Managing Allergies: How to Reduce Pet Dander in Your Home

Pets. Some people just can’t live without them. However, when someone in your home, resident or guest, struggles with pet allergies, it can be hard to live with them, too. 

Reducing pet dander in your home is one way of reducing allergic reactions. Since allergies and airborne particles can also trigger asthma attacks, controlling pet dander just makes sense if you have a child with respiratory issues. 

Dr 2 Kids, Smita Tandon, MD and her team in Fountain Valley, California, can help with allergy testing and immunotherapy as well as asthma management care. As a parent, you can make a tremendous difference by removing allergy and asthma triggers from your child’s environment. 

In this blog, we’ll look in detail at how to reduce pet dander in your home to make it more liveable for your children with allergies.

What is pet dander?

Animals with feathers or fur shed skin cells, just as humans do. These dead cells slough off and become part of the environment, wherever the pet lives. Common household pets like birds, cats, dogs, hamsters, and rabbits all contribute to the dander that collects in your home. 

Normally, pet dander doesn’t cause a reaction in humans. These cells aren’t harmful and don’t cause disease for people. However, your child might be allergic to some animals’ dander. 

Allergies are reactions of their immune systems to otherwise harmless substances, in this case the skin cells shed by a pet. Contact or inhalation of these cells sets off an allergic reaction. Fortunately, you can reduce the amounts of dander in your home with attention to key details. 

How to reduce pet dander in your home

While dander isn’t invisible, it’s indistinguishable from dust and other particles that collect within your home. Let’s look at how cleaning, environment management, and personal and pet hygiene can reduce pet dander. 

Cleaning

Dander is naturally sticky, so it needs regular, aggressive cleaning on a weekly or biweekly basis. Focus on: 

• Dusting: Use a damp cloth or a static duster, since dry dusting spreads dander
• Washing bedding weekly: Include the beds and toys of pets, using hot water to kill the active allergens in dander
• Mopping: Damp mop wood or vinyl floors and vacuum carpets, draperies, and upholstery with a HEPA filter-equipped device

Environment management

When possible, create pet-free zones, particularly your child’s bedroom, to reduce exposure to dander. Also consider: 

• Limiting soft surfaces: such as carpeting, upholstery, and other common home fabrics
• Choosing laminate, tile, or vinyl surfaces: for easy cleaning
• Using high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration on central heating units or standalone air purifiers
• Maintaining indoor humidity no higher than 50% relative humidity to control dust and mold

Personal and pet hygiene

Bathing your pet weekly with a dander-reducing shampoo attacks the problem at the source. Other steps you can take include: 

• Brushing your pet outdoors
• Frequent litter box cleaning: Use low-dust litter to avoid adding particles to the air
• Washing hands: Make it a habit to have your child wash their hands after playing with pets 
• Assigning pet care to nonallergic household members

Completely removing dander isn’t a reasonable goal, but these strategies can substantially reduce the dander presence indoors. 

Contact Dr 2 Kids, Smita Tandon MD for additional help with allergy and asthma management. Call or click to book your appointment now.