allergies and bunnies

[pedapea]

I have a 4 year old who is allergic to cats, dogs and guinea pigs. Bummer. I know. When we had a cat she was always rubbing her nose and sneezing a lot. She went to an allergist who informs us that she showed sensitivities to the dog and cat. Found out about the piggie after we got one :( We kept the piggie, tho. Couldn't bear to part with her, but just kept kid away from said piggie. She was able to feed her and look at her over the cage, and actually to pet her but her hands had to be washed IMMEDIATELY after contact with piggie, or she would break out in hives. Piggie was put to sleep this summer with an EXTREMELY bad case of kidney stones. We also kept the cat...kid was fine to a certain degree just told not to rub her face against the cat or she would really be sneezing, rubbing nose, and watery eyes. The Dr. told me I had to get rid of the cat. He told me I had to make a choice. I told him I'm not getting rid of the cat, and that's that. Isn't that funny. Chose the cat over the kid. What a bad mom I am. Hey, pets are less trouble, I think, sometimes than the blasted kids.:D :D Sadly, said cat, Peanut was also put down this past fall with a collapsed lung from cancer. We didn't even know anything was wrong with her, she was such a trooper, until she started breathing a bit funny one day, took her to the vet and there we discovered the problem:(

Back to my question. Geez, do I rattle on. Sorry. What I was wondering was....if my child is allergic to all of the above pets is there a good possibility that she might be allergic to bunnies as well? Is there such a thing as a bunny that is less allergenic than others? That does sound like a weird question. But there it is. Thanx for any help that you guys can give me.

[ashleycat]

hi, what exactly is your daughter allergic to? the fur, or the dander? bunnies do shed, there are short haired and long haired, i dont think bunnies have the dander that cats have. they also have no smell to them. it is a protective thing.. so that hunters cant smell them out. i think she would be less allergic to bunnies than a cat.. i have a cheap lil hand vac that i use only for vaccuming their fur and poopies out of cage.. true they use litter box, but do leave happy pills out of it.. happy pills are just bunny poo that came out when they are marking territory, bunnies have 2 dif kind of poo, one which is soft, and they eat, other is hard pellet... when they are "doin business" its in a pile.. it is wise to spay or neuter bunny so they will be cleaner, and less territorial.. tho some will always be territorial, but wont spray. one way to avoid allergic reactions, is to keep bunny area clean.. once bun is litter trained, i moved them to the big cage.. their litter box, to keep from diggin and playing in their own poo, i put a light cover and cut to size, you know those ones for offices with holes. i put that over their litter, and the droppings and urine fall thru. change box every other day or so, depending.. i have 2 bunnies, it also depends on the litter you use.. i use wood pellets, as it absorbs, but be warn, when it soaks, it swells.. or use carefresh. feed plenty of hay, which child may be allergic to as well, just have to see;. fresh veggies as well. well, everynight, at 9 pm, central time, theres a bunny chat, with well experienced owners at www.rabbit.org/chat you will have to register. but its well worth it, more info on rabbits at www.rabbit.org

[pedapea]

That's a good question, ashley. The answer is...haven't a clue. I just know that when she had the cat in her lap, petting her or rubbed her cheek on the cat, she would be rubbing her nose almost right away and occasionally sneezing, and rubbing her eyes, which were watering.

When I go to my sister's house, who has 2 dogs..one a boxer and the other an argentinian dogo, which are both very short haired, all she has to do is just plain old pet them and within a couple minutes she is rubbing her nose like crazy, her eyes start to water and her cheeks are turning red with hives popping up on said cheeks and neck.

When we had the guinea pig all she did was pat her and her face would get red and blotchy with a whole wack load of hives thrown in for good measure.

Fur or dander?? Hmmm. How do you know which one??

[slleipnir]

Maybe she could have an allergy test done??

[pedapea]

She did have an allergy test done...last year. That's how I figured out what was causing all of that nose rubbing and watery eyes. When I got the test done, all the Dr. said is that she showed a sensitivity to dog and cat...among other things. He never mentioned whether it was to hair or dander. This was just the traditional skin prick test.

[Uabassoon]

I'm not totally sure, but I do think it's possible. When I was younger I had a pet rabbit and of course demanded that the bunny be kept in my bedroom. I had horrible allergies because of the bunny. I wasn't willing to part with her so my dad had to build her a hutch outdoors, I could still pet her and would be ok. But having her indoors was just too much hair and dander for me. Now that I'm older I wish we would have figured out a way for me not to have kept her outside. But, I was really young and didn't know as much about bunnies as I've learned now.

I think the best way to find out is find a friend who has a bunny and have her spend some time at their house playing with the rabbit.

[pedapea]

I was just thinking along those lines myself, last night before I went to bed. One of her sisters has an on again off again friend who lives just down the street from us...and the last I heard....they have 4. On the other hand, wouldn't 4 be kind of an overload of bunny, or it wouldn't make much of a difference. What do you think??

[ashleycat]

lol, hey, if they have 4, why not spare the chores of cleaning, and just visit them? lol.. that way, you wont have to worry too much about her allergies, while at same time, seing bunnies !!

