I just received some terrible news!

[moosmom]

My first thought was what Brody's Mom said. Anyway your Mom can take BOTH Sammy and Peyton???

What your husband said about loving your pets more than Hugo was so insensitive.

I'm glad you're exploring all the options before deciding what to do. If you lived closer, I'd be more than happy to take Sammy.

[Maresche]

I'm sorry to hear that Lil' Hugo is having issues with Eczema, but I've glad to hear that you're going to do the testing before rehoming your cats. Payton's new home with your mom sounds good, though; you can visit often. I really hope the cause of his exzema turns out to be non-cat related.

When we were "interviewing" pediatricians for Mimi, we asked every doctor about their opinion on pets with children. If they didn't seem positive on the issue, we crossed them off the list. One was surprised that I was pregnant and we hadn't gotten rid of our cats yet. It just proves how uninformed some doctors are.

[Husky_mom]

I know how you feel, i´ve been there too, my kid was "diagnosed" with allergies due to animals, and since i have dogs, it was like i CANT get rid of them, i LOVE my kid but i dont believe its the dogs, how come after almost two years he developed allergies to them and he plays with them but not that much, the dogs are bathed and parasite free so how could this be.......
besides children raised in an animal atmosphere develope more antibodies rather than allergies, so i stand for my dogs and bottom line the dogs where not the problem, and he just had a reaction due to weather shifts.

if mi kid were really allergic to my dogs i wouldnt get rid of them, and by that it doesnt mean i love my dogs more than my kid, i would just not let them get together for long periods and have a bit more precautions so my kid didnt get worse, i really hope your case ends well and you can be able to keep your cats........i really sympathize with you (my hubby has always said i love my dogs more than him (my hubby))

[lv4dogs]

My thoughts are with you & your family. It is such a hard decision and I pray it is not one you are forced to make.
May the treatment work or the allergy tests show that he is not allergic to the kitties.
I understand completely about your mom taking custody of Payton. After all it is her cat. Like you said he's going to a great home & you will get to see him often.

I have bouts of eczema once in a while & never knew that it could even be allergy related. My Dr. has never once said anything about allergies & he knows how many pets I have.

HUGS

[Lobodeb]

Thank you all for your kind words and support.

I was relieved to see that this morning, after putting his hydrocortisone cream on him last night, that the rash appears to have almost disappeared. This brings me so much hope. Once again, PT prayers work wonders!

My son's pediatrician was very sympathetic to our cat situation. She must have seen the shock on my face when she told me rehoming them might be necessary. She told me she has cats too and would hate the thought of giving them up. I know she's not being close minded.

Let's hope that this continues. In the meantime, I will look into air purifieres, kitty baths, etc.

Thanks again. I knew you'd be able to point me in the right direction!

[Maresche]

My son's pediatrician was very sympathetic to our cat situation. She must have seen the shock on my face when she told me rehoming them might be necessary. She told me she has cats too and would hate the thought of giving them up. I know she's not being close minded.

I'm glad to hear that and I hope I didn't sound snotty. I didn't mean it that way.

Hydrocortisone is a miracle worker. It's great that it helped so much!

[Lobodeb]

I'm glad to hear that and I hope I didn't sound snotty. I didn't mean it that way.

Oh, no! Not snotty at all, I just wanted to point out that our pediatrician isn't anti-cats.

Thanks again, everyone. I'll keep you posted.

[~*MS.MISSYH*~]

Don't give up hope. My sister had the same problem with her son and it turned out his soap was making him break out.

[Van10]

I hope that you won't have to rehome your cats. . .

All paws and fingers are crossed for you and your little boy.

[carole]

What an awful predicament for you to be facing, of course your son's health is important but i sure know how you feel about your kitties too.

I too agree with the others, the eczema is probably due to other things rather than the cats itself, my daughter has it too, and honestly i have not noticed it flare up when around the cats, i found for her to keep moisturizing her skin with a good moisturizer and baby oil was helpful to keeping the skin from drying out too much and then using the cream, lots of babies and children suffer from eczema, it is a very common and annoying ailment, especially in a young baby, but hang on in there.,sometimes they do grow out of it,and i am sure it is NOT the cats, here's hoping.

[Cataholic]

I'm sorry to hear that Lil' Hugo is having issues with Eczema, but I've glad to hear that you're going to do the testing before rehoming your cats. Payton's new home with your mom sounds good, though; you can visit often. I really hope the cause of his exzema turns out to be non-cat related.

When we were "interviewing" pediatricians for Mimi, we asked every doctor about their opinion on pets with children. If they didn't seem positive on the issue, we crossed them off the list. One was surprised that I was pregnant and we hadn't gotten rid of our cats yet. It just proves how uninformed some doctors are.

Truer words have never been spoken. I have never heard of exzema being cat related. Jonah has exzema. Neither of his pediatricans (we switched) ever mentioned this as a concern, and both knew/know I have a house full of cats. What has helped is the cetaphil soap, the aquafor lotion, and NO powder on my boy. I ONLY use special lotion on him....and watch the baby wipes. I rinse mine before they touch him.

Please don't rush out and do anything drastic....I think some more research might be in order. My girlfriend's son has asthma...and she has 5 cats, 3 dogs, and he has gotten much better as he ages.