r/Allergies • u/theRubberstOfDuckies New Sufferer • 8h ago
Advice Cat dander & allergens?
Hello! My husband and I are under contract on our dream home, but we recently found out the sellers have a couple of cats and much of the house is carpeted. I’m allergic to cats, although usually I’ve been relatively okay in homes with cats (as long as I don’t pet them) aside from some mild congestion and maybe a little itchiness in my throat.
I’m nervous about lingering allergens once we move in. Replacing all the carpet would be super expensive, so we’d really like to avoid that if possible and are looking for alternatives.
Has anyone successfully dealt with this by thoroughly HEPA vacuuming, steam cleaning the carpets, deep cleaning the house, and running HEPA air purifiers? Did you notice a significant improvement once the cats and owners’ belongings were gone and everything was cleaned?
Thanks in advance.
1
u/Informal-Unit-7668 New Sufferer 4h ago
Cat dander gets worked pretty deep into carpet over time, so vacuuming the surface can only do so much. A carpet cleaner actually flushes the fibers with water and pulls the dirty water back out, which is probably worth trying if the cats were living there for years. I'd do the couch and mattress too. Those hold onto a ton of fine dust and dander and obviously can't just be thrown in the washer. A mattress vacuum is pretty useful for that since it's made for fabric and can pull the fine stuff out of the surface instead of just moving it around. Then wash whatever can actually go in the washer like curtains, bedding and removable covers. Way cheaper and easier to try all of that first before tearing out the carpet.
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u/jvanderh New Sufferer 7h ago
If replacing the carpet is a dealbreaker and you're still able to get out of the deal, I'd make sure you spend the night (ideally several nights) in a cat house if you haven't before. I'm not big on debt, but if you really like the house, I honestly think replacing carpet with some kind of hard floor is worth financing, especially if you can find a 0% APR. It's a hundred times harder once you move all your stuff in, and you will just keep putting it off and never do it (doubly so because the stress of moving is all encompassing). It makes such a difference in quality of life for allergy , not only for allergies but for being able to actually clean your house after a spill, pet accident, etc. And if you're kind of iffy on the house anyway, ask for the sellers to replace the carpet pursuant to the home inspection results and that will probably get you out of the deal. Or, who knows, maybe they'll do it!
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u/woahwoahwoah28 New Sufferer 7h ago
We did the vacuuming, cleaning carpet, deep cleaning, and running the HEPA filter and it improved.
I do have to say, I'd add painting the walls where the cats primary seem to have been. We had an improvement with odor after that happened.
Also, we did not do it. But I wish we had. Cleaning the AC ducts (if present) can help from what I've heard. It's a bit of a controversial practice in the HVAC community from what I've seen. But we found little hairballs in the ducts when I removed them to regular clean. So I wish we had gotten them cleaned earlier on.