| By :
Debbie Davis
With millions of pet lovers opening their homes and their hearts to warm-blooded animals such as dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, ferrets and more, pet dander has become a huge problem. Even if each pet only shed 10 flakes of dander a day (and that number is a gross under estimate) the numbers are staggering. Here are 7 important things to know that will help you deal effectively with the problem. Will changing the type of pet help get rid of the problem? You could limit your exposure to dander by selecting cold-blooded pets such snakes, lizards, iguanas, turtles or fish and solve your dander problems completely. But then you'd have to give up that warm fuzzy feeling you get from your pet. Do you really want to go there?. Is there anything that can be done to stop its production? Shedding these microscopic flakes of skin is an indication that your pet's body is replacing the old skin with newer skin that is more able to protect the body from disease and infection. This will continue to be a fact of life for the rest of your pet's life. So this is good news for your pet and not so much for you. What is the best thing to do if you are allergic? You can talk with your veterinarian about a schedule of bathing. This will reduce the amount of flakes that are available to go airborne. Do different types of pets produce less than others? How much any animal sheds is an individual characteristic. Just as some people are more prone to have dandruff, some animals within a species are just more prone to heavy dander. You can certainly help your chances by doing research on the type of bird, dog, cat, ferret, or bunny before you bring it home. But if you're having this problem with a pet you've already bonded with hind sight is 20/20. Will baths help reduce the amount in the air? Baths will surely help the flakes of skin to be washed away before they have a chance to become airborne. But the thing to remember is that you can only reduce the amount rather than completely eliminate it Is frequent cleaning a help or a waste of time? Cleaning on a regular basis is really helpful in minimizing the amount of dander that is available to go airborne with daily movement of people and air currents. The less there is to potentially go airborne again, the better your air quality will be. And if you or someone in your family is allergic, this is an effective way to reduce the exposure to the trigger. What products can help? First, vacuum rather than sweep, and damp mop and dust rather than feather dusting. The object of cleaning is to keep as much out of the air as possible. With that said a HEPA (or high efficiency particle arresting) vacuum cleaner filters any air before it is returned to your room so that it really traps what it has sucked in rather then simply sending back out at you again. A HEPA air purifier is also an excellent way to continually filter the air. This will continually remove the dander that results from healthy warm-blooded pet.
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