One of the best ways to treat your pet allergies is to control the amount of animal dander in your home. Here are some examples of what you can do to help alleviate allergic reactions to dog:
1. Keep your pet out of the bedroom.
2. Bathe your dog more frequently. Between baths, try rinsing your dog in plain water, which can keep the dander down. Some people believe that using distilled water is better than regular tap water.
3. Groom your pet more often and do so away from the main living areas, such as outdoors or in the basement.
4. Eliminate allergens from the bedroom. In addition to forbidding your pet from the bedroom, remove any carpet from the room (and elsewhere in the house if necessary), as well as curtains and other dust- and dander-catchers.
5. Keep the bedroom meticulously clean and as free of dust as possible.
6. Invest in covers for the mattress and pillows, since they harbor dust mites. Get rid of feather pillows and buy the washable, hypoallergenic kind.
7. Wash bedclothes and pillows frequently in hot water, which will kill dust mites and get rid of any pet dander that might be present.
8. Keep humidity in the house low, which helps control the dust mite population.
9. You might also invest in an air-cleaner for the bedroom. Be sure to buy the kind with a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter. There are also more expensive air-cleaning devices that will filter air throughout the house.
10. Invest in a vacuum cleaner that keeps dust from blowing back out all over the house, which is what happens when you use a regular vacuum cleaner! These newer vacuum cleaners can be found at many stores and in catalogs.
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