lived outside.
However, the myth of the allergy-free dog has persisted, and Stukus often sees this frustration as occurring in families with children with allergies. “That’s the point I hear all the time from families: It’s the grandparents,” he told me. Parents may quickly discover that their children are allergic to “hypoallergenic” dogs. But grandparents, eager to visit their grandchildren, push back because their expensive, hypoallergenic pet is supposed to be—”The Obamas had the same dog. It’s okay!”—just the kids end up coughing and miserable. He hears the same lament. “They don’t understand,” his parents told him, “there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog.”
Discussion about this post