Two Allergy Mysteries

» CelesteDana - My son's allergic reations

I wanted to see if anyone else has come upon this problem and might have some answers for me. My 4 year old has suffered from pollen allergies for most of his life. Clariten seems to relieve most of his symptoms, and during the non-peak allergy season, benadryl even worked most of the time. He is a very active little boy and plays outside often. We have 2 longer haired dogs that stay outside. They don't seem to bother him. The odd thing is, that several times when he has been around short-haired dogs he has had severe allergic reactions. His skin gets blotchy, he can't stop coughing and he has labored breathing. This reaction has usually occurred at my sister-in-laws home. She has 2 labs, so I thought I was pretty safe when he is home. Until today, he has never had a reaction like that here. So I figured it could be several different factors at her home that could cause this reaction. Today, a stray dog was hanging around our house. My son petted the dog and played with it for awhile. Within about 10 minutes he was having a terrible attack. I quickly gave him benedryl, and bathed him and changed his clothes, but it was at least an hour before he could breath normally. I've never heard of people being allergic to only certain dogs. Does anyone know if this is common? I want to make sure that we never get a short-haired dog if all short haired dogs cause the same reactions.

-- posted by CelesteDana

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