Category Archives: Pet Allergies

Pet Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

A Lesson of “Pet Free”

When our son, Morgan, was young we were always SO careful to protect him from dogs and cats because of his severe allergies, diagnosed from a skin prick test, and confirmed with a few disastrous exposures. Prior to him receiving allergy shots, if he was in a house where a dog or cat had ever lived, his eyes would swell shut within 10 minutes. After receiving allergy shots, he wouldn’t have such a severe reaction, but was still subject to some asthma issues.

I have also been skin prick tested for allergies to dogs and cats, and have a severe cat allergy, and supposedly no dog allergy. However, I have been in homes with a dog and experienced a runny nose and cough, so there must be some dogs that bother me. (I’ve yet to figure out which breeds bother me, and which don’t.)

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to Winter Park, Colorado, to stay in a condo owned by his brother. We were told that the property is “pet free,” and that they don’t allow anyone to bring in pets, which was a welcome relief. We packed up for a 4 day/3 night stay looking forward to rest and relaxation in the beauty of the Colorado Rockies.

When we got there, we noticed that there were dog hairs on the couch. We knew that his brother’s family owned a dog, and figured that the dog must have come to the condo with them at some point. I wasn’t too concerned since I have only ever had issues when the dog is in the room with me, and then only with a few dogs.

We bought a lint roller at a local hardware store and gathered up all the dog hairs we could. I wasn’t having any of my traditional runny nose or cough, so I thought I was doing fine with the dog hairs. And the condo was basically clean, with no dog hairs on the carpet, so we proceeded to stay the entire weekend having a great time.

I did notice while we were there, that during the night, around 3am, I kept waking up with an acid feeling and stomach ache. This isn’t unusual for me since I have a diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), and I chalked it up to not taking enough acid medication.

By the time we got home, I realized that more acid medication wasn’t helping to mitigate my symptoms, and that my EoE had really flared. In Winter Park, it was snowing the entire time we were there, so there were no pollens in the air, which is my usual trigger. The only thing that could have triggered an EoE flare was the dog hair! That was a new experience for me.

I haven’t been in a house with dogs in several years, and it has been decades since I stayed overnight in a room where a dog has been. I now know that “pet free” to some people means that they don’t allow OTHER people to bring pets to their rental property. It doesn’t mean that they don’t bring their own pets!

When we have booked a condo through AirBnB, I always inquire with the owner whether pets have EVER been in a property, yet with my own brother-in-law I neglected to do this.

Another lesson learned!

 

 

College with Food Allergies, Pet Allergies, School & Food Allergies

Emotional Support Animals and Students with Pet Allergies

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There is a new issue that I’ve been hearing about frequently on college campuses, and it affects our children with pet allergies: emotional support animals.

For those students who have severe animal allergies (like my son, Morgan) living in the same dorm as these emotional support animals can be hazardous. An emotional support animal differs from a service animal, according to the National Service Animal Registry in that “an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is an animal that, by its very presence, mitigates the emotional or psychological symptoms associated with a handler’s condition or disorder. The animal does NOT need to be trained to perform a disability-specific task, whereas a service animal does.

All domesticated animals (dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, hedgehogs, rodents, mini-pigs, etc.) may serve as an ESA. The only legal protections an Emotional Support Animal has are 1) to fly with their emotionally or psychologically disabled handler in the cabin of an aircraft and 2) to qualify for no-pet housing. No other public or private entity (motels, restaurants, stores, etc.) is required to allow your ESA to accompany you and in all other instances, your ESA has no more rights than a pet.

You’ll also need to be prepared to present a letter to airlines and property managers from a licensed mental health professional stating that you are emotionally disabled and that he/she prescribes for you an emotional support animal.

My son lived in a college dorm for 2 years, and in that time, there was a HUGE increase in the number of students with emotional support animals. At the University of Denver, they recognize that the needs of a student with severe pet allergies are equal to the needs of a student with an emotional support animal. However, the only way that a school is going to know that your child has severe animal allergies is for the paperwork to be completed and medical documentation provided.

My son was placed in a dorm on one end, and the students with animals were placed on the other end. That way there was no shared ventilation, which could have exacerbated his asthma.

I’ve recently heard of two situations at two different universities where a student brought in an emotional support animal without having paperwork completed until AFTER moving in. In both cases, the roommates were unaware that there would be an animal prior to moving in. And to make matters worse, in each case, at least one of the roommates had severe pet allergies, but had neglected to tell the university of such.

Both situations have caused a large amount of stress for all involved, and the university is caught in the middle of which student needs to move out and which needs to stay.

My suggestion: if your child has severe pet allergies (and this would also include children in K-12) make sure to have the paperwork completed so that the school is aware of these allergies. This will allow for any accommodations needed, such as no contact with the animal, no field trips where the animal is present, and no shared vents with the room where the animal is located. Prior to placing a child with a pet in your child’s classroom, or allowing a college roommate to have a pet, other arrangements can be made.