New House with Pet Dander?

I spoke with an allergist when we were looking at houses. I was told that even if you changed the flooring and had the vents cleaned,I would still be affected by the cat dander in a house. We never looked at another house with a cat. Do you ever notice that when you go to a house that had a pet before, years before that you still are sneezy even if it's hours later? Also, have you ever been to a bed and breakfast or another very old house that you have symptoms? I do and i don't have asthma or any other allergies than to cats. I would NEVER buy a house with a cat previously. It doesn't matter how perfect the house is or what a great deal .NOTHING is more important than your health. Good luck !

Yes, I went through the same thing! The house we purchased was owned by dog owners. We steam cleaned and vacuumed the carpets over and over again, and we had the ducts cleaned. We still found random pet hairs every once in a while, and we could never get the smell of the dog out of the basement. (The carpet in the basement had been installed less than a year before we bought the house too.)

I was pretty mad at my husband when he insisted that we rip up all the carpets and put in hardwood. It cost $18k to do this, and we had only lived in the house for about two years! But amazingly enough, my asthma and my daughter's asthma really improved.

If three of you have pet allergies, definitely think twice about moving into this house. We were still wheezing two years after moving into this house, and I think it was due to the pet dander.

Not sure, but I think it would depend on your senstivitity. A friend of mine is allergic to cats and rented her college book and within a minute of reading the book, she got an allergic reaction.

I would say check how much extra it would cost and then let that be your determining factor.

good luck.

I don't know any tricks to removing ALL dander. It would probably be a pricy process and not guaranteed to get it all out. We have 3 dogs and I run the vac daily but I know there is still dander around, especially from my oldest Cocker, not so much for the poodle.

I think it depends on how much you love that house and want to move into it. We only have seasonal allergies so the pet dander would not be that big of an issue for me unless the house was smelly.

I would look at it this way.....would you move into a house where someone was a smoker? Personally, I could/would not and that would be a deal breaker for me. Cigerette smoke really bothers me and I don't think it ever goes away.

Why take a chance, especially if your child has asthma.

If you are buying this home, you may want to consider putting professional carpet cleaning and duct cleaning into your offer. That way it will be done before you move in and they will have to show you receipts that it has actually been done. You can also reduce your offer by telling them you will have to buy all new window treatments.

You may also want to give a local vet a call - I bet they would have lots of knowledge about this.

We moved into a house in late december of 09 that had several dogs and cats. 4 out of 5 of us are allergic to pet dander. But we loved the house, so we bought it anyway. We did all of the things you described - Had the carpets cleaned twice, got the ducts cleaned and removed ALL window treatments. It did take a little while. The first month was the worst, but it slowly improved. It is now the beginning of April, and all of our allergies are under control.

Hi A.,

We moved back into my childhood home and the tenants that had been rented from us had moved a male cat in....aaarrrggh! I was able to get my allergies completely under control a few years ago (and if you'd like be glad to explain how, let me know). However, we have had many people come to our house and not even suspect that there were every animals in it. Dander is not really the stimulant to the problem, it is what the dander carries and that can be taken care of. It's not really an expensive project but it is a time consuming one if you are trying to do it all at once.

I would get the ducts cleaned, remove the window treatments and also get rid of the carpet and pad. Carpet holds everything and really can not get completely clean and you have no idea what is in the pad. When we moved back into this house and pulled the carpet up, it was still wet....

Regards,

M.