Early Exposure to Dogs and Cats Can Reduce Risk of Allergies and Asthma in Children
The information this post is based on is about five years old. The thing is, I only discovered it a few days ago so for me, its really new information.
According to the August 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association infants, i.e. babies under one year old, exposed to two or more dogs or cats can reduce the chance of them becoming allergic to these animals later in life as well as possibly reduce the chance of them developing childhood asthma.
“Context Childhood asthma is strongly associated with allergic sensitization. Studies have suggested that animal exposure during infancy reduces subsequent allergic sensitization.
Objective To evaluate the relationship between dog and cat exposure in the first year of life and allergic sensitization at 6 to 7 years of age.
Conclusion Exposure to 2 or more dogs or cats in the first year of life may reduce subsequent risk of allergic sensitization to multiple allergens during childhood.”
August 13th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
This is good news as I have two cats at home and a 10 day old baby boy
August 14th, 2007 at 2:47 am
Congrats on the boy! Now you could tell all your friends the benefits of having two cats.