I am marrying my fiancee in approximately one year’s time and he is severely allergic to my cat. We are looking into allergy shots. I was wondering if anyone knew the effectiveness of allergy shots and, assuming that they work, how long do you need to take the shots before they begin to work?
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Allergy shots can be quite effective, but he may not get much better after being on the shots for only one year. It took two years before I could any improvement at all from allergy shots and five years to get the maximum benefit.
Immunotherapy works for about 20% of the population. It takes about 3 months to start seeing some change. The good news is that immunotherapy is most effective on environmental allergies (like allergy to the Fel d1 protein). There are some environmental controls you can take, like grooming the cat weekly with Allerpet/C, treating the fiber areas of the home with a denaturing agent like ADMS or ADS and keeping the cat out of the bedroom. You might also want to think about a good air cleaner.)
That being said, how you handle this situation will be a great insight into what you have to look forward to in your married life. If for example, absolutely nothing worked and he could not tolerate the cat would you give the cat up? If so, then you are willing to forsake all others….if not…..then you aren’t. Is he willing or unwilling to try allergen control strategies? That will also tell you about your marriage (sorry I digressed but after 27 years of marriage I do know a thing or two about that subject
Back on topic….I’m going to load you up on links to read about controlling allergy to the Fel d1 protein that is causing your loved one such a problem.
Good luck!