Barbie

We got Danny on Easter Sunday. Starting about 2 days after we got him i developed a "chest cold" or so i was hoping. Now i know it was in fact my asthma acting up. My son and i went to an allergist in December. I made sure he tested us for dog allergies. It came back low to none. It was a 'go' from there to get our hound.
I have brushed Danny every other day since we got him and 2 of the days i gave him a real major brush including his ears(have you ever done it inside, wow he liked it and a lot of fur came out)anyways, i got such a sore chest and i coughed all day and night, with my asthma wheeze(which i may add i havent had in YEARS) and difficulty breathing. I have been taking my inhalers on a regular basis to try to keep it under control in hopes that it would subside. NO LUCK!
I am sooo upset because we waited so long for him and he came from so far away. Our whole family has been elated by him and his wonderful spirit. Now what do i do??? I went to a repiratory specialist today to get my results from a spiratory lung function test that i did a few weeks back. The results showed to be good. When he listened to my lungs today he wondered why the wheeze and the obvious asthma flare up. He asked me what has been going on in my life different, if i have been doing house renos, or been anywhere out of province or country etc..........i mentioned the dog and his head just about spun around....He asked me why on earth i would get a dog, blah blah blah!!!!~ I mentioned (and he looked over) the results of the allergist appt. He said it doesnt matter. Almost ALL asthmatics are affected by pet dander. We had Cyrus(Our St Bernard) for 11 years, and i wasnt reactive with him.............
What on earth am i going to do? My family is going to be soooooo upset. Especially the boys. Dan is very upset as well, but does not want me to be ill. Im not sure if anyone is familiar to these lung conditions, but not being able to breath is one of the scariest things ever.
I am soo heartbroken....He is the most wonderful guy!! Plus he has settled in with us so wonderfully.....

Barb.

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Cheers!
Barb.

Nugget's_mama

I'm an RN...not a pulmonary specialist by any means but I would certainly recommend that you investigate your treatment options. There are quite a few ways to control asthma with the right combination of medications. You very well may be having it unusually bad since you've just gotten the doggie and also doing so much brushing. Let someone else be responsible for more of his grooming...might be some "bonding" opportunity for some of your other family members...esp since he enjoys his brushing! Also, get someone else to pick up his bedding etc when it needs to be shaken or loaded into the washer,etc.

Also, this time of year you've got all the environmental elements that can aggravate the condition. Usually people with asthma also end up on some type of antihistamine as well. I see the drug companies are now marketing Singular for environmental allergies as well as chronic asthma treatment.

I'd certainly check into more of the medication options if I were you as well as ways to cut down on any "extra" dander exposure.

Good luck to you!!

Terry

Will any of the new allergy meds help you? There's got to be something that will ease your symptoms. Did your doctor have any suggestions, given the fact that you would rather keep your dog?

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Moe and Terry
"Don't worry, be happy"

Barbie

I would have to be on meds for life im sure, if i am around him.....Doing the obvious switching of dog laundry chores, brushing etc..... will be in place for sure yes. I am familiar with Singular. It is a good drug, i am just not sure that i want to be on it everyday for the next 12 years.....
My son has also developed asthma and i am really worried about him too. In the last 1.5 years we have been hit with the news that him and i both have congenital heart conditions. I do not want to start preventive asthma treatment on him as well, he has started back on his inhaler this week as well, thank god he is no where near as affected as i am......
Sad!!

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Cheers!
Barb.

Maggie's Mommy

WOW! What a horrible setback. My sister has horrible asthma and has rescued two dogs. One is a Bulldog the other a Mastiff. She has someone else brush them and take care of their grooming. The dogs know not to lick her or sit too close to her. She trained them to scoot away from her when necessary. She does feed them, walk them and pet them. She has also trained herself to wash her hands and face after having close contact. She admits it's a pain the butt but the rest of the family is so attacehd to the dogs. She's being doing this for almost 4 years!!

I also would investigate to see what all your opinions are.

Mikey T

FWIW many bassets are afflicted with a condition that will cause them to produce a lot more dander than normal, This condition is called Seborrhea You may want to check with your vet about this or a vet specializing in dermatology. Unfortunately it is not something that can be cured in effected dogs but it can be controled. If it is the case that danny has the condition, it is still uncertain that treatment will be effective in lowering the dander to a level that does not affect you, but something you may want to investigate,


Just one other note brushing beside removing hair will remove dander as well. If you personally are going to brush danny you need to seriously consider an effective mask/filter, or have another family member do it outside or a room with seperate ventilation. If you were not the primary person in grooming the St bernard this might be on reason for the different effect.

Rubydoo

I have bad asthma as well and based on skin testing, it shows that I'm allergic to both cats and dogs. Cat's, I knew about but I've never had an allergic reaction to any dog.

