TODAY04:46 AM Sep 27, 2011
I was asked recently, as a medical doctor, to advise a woman who adopted two cats nine years ago, which have given her much joy and are both healthy. However, her allergy has worsened and her doctor recommended that she give up the cats.
A fortnight ago, I visited a patient in her home, where there was a Maltese dog that her son-in-law adopted two months ago from a couple who just had their first child. A doctor had advised the couple to give up the dog "or the health of the child will suffer".
Two years ago, I bought a Maltese dog from a family who kept it in a small playpen in the kitchen for four to five years because a general practitioner had blamed the dog for causing the runny nose of their first grandchild.
I wonder how many pets have been given up or confined to a small area on the advice of doctors and how many pets have ended up being euthanised or abandoned on the streets. There are ways to live with pets even if the allergies are confirmed.
There is also evidence - for instance, a study that tracked 474 babies and which was released in 2002 in the Journal of the American Medical Association - that babies who grow up with pets are healthier as far as allergies are concerned.
There are other psychological benefits for a child growing up with pets, such as developing a caring attitude towards others.
I hope my fellow doctors will be mindful of the repercussion of a "simple" advice that "the dog or cat is the cause of your child's asthma, eczema or rhinitis, so get rid of it".
