I have severe asthma and allergies. I was allergic to animals growing
up ... everything from mice to horses. I had a very stubborn mother
who firmly believed that I should still have a normal and enriched
childhood despite it all and so I was raised on a farm. I'm both
grateful and mad at that. Anyway, the only animal I found that I was
not allergic to was the ferret! I thought that was very bizarre, but
there you have it. I have owned ferrets off and on for over 30 years
now. I was fine around them as long as I kept everything tidy and most
of all if I kept the other allergen factors under control. I had to
control the dust and pollen to a ridiculous extent otherwise the domino
effect would come into play. If I was exposed to things I was truly
allergic to (smoke, molds, etc), then the things that rarely bothered
me became a real issue.

I was fine around ferrets until about 5 years ago. I noticed I started
to react to them. Soooooo, I did more baths, more total gutting out and
bleaching the ferret room and changing out ferret bedding every other
day. Most importantly, I got my main allergies under control with a
lot of effort. Exhausting. But it worked. In more recent years, my
allergy to ferrets has been out of control and I've been devastated
over this. Ferrets cannot be a huge part of my physical life anymore
at this point.

I think a combo of things happened with me. Number one was as Sukie
said, years of exposure just did me in. Number two I went from owning
1-2 ferrets to 8! Number three was 2 years ago, I got into birds. I'm
not allergic at all at this point (tests show negative). But I have to
wonder if the tests are wrong and maybe I'm not realizing a mild
allergy to them. I wonder because as a small child I was very allergic
to them. That would be another domino in the domino effect. Lastly,
but this also might be most important ... I went from a mild-moderate
allergy of dogs ... to severe in a short period of time ... right
before my allergy to ferrets developed. My tests were said to be the
most violent reactions that allergist has seen to date (for dogs). As
Sukie said ... there is a connection.

As others have noted, your nephews event might just be a huge
coincidence. It's possible but I'd think it'd be a bit unusual for the
reaction to have come from a ferret if he has never developed welts,
eczema, sneezing, and itchy eyes when holding them before. I could be
wrong about that. I remember that you live in a part of the Northeast
that is just hideous for asthma and allergies. There is a pollution
factor (I don't care where you are up there) as compared to much of the
U.S. Your molds are out of this world. The worst in the country. The
spores are everywhere. I was told I couldn't even have potted plants in
my home up there because every little thing we could do to take away
exposure helped. The tree pollen is year round! It's tough. And you
can wake up allergic to that suddenly. Its possible.

Lastly, yes, yes, yes, and quadruple yes, people can react to whole
hobs and adrenal ferrets as well. People who barely have an allergy, if
any, to ferrets. It's common. I remember before I developed allergies
to ferrets the first time I held a whole hob at a shelter. Oh boy did
I react. It was horrible. I was stunned. I had no idea about the whole
hob/allergy thing at the time so it made no sense to me. Same thing
happened with my first adrenal ferret, just not nearly as severe. I
wonder if reactions to both of those precurse a future general reaction
to ferrets.

I wonder if a sudden allergy to food can do this? First thing is first,
with asthma (which is dangerous) he must be taken to an allergist and
tested for everything under the sun so you know what you are dealing
with. Then you can go on from there. I'm willing to lay down my life...
that he is not just allergic to ferrets (if he is allergic to them). As
I said, allergies work in a domino effect. Often when you control the
major ones, the mild ones or short exposures to triggers will no longer
be an issue. It's pointless to bath, gut out your home, take plants
outside, the whole sterilization process before you know what the
problem is. It might just be a major reaction to one thing, making
him overly sensitive to Caff -Pow. Or maybe it has nothing at all to
do with ferrets. Actually, its much more likely that he developed an
allergy to Sterling than it would be to a ferret.

I'm a pro at allergy control, I promise you. It comes not just from
doctors, reading, etc, but a life time of experience due to a stubborn
mother and my love of animals. I also could not seek help and treatment
for a good portion of my life due to several factors. Either I didn't
have enough money for a doctors care and meds,?I was taking care of
more serious health issues,?or something else. A?good bit of my life,
I could not afford the time and emotional energy to think about myself
while raising my autistic son, Sean. I have?moderate OCD. So given
those factors, I had to learn to do the best I could and?I'm absolutely
fanatic about allergy control.

Find out what is going on with Figbash with a doctor if you can, then
I'll come back and post a mind-boggling plan for his mom, and one for
you and your home (without altering it too much). I'll do it on here
in case anyone else can benefit from the tips.

[Posted in FML 6377]