I am always happy to share my personal experience with ferret allergies
because,
1) it was so severe,
2) treatment was successful, and
3) it gives hope to others who might give up their ferrets because they
think they have no alternatives.

I have (had) asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis due to a combination of
allergies. The symptoms became severe and unmanageable when I started
ferret rescue. My asthma had been previously mild where I only needed a
rescue inhaler 3-4 times a year. Once I had a house full of ferrets, I
was in a constant state of misery. Asthma out of control, I was always
struggling for breath and you could actually see my throat collapse
when I tried to inhale. I had to take preventive oral medication along
with my rescue inhaler round the clock just to make it tolerable. Then
there was the constant dripping of watery snot so I had to stuff
tissues up my nose to free up my hands so I could do daily chores. I
don't know what was worse, the allergy symptoms or the side effects
from the medication. After awhile, I would begin to break out with
little welts wherever the ferret fur touched my skin. I would itch
until I bled and then of course it became infected. I had to wear
gloves to do the dishes, couldn't put my hands in any type of cleaner
and kept the ferrets away from my face. Have you ever had a ferret and
NOT kissed it? The final straw was when my face turned red and sore,
began to itch uncontrollably and at that point I began to think maybe
rescue wasn't such a good idea.

I had been seeing an allergist who was trying to help me manage my
symptoms. He knew giving up the ferrets was not an option, so the
lecture ended after the first visit. I knew there is no known ferret
allergen that can be used in immunotherapy and I was beginning to
get pretty depressed. Then I thought, there IS a bit of a similarity
between ferrets and cats, however slight. So why not go through the
course of immunotherapy (allergy shots) using cat allergen? Once I
decided on immunotherapy, I went through the skin testing to determine
what my other allergies were and included those allergens in the
treatment. An extract is prepared that includes that substance (or
allergen) which is then given as an injection. Most common allergens
are tree pollen, grass, dust mites, cat dander, etc. Weekly injections
are given of all the substances that you are allergic to and in my case
I had one shot in each arm with about 4 different allergens. In the
beginning, the shots introduce trace amounts of the allergen and you
begin to build immunity. Each week the injections are a little bit more
potent than the last. If you have reactions, then the next week might
include the same potency as the last until the reactions are gone or
less severe. Eventually you becomes desensitized to that allergen.
After several months, you get to a maintenance dose and then you only
need to get them once a month or every other month for about a year.

I do know that the success rate for treating cat allergies through
immunotherapy is not real high but in my case it worked, and it worked
well. I rarely suffer from asthma attacks any more, I am off all
medication and back to using the rescue inhaler about 2-3 times a year.
My biggest challenge is still the dermatitis though not anywhere near
as severe as it was. The skin on my hands (mostly fingers) gets raised
welts and becomes red and inflamed at times. I have to wear gloves now
whenever I use any type of cleaners and I "should" wear them when I put
my hands in water or touch the ferrets but I don't. I can even kiss
them now and the only thing I suffer is maybe a pierced lip.

[Posted in FML 5674]