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Sunday, November, 08, 2009
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Is he allergic to cats or fish??

Jane Harley
05/28/08
Jane Harley
Topics:seafoodcat salivaHives

Hi I have a 2 yr old allergic to dairy protein who was bitten by the family cat the other day and immediately developed hives on the hand he was bitten on and also his face where he rubbed his hand. The cat had recently eaten his fish based cat biscuits and had not drunk any milk for weeks.  Matthew has not been given fish or seafood yet, although he may have picked up and eaten a cat biscuit at some stage before. He has never showed this reaction to the cat before. What is it most likely to be an allergy to? Do I need to get him tested??

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Kathleen MacNaughton
Kathleen MacNaughton
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Kathleen MacNaughton is answering questions

Kathleen MacNaughton, RN, is a licensed registered nurse and consumer...

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Hi Jane,

 

There really is no way for anyone at this end to know for sure what your son is allergic to. Certainly, you've picked up a couple of possible clues. But you will probably need to watch for future reactions (or lack of them) to get a better idea of what he's sensitive to.

 

Also, sensitization is sometimes a slow process. Even if he has never reacted before to the cat or cat's saliva, he could just have been getting sensitized, and now is finally reacting.

 

You could talk to your pediatrician about allergy skin testing, which can be used in children and infants, though results in kids under the age of 2 years are not always quite as reliable.

 

To your health,

Kathi

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An allergy is the immune system's over-reaction to a normally harmless substance called an allergen.

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