Hi, I am considering application to vet programs in the next year. I was wondering if other people in this field experience what I have experienced and what to do about it. When I handle certain types of animals I break out in hives. (guinea pigs, some rodents, ferrets, long haired cats). Because of this problem I have encountered in the last few years (I didn't notice I had allergies before), I have considered looking into health care professions I would enjoy less. Maybe somebody knows how to control this or how to handle this situation if I choose to stay in the field of Animal Care. Thanks for any advise.

My boss actually has allergies. I think he's pretty much allergic to life, but he's definitely allergic to cats. He gets an allergy shot once a month to keep it under control and I've never seen him have a problem. Have you looked into this? It might work for you... Try checking with your doctor and see if he can recommend anything for you.

i'm going to be starting vet school in august and i can definitely empathize with you. i'm allergic to probably anything with fur! i used to have really bad reactions to cats, but i've found that over the years, my physical allergy reactions have lessened to point where i even volunteered for a year at a small animal clinic that had two hospital cats and didn't once have a reaction. have you tried prescription or OTC allergy meds? i'm on allegra AND flonase and it works well for me (i swear by flonase). i've heard singulair is supposed to be good too. and of course, like *almostglue* said, allergy shots are an option. if you do decide to go to vet school, i would recommend finding a good allergist and staying in touch with them through school. there's always the chance that things really won't work out for health reasons, but if it's what you want to do, i'd exhaust all possibilities before throwing in the towel! good luck!

[QUOTE=hippo11]i'm going to be starting vet school in august and i can definitely empathize with you. i'm allergic to probably anything with fur! QUOTE]

Are you planing to not work closely with those animals or do you just plan to deal with it forever?

One of the docs here is so allergic to cats he has to wear gloves to handle them...and he's a small animal surgeon.

One of my classmates was on nasal sprays, shots and oral meds for his allergies to animals.

It all depends on your tolerance of your allergies.

Horseyvet: Are you planing to not work closely with those animals or do you just plan to deal with it forever?

i dunno...i'm still not quite sure what my direction in vet school is going to be. but regardless of which species i end up working with, i'll probably be taking allergy meds forever. to clarify, it's the blood tests that show i'm allergic to dogs, cats and rodents (and so i assume it'll tell me i'm allergic to most things with fur), but i've only physically reacted to cats and mice in particular. my allergies have gotten better, so hopefully the trend continues! i hope it doesn't come to the point where i have to avoid certain species...

Thanks for the good ideas. I thought I was the only one with this dilema. I've tried OTCs and occasionaly Flonase, and Claritin. I haven't tried Singulair and Allergy shots, thanks for the input.
I noticed that with pets that my immune system grows stronger but with new animals I frequently break out. That was my concern.
Really thanks, life is so much more enjoyable with animals in it :)

I'm starting vet school this fall, and right now I work at a small animal hospital and I am allergic to cats, to horses, to sheep, dogs with pit-bully fur, and giraffes. And who knows what else! However, despite being covered in fluff all day ever day, I don't have much of a problem. The cat allergy is only bad when I get fur in my face, therefore I compulsively wash my hands. If I have to restrain a shar-pei, I'm covered in hives, but rubbing alcohol helps a little. If it gets really bad, Claritin does the trick for me, and doesn't knock me out like Benadryl. But, most importantly, I feel that I've gotten much better in the past year, I can now bury my face in a big fluffy cat and will not fall over wheezing!

I know plenty of vets (and others who work in the animal care industry) with allergies. We're just suckers I suppose! I'm also *way* to klutzy to work with animals! Wanna hear my story of taking a huge face plant while leading a horse?!

:)
Miranda

What's the story with the plant and the horse?

I know a vet who walked into a horse barn for the first time as a vet student. She went anaphylactic, had to be hospitalized. She's a purely small-animal vet now. :) (FWIW she thinks it was all the dust and hay rather than an allergy to horses per se.)

I know a vet who walked into a horse barn for the first time as a vet student. She went anaphylactic, had to be hospitalized. She's a purely small-animal vet now. :) (FWIW she thinks it was all the dust and hay rather than an allergy to horses per se.)

It very well might have been the environment. I've heard a similar situation of someone having an asthma attack in a dusty horse barn.

When you're working with large animals, especially during fly season, and you have a reaction it very well might be a result of chemicals on the animal rather than the animal itself.

I think this is what happened to me a while back. I restrained a calf and got mild hives on all of the contact locations about 8-12 hours later. I had worked with cows before but not handling them as intensively. I've since tried to wipe myself on all cows I come in contact with, and have yet to have another reaction, so I'm hoping it was chemicals rather than the animal.

On another note, I'm allergic to cats but don't seem to have much of a problem unless the contact is intensive, but even that seems to vary a lot from animal to animal. I've owned cats and I found bathing them about once a week seemed to eliminate all problems as well as making the cat a lot fresher to be around.

Just something to think about.

Hi, I am considering application to vet programs in the next year. I was wondering if other people in this field experience what I have experienced and what to do about it. When I handle certain types of animals I break out in hives. (guinea pigs, some rodents, ferrets, long haired cats). Because of this problem I have encountered in the last few years (I didn't notice I had allergies before), I have considered looking into health care professions I would enjoy less. Maybe somebody knows how to control this or how to handle this situation if I choose to stay in the field of Animal Care. Thanks for any advise.

I dug this thread back from the dead.

Has anyone become desensitized from dog/cat allergies through immunotherapy?

Hi, The best and the most important thing in preventing allergies is that you avoid contacting it. If your doc says you're allergic to cats, dogs, and othe furred animals, you , at least, try to keep a certain distance from it.
But when it comes to being a vet in your career, you might not encounter any problem. In college, You don't have many chance to contact with those animals except the 4th year. Moreover, you just can choose other field than the jobs where you handle those furred animals. For example, there are lab scientists, bacteriologists, virologists, etc...
One way or the other, you take a measure on yourself how much allergic you are and if it's not severe enough for you to get outside or to see a doc whenever you contact with those animals , I think you are totally able to perform as a vet in any field. Like these guys saying, many vets are allergic to many things and most of them can control it by themselves.