That being said, you need to find a good pulmonologist who will monitor your health on a very regular basis. I've been on lots of different asthma meds over the years so if you want any info on any of them, please write me privately and I'll let you know what I'm currently taking now. Be sure to have the subject line say something about bassets.

What really, really helps me tho is that we only have carpet in the bedrooms and I vaccuum them and the throw rugs a minimum of twice a week. I really should do it daily. And we brush Ruby daily too. I use the swiffer dry cleaning cloths on the floors daily and I wash Ruby's bedding at least twice a week. If I ever have another house, I'll get rid of all of the carpeting.

The first pulmonologist I had told me to get rid of the dog. I said I never would. I did promise back then to not have her sleep in the bedroom. I didn't for the longest time but now we do. I do notice that I don't feel as good because of it tho. However, she's 8-1/2 and not feeling all that well these days and I want her to be comfortable. If it means that I have to clean more; then so be it.

Hope you feel better soon.

Janice and little Ruby

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Take a basset hound to lunch today!
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Ed's best friend

Barb, I am a Respiratory Therapist. For over 35 years. I teach asthma management, and I too am asthmatic. I am allergic to dogs as well, but by controlling and finding out my other triggers, I do OK with my Basset.

To understand asthma is to know that there is chronic inflammation going on, inside the airways. Kind of like when you get a stuffy nose, but in the bronchial tubes. Many medicines will relax the muscles that go around the tubes, (like your rescue inhalers...albuterol, alupent, ventolin, etc.) Some medicines will reduce the inflammation inside the tubes, Pulmo-cort, steroids like prednisone, etc. Some medications are designed to block the response that the body gets when it comes in contact with a trigger, such as your pup...these medicines coat the cell so it cannot send out substances to cause the body to react. Luekotrienes these are called.

OK, that's a quick lesson in the meds. Meds are good, and can help you live a normal life. BUT, IMHO, they are a band-aid. Many of us asthmatics are allergic to many many things. So to me, it makes sense to identify as many of these triggers as possible, and remove them from your life. Now that could be FOOD, ENVIRONMENTAL, HORMONES, etc. etc.

My asthma attacks started at 30 and were pretty bad. I finally, after 3 different doctors, found one that helped me. He helped me design the whole basis of my teaching program.

OK, so I was allergic to mold, noted especially when raking leaves, dust (more on that in a bit) and bleach, stong smells, cats, dogs, and FOOD... I was allergic to fish, which I ate all the time, whole wheat, another favorite...soy, pineapple, mushrooms...etc...the list went on and on. I have avoided all of these foods for over 20 years. It has helped tremendously.

My point is....most of us have more than one trigger for our asthma. Try and elimate as many as you can.

Dust...a HUGE one...runs right along there with MOLD. Cover your mattresses, all mattresses carry dust mites, no matter how new. Your pillows, again, cover them with anti dust mite cases...wash blankets and coverlets regularly in HOT water. Get rid of carpeting if possible. No stuffed toys. If you clean up your bedroom from dust mites, then you have half the battle won. For more info...I love this company...allergy control products, here in my state of CT. There are many good allergy control products out there.

I would tackle all of this, and see where you land. See an immunologist. Read as much as you can.

The funniest thing to me, is that Louie, my Basset, has many allergies. I had him tested too. He is allergic to HUMAN DANDER. Now how about that? LOL. But, I control his diet, he can't have beef, chicken or turkey...since I have done that, HIS allergies have gotten 75% better.

Good Luck. I hope I have helped you.

Betsy Iole

My life would be so much poorer without my dogs; I'd definitely take meds if I needed to, to keep them. Like apparently everyone else on CyberHound(!), I'm also allergic to dogs, cats, horses, dust, etc. I find the the asthma kicks in when I haven't been exposed in a while, but I become desensitized when I live with the critters. I still get hives every time the dogs lick me, though. <_< That said, people have to do whatever works best for them.

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Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006

corvuss

All I have are sinus-type allergies, so my hounds (and previous cats) never affected my lungs.
My wife is a different story. She has a host of ailments, including asthma. Among her many triggers are dogs and cats. She has been on Singulair for several years, I think since before we got the hounds. Singulair has reduced her need for the albuterol inhaler drastically.

I definitely do all the dog grooming, most of the vacuuming (I would do more, but she insists on doing it sometimes, apparently my vacuuming doesn't always meet her standards <_< ), and all the dog laundry (bedding, towels, drool rags).

Mikey mentioned grooming outside, I wholeheartedly agree. I do that whenever possible, at least twice a week. I take the added steps of wearing some old clothes for grooming only, and storing both the clothes and the grooming tools in a plastic bin with a tight lid. I'm not positive if those added steps help much, but they sure don't hurt.

I really hope you can arrive at a solution that allows you to keep Danny.