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Suddenly Allergic To Your Cat? Get Allergen Testing

7 January 2022 by For Content

If you are a cat owner and suddenly started to experience allergy symptoms in your home, you may have developed an allergy to your cat. Now, before you panic, this doesn't mean that you'll need to rehome your pet. It does, however, mean that you'll need to get allergen testing to determine a course of action to take so your cat can remain part of your family. Here's what you need to know. 

Allergen Testing 

Of course, you want to get allergen testing done to determine if you are, indeed, allergic to your cat but, more importantly, to determine which feline protein you are allergic to. While there are different proteins in cats that cause allergic reactions in humans, many people who are allergic to cats are allergic to the protein named Fel d 1, which is a secretoglobin protein found in the dander, fur, saliva, and sebaceous glands.

Fel d 4 is a lipocalin protein that some people are allergic to and found mostly in saliva. While rare, some people are allergic to a protein named Fel d 2, which is a serum albumin protein found in the blood, urine, and saliva. Allergen testing can help distinguish which allergen you are reacting to when you have allergy symptoms. 

Cross-Reaction Possibilities

The reason it's important to determine which protein you're reacting to is that there are cross-reaction possibilities that could put you at risk of developing a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis if you eat pork and have a cat albumin allergy. You see, cat albumin and pork albumin have similar structures, which can cause antibodies to cat albumin to react to pork albumin when you eat pork or a pork product. 

Severity Predictions

Another reason to have allergen testing is so your doctor can predict the severity of allergic reactions and asthma. Those severity predictions can then give the doctor the ability to determine which treatment plans would be most appropriate for you. For example, if you are at risk of having a severe allergic reaction to pork albumin, your doctor may prescribe an Epi-Pen for rescue medication. If you are at risk of having asthma attacks, your doctor will prescribe prevention and rescue medication and may recommend allergen injection immunotherapy as well. 

While there are over-the-counter medications that may help with your allergic reactions to your cat, allergen testing will be beneficial to you and help you safely enjoy sharing your home and life with your feline companion. Contact a medical professional to learn more about allergen testing.

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