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Castration of pets does not prevent allergy to pets
Author(s) -
Miller J. D.,
Bell J. B.,
Vandernoot D.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
clinical and experimental allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.462
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1365-2222
pISSN - 0954-7894
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1995.tb01098.x
Subject(s) - asthma , allergy , medicine , miller , immunology , biology , ecology
Cat allergen Eel J I is produced primarily by sebaceous glands in the skin, which are under hormonal control. Zielonka et al. [1] reported that castration of male cats was followed by a fall in Eel d I, and that subsequent treatment of the castrated cats with injected testosterone was followed by a return to normal Eel d I levels. The authors state that they 'do not know if the fall could be maintained over a prolonged period and therefore we can not give any documented advice about castration of domestic cats in managing cat allergy'. If these changes are clinically relevant, male cats would be more allergenic than female cats, and non-neutered males more allergenic than castrated males. To help assess the clinical relevance of these findings, we surveyed all patients in our private allergy practice who were on allergen immunotherapy treatment for allergic rhinitis or allergic asthma with extracts of cat or dog dander. All patients had positive skin-prick or intradermal skin-test reactions, at least equal in size to the histamine control, to the pet to which they were exposed at home. Patients had been placed on injection therapy only if they had a history of symptoms correlating with their pet exposure, and if they refused to fo ow advice to remove the pet from the home. All such patients were asked to list the number of pets at home, the sex of the pets, and whether or not the pets had been neutered. Seventy-four patients had a total of 76 cats and 53 dogs. Only five of the 74 patients had pets which had not been neutered. Twenty-five male cats, 50 female cats, 23 male dogs and 26 female dogs had been neutered. One male cat and four male dogs had not been neutered.