What am I going to do=(................Child with Asthma and having 3 doodles!!

[Barb, Murphy, Emmet, & Hudson]

Sunday was one of the worst day's ever! I ended up taking my 7 year old daughter to the Hospital when she woke up and was having trouble breathing my mother was watching her at the time. She called me out of work and we took her in right away, I took one look at her laying on the couch and couldn't believe it! Her little body was working so hard to breath. At this point I didn't know what was going on with her. We spent Sunday night in the Hospital with her having ton's of breathing treatments, her body wasn't responding to them. Chest x-rays and lab work were done on her. It wasn't untill the next day that her oxygen level was starting to come back up. What I found out she had was a severe asthma attack. Now that I know what we are dealing with I want to do everything possible to prevent this again. The doctor said NOT to have any dog's or cat's in the house! There is a lot of things out there that trigger the asthma, pollen ect.. I guess with the 3 dog's he is thinking the animal dander that is in the house. Plus they go outside and bring stuff back in the house just like we do. My family seems to think with adding a 3rd dog a few months ago was to much for her. Very well could be=( We all know this type of dog can't stay outside. We all love our doodles very much and this is so HARD. Is there anyone else on here that is dealing with this?? What to do about all the dog's? Do we rehome one and see what happens from there?? This is a sad week for us all... I'm not thinking very clear yet to much to handle!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Don't rule out the animals just yet. After my first son, I was diagnosed with Occult Asthma. It ended up being nothing to do with animals! Nothing. My allergies are to cleaners, air fresheners, Frabreeze, hairspray, carpet cleaners, citranella candles.... the list goes on. Those new 17 minute continuous spray dispensers almost cost me my job this year. My throat tightens as soon as it sprays. I fought my office and I lost. Now I work outside!
My husband is allergic to meat--no kidding. He can't breathe after eating steak. Allergies and asthma may have many triggers--not only animals. I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. Best wishes and good luck to your daughter, your dogs, and you. I hope they find a good answer for you.

[Adina P]

Ugh what a heartbreaking thing for a doctor to tell someone with three dogs. I doubt he's anywhere near the dog lover that you are or else he would have taken such a directive more seriously because he'd understand how deeply troubling such a 'prescription' would be.

Here's what I would do:
I would talk to him again, and even though he may not personally understand, explain that while your daughter certainly comes FIRST...dogs are not just 'pets' but part of the family. This is not like changing laundry detergent or avoiding flowers. Getting rid of a dog (or more) would be devastating. Then I would tell him it was necessary to look into this further, to be SURE this had to be done and that there weren't other options (bathing the dog more frequently, limiting where they go, other meds, etc...etc.). I'd ask about allergy testing and the other things others have said. If the doc was not open to discussing this then I'd get a second opinion.

Of course I say this now easily...but I don't yet have kids and don't have to see them suffering. You're stuck in a horrible position. Hopefully, the doc is wrong and there are things that can be done to keep your daughter healthy and feeling good and relatively asthma free AND keep all three dogs you love dearly. At least I wouldn't rule out that that is possible. But in the end, if some amount of re-homing has to happen, we'll be here for you and do our best to help.

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

You might want to try spraying your dogs with Show Sheen. Its in the horse dept. It has been very effective for some people. Pls keep us posted & let us know how it works. Puppy love from Joy & furry folk

[Tammy & Gracie]

I would do allergy testing first. Removing the third dog from the house temporarily will probably not affect anything. The dander and other things will still be in the house. If, in fact the dogs are part of the problem the house will take months before it is "clear". But test first. I have had allergies and or asthma most of my life. There are certain things that help all victims like removing carpet, using premium filters, vacuaming often, using special allegen mattress and pillow covers, etc. I have taken allergy shots for several years at a time several different times. Right now, I have not has an asthma response in years nor have I taken allergy shots in the same amount of time. But this season is really pressing me with mold and other allegens common to this season. So hang in there, vivit the allergist and take one day at a time. This may have nothing to do with the dogs.....

[Barb, Murphy, Emmet, & Hudson]

I just want to say thank you to all who have posted on this situation, I really can't say how MUCH you have all helped me=) My daughter is on med. that she needs to stay on for a month or so, I will ask her doctor at our next check up about doing some kind of allergy test on her. I pray the dog's aren't her trigger and it's just something else out there. She LOVES her doodles very very much, when the doctor said that to us she started to cry right there in the office. All of your posts gives me hope thanks again!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It is very difficult when our children are sick. I would suggest that she be tested to make sure that the dogs are the problem before just deciding that they are. Two of my kids have lots of allergies -definitely to cats but NOT to dogs for example, and exercised-induced asthma that is also very much affected by weather. My youngest had the RAST when he was about 8 and suddenly got very ill that was thought to be a sudden severity in his asthma - turned out he had whooping cough!!!

[Leslie J]

We have several allergy sufferers in our family, and our allergist said if we were going to get a dog (against his advice) we should keep it out of the bedrooms. It seems that the time that pet allergies seem to cause the greatest problems are when we are sleeping, and any dander, pollen, etc. left behind by the dog is still in the bedroom. We have a two story house, and our puppy Cocoa stays downstairs away from our bedrooms.

[Tammy & Gracie]

Yeah, I forgot to mention in my previous post about the bedroom. The dogs can be removed from her bedroom now. Then clean it top to bottom and keep the digs out permanently. Last time I had real problems, I kept the dogs out of my bedroom for years. I adjusted and so did they. Good Luck.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Hi Barb, I'm a pediatric nurse at a childrens hospital and I can tell you this week 1/2 of the hospital is full with asmatic admissions from the rapid weather changes. It's the time of year. Give it a chance. There are also many viruses circulating at this time also that are triggering asthma problems.. Our hospital if packed- every bed. So her triggers could be weather, virus, dogs???? Keep close eye and see what happens. / Pat

[Tamara & Giada]

Oh Barb!!! I am so sorry for you!! I would sure try just to rehome Hudson and go from there. I know this is hard, but you need to do what is best for your dd. Maybe a family member or a friend like others suggested. Oh, just reafd the reply by Pat, might be promising news! I know nothing about allergies or asthma, but hope your dogs can stay :))

Again, SO SORRY.........((hugs)) for you!!!

[Kim]

My husband had Allergies to our F1B GD Allie. We tried using his Shampoo on her, OTC Allergy Meds, anything we could think of. Nothing worked. He was put on Prednizone for a week & now takes a daily inhaler. We also pulled our carpets because luckily we had hard wood under them. I would at least try other things before listening to the advice of the Doctor. I'm sorry that you are going through this. I hope your daughter gets better!

[shelly]

I'm sooo sorry to hear about your rough weak! I too have a son who gets asthma often and know the worry you are going through right now. My son's asthma is triggered by a cold or allergy. He is extremely allergic to dust mites. I actually had him tested by an asthma specialist/allergist to see exactly what may be triggering this. Whenever he is around dust, whether regular house dust, or even one time he had an attack from being around someone's house who was having spackling done. He takes singulair daily and a preventative inhaler (Pulmicort). Try to find an asthma/allergist near you. Think back about what your daughter was doing, or where she was, days before her attack. Also, I'll tell you, my son is starting the sniffle, and blowing that he usually does days before he has an attack, but what I have noticed is that when school starts is when he starts. The dust that was kicked up from the 'cleaning' before the opening of school, really gets him. So don't let those doctors be so quick to convince you that is your dogs. Perhaps it its... but rule EVERYTHING out first! Good luck!!! Shelly