Do you suspect that you have a pet allergy? You may have noticed that your eyes would get watery or you would wheeze every time you play with your cat or dog in your room. Your pet may be a new pet or you may already have had it for some years now. Either way, you just do not feel good after being near it.

At the same time, even though you have actually determined that you have a pet allergy, you simply cannot bring yourself to part with it. You have grown so attached to it that it is impossible to give it away.

To help decide if you should keep your pet or not, there are some factors that you need to consider. First, you need to understand what your pet allergy is about. A pet allergy does not mean that you are allergic to your cat or dog per se. It is the animal skin dander that you are allergic to. The dander is what will trigger the itchy, water eyes, sneezing, and affect the nasal passage. You may be just a little affected by your pet allergy or your symptoms can also be extremely severe.

If you wish to keep your pet, a conventional treatment is to use drugs to keep your allergic reactions under control. You may obtain pet allergy medication either over the counter or via a prescription from your doctor. If you are near your pet everyday, you may have to take medications everyday. However, this is hardly a desirable situation as drug medications can bring about side effects. You may not have realized this but taking drug medications on a daily basis for a prolonged period of time would take a toll on your health.

There are other ways to help reduce your pet allergy symptoms. Keeping your cat or dog out of your room and washing your hands after playing with it are some things that you can do.

Developing a pet allergy is pretty common. It is often said that your risk to getting a pet allergy is reduced if you have been exposed to a cat or dog at an early age. However, this is often debated on many forums and stands to be disputed.

If you decide to keep your dog or cat, then consider what you need to do to keep your pet allergy symptoms under control. If you have severe pet allergy symptoms despite taking preventative measures, then you may need to prioritize what you consider as important - your health or your pet.