Do you know at least one person who's allergic to a dog or cat? According to a study, around 10 to 20 percent of people around the world show some symptoms of allergy to these common and favorite household pets.
Surely, this isn't the first time you read about people being allergic to animals, specifically dogs and cats. But have you ever wondered if the opposite is possible? Could your cat or dog be allergic to you, its owner, or generally to humans?
Dermatologist Douglas Deboer's answer: "Maybe." According to reports on this rare occurrence, there have been several studies and experiments suggesting the probability that pets can, indeed, be allergic to us humans, although nothing certain. If there are these household pets with allergies, they are exceptionally rare.
Deboer, from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, adds, "anything is possible." However, it appears to be clear, and he continues that it is not quite common "if it exists at all."
Allergic Reactions in Household Pets
The dermatologist, whose research focuses on skin illnesses and allergic reactions in household pets explains, reactions to dogs or cats usually take place when an individual is allergic to the pet's dander, dead skin cells flakes shed from the body.
Therefore, in the occurrence that a dog or cat has allergic to humans, such reactions would result from exposure to human dander.
There have been allergy tests done on these household pets, says Deboer, although most of these test results are negative. The dermatologist adds, a minimal amount of tests, roughly below two percent, presents the animals' reaction to human dander.
Despite the small amount of tests that seemed positive, Deboer explains it is far from a decisive or convincing result. Allergy tests, he elaborates, are not perfect, and they have considerably high rates of the so-called "false-positives."
Allergy Testing for Household Animals, Quite Rare
According to University of Washington immunologist Elia Tait Wojno, allergy testing for these household animals is quite rare. This, Wojno adds, is part of the reason for the indecisiveness of animals being allergic to humans.
In general, even when a dog exhibits clear symptoms of skin allergies or atopic dermatitis, veterinarians usually prescribe them allergy management medication instead of conducting an entire allergy test to identify the root cause.
Therefore, it becomes quite a challenge to understand how many dogs suffer from allergies and what particularly they actually have allergic reactions to.
Because of that, even though the existence of human allergies in these household animals is up for argumentation, there is evidence suggesting that your favorite pets can be allergic to one another.
It may not be common, but there have been circumstances when cats, who are quite more susceptible to develop symptoms of allergic asthma, have shown allergies to dogs.
Wojno says, like human allergies in dogs and cats, it is an area where researchers have comparatively little understanding.
She adds, she's hoping for further research to reveal more about how allergies are manifesting in household pets.
"I think," she points out, that's an area of ongoing studies that will be "important as we learn how to treat these allergies" more effectively.
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