[pedapea]

Yah, that is a great idea.:D The only problem with that idea is the fact that these 2 girls are on again/off again.. the relationship is real iffy with them. I get along with the dad. He's very nice and always waves or stops to chat for a bit when he sees me. The wife, on the other hand, is a whole other story. When I see her, I wave, she just looks at me and turns her face and keeps walking. When we meet at concerts for the kids she barely says 2 words to me, will go find someone else to talk to and leaves me to talk with her husband. Last summer, when my daughter went over to their house to play, along with some other kids on the street, when my daughter had to go to the bathroom she wouldn't even let her in the house to flippin pee. She sent her home to use her own bathroom. Keep in mind she let the other kids that were there to play use the bathroom. By the time my kid gets home she's, like, peed her pants, and at that time she was 9 years old. How embarrassing is that!! That woman is a cow for want of a better word. One day last summer this so called friend of my daughters, tells my daughter.."my mom can't stand you" You know what?? Keep her comments to herself, I say. To top it all off, these ppl are new additions to our street too. She's mighty quick with her comments for a newcomer. She doesn't even know us, for God's sake. When they moved in my daughter went out of her way to welcome their kids to the street and had them over to our house numerous times to play. In thanks this is what THAT WOMAN does.:mad: :mad:

I'm still mulling over the idea of seeing if I could get my little one over there one day, without the battle axe being there. Maybe I should just spend a little too much time at the pet store that has bunnies.

[ashleycat]

i can relate, lol, when we were new to our block, theres this couple across the street, the guy is fine, but the girl hats me, its a black couple, and i am in a interracial marriage, my hubby is from africa and i am white.. we have a baby together.. i dunno if she hates white people, or interracial.. anyways.... i can also relate to going to the petstore, i kept goin, even tho i already had 2 bunnies, but i love them sooooo much, i had to see others, and would just wish for more, lol.

maybe that girl is jealous of you !! maybe her hubby said something bout you to her? i would ask her, but with me, im to shy to say anything..

[pedapea]

I hear ya. My husband is middle eastern. Mind you. No one ever sees him. Too busy with his friends, going for coffee, having a nap, anything but socializing with us or my family. One of the neighbors once asked me if I had gotten a divorce. They knew I was married, had seen my hubby a few times, then basically never. That was funny. About the getting along thing, tho. I seem to get along with all of my husbands friends, BUT the wives seem to be a whole different story. They basically shun me. Even if they see me in the store they will on purpose turn their faces away from me, just so they don't have to make contact. What gets me tho, is I am basically a chatty cathy and will talk to everyone and jump at the chance to make some friends. I haven't figured out why ppl, especially the women, both from the middle eastern persuasion and from the neighbors on the street won't come near me with a 10 foot pole. Like I said. I chat everyone up. My husband is always telling me I talk to much and that it is annoying. Mind you, as far as I'm conderned, he doesn't talk enuf. He much prefers to keep everything to himself and then one day he blows. If I try to talk to him about anything he usually puts me on ignore. He told me once that everything I have to say is basically a waste of his time.:mad: :mad:

BUT. I digress. Sorry. These blasted neighbors. Issues. Issues. Always some kind of issue. I live next door to seriously weird ppl as well. But,that is a whole other story/saga.:D

[PJ's Mom]

My daughter and I are both very allergic to our piggies. She has the problem of her throat closing up if she's around the pigs for too long, where I only have the itchy bumps and sneezing, and my eyes swelling shut. :rolleyes:

However, neither of us are allergic to our rabbit. :)

[ashleycat]

OMG SAME HERE, hubby shows no emotions.. but sometimes if i do something small, he gives me the silent treatment.im shy tho, im not chatty... we do have strange neighbors too! with windows open, they have 5 kids, and you can always hear parents and kids fighting, PLUS the husband, came to my house to check on me, because there was a car in the driveway, how weird is that?

you might just want to see if shes allergic to bunny, im allergic to my cat sometimes, SOMETIMES lol, somedays i can get all up on her face, others i sneeze or stuffy and red itch y eyes.. with the litter box i have for the bunnies, way i have it set up, they dont set foot in their "stuff" so they are cleaner.. as for cats, dont they have some kind of shampoo you can use for them for allergies?

[pedapea]

You know I think there is actually some kind of special shampoo for pets that belong to ppl with allergies. I saw it once when I was loitering about petland one day.

My daughter told me last nite that her friends' mom told her there was something you could put in the pets food that helps the allergies. Supposedly this stuff has no taste, so pet doesn't notice it. Personally, I've never seen this stuff. I'm only mentioning what I heard thru the grapevine.

Oh, at walmart today, I saw those NIC things everyone with bunnies is using. These are made by rubbermaid, tho. They are $20 for 12 squares.

[ashleycat]

i used 3 boxes, huge cage, compared to at petstore made costing prob 800 for this size

[pedapea]

Forgot to thank PJ'S Mom for her experience. Thanx. That's actually very helpful. I'm thinking...mayyybe, mayyybe. The only obstacle if I go for the bunny, which I think I might be leaning towards, in part thanx to Wolf telling me rats have some vet time, which I can ill afford to keep forking over, is what kind. Aaargh, I can't remember who told me to lean towards a french lop. Then again, someone suggested look for one at a bunny rescue. Do I even have a bunny rescue where I live. I think maybe I'll check the phone book, just to be curious. If I can't find it in the book, I'm sure my local humane society can help me out.