This is a topic close to my heart as I love dogs. The companionship, the walks, and playing with them in the park, not to mention my children are desperate for one of their own.
I’ve been around dogs all my life, from pets as a child through to having a retired Greyhound when I had a home of my own, I didn’t really experience too many allergy symptoms. However, Greyhounds are a breed without a heavy undercoat, so there are fewer allergens to cause a problem. However, if I’m around other breeds it’s a whole different ball game.
What happens when I’m around animals
When I’m in the room with other breeds and animals, within an hour or so I can feel my breathing becomes shorter and my airways feel restricted. It’s an odd feeling to describe. The more you breathe the worse it gets and in my case, I get a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, and I’m not talking the odd “aaachoo!” I’ll easily go through a box of tissues in the space of a few hours. Grim, I know.
Unfortunately, the discomfort doesn’t immediately stop when you hit fresh air. The sneezing may subside, but the breathing will still be impaired. More often than not, I’ll struggle to sleep. I’ll be wheezing all night and the following day, my chest and lungs will feel tight and tender. This may last the rest of that day and maybe even a day or two more.
When did I develop allergies?
I’m not entirely sure when I developed pet allergies. In the past, I have suffered from hayfever, mild asthma and I do have Atopic Eczema, which I understand is all connected. I’ve used allergy tablets to control hayfever, but they have little effect on pet allergies – for me anyway.
So when I had the opportunity to work the ActivePure Technology, I was keen to test the claims and use myself as the test subject.
A simple everyday test
The test was simple. No white coats or spraying down rooms. Just stay in a room with a dog for about 4 hours with no air purification and windows closed as a “control”. Then on a separate day do the same again with the ActivePure on full.
Control day
Suffice to say, the “control” day wasn’t the best experience, as you can see from the photos below. I was sneezing, runny nose, breathing started to get short and I had a pocket full of very damp tissues to boot. It basically went how I expected it to – badly!
ActivePure test day
On test day with the ActivePure Pure & Clean purifier, I was quite anxious as I really didn’t want to be sneezing and spluttering all over the place again, especially with all that’s going on. Popping down the shops with red eyes, sore nose, sniffing through the aisles is not a good look and it does create some evil looks from people. Don’t even get me started on sneezing with a mask on!
Anyway, for the good of science and allergy sufferers everywhere, I took the plunge. We had the doors and windows closed as before. Dog in the room walking (barking) around with the ActivePure discreetly placed in a corner on full about 2 or 3 metres from where I sat. The ActivePure purifier is designed to be used all day, every day, so I asked for the purifier to be on throughout the night to ensure the best possible chance of working.
On entering the room, I instantly felt the difference in the air. Whereas before, it felt quite close, almost heavy like air, is how I would describe it. It was now lighter in some way and with a crispness to it. Almost like when you step outside in the morning.
The results of the test
In the first hour, I could feel I wasn’t relaxed as I tentatively took each breath. After an hour without a sneeze or a wheeze, my confidence began to gather. I felt more at ease with the air as time went on, my breathing settled to a normal rhythm. With every breath I was expecting my allergies to kick in, but after the 4 hours had passed – nothing. I left the house the same way I went in, with no sneezing, coughing or wheezing. I was also fine the rest of the day and night.
In conclusion
To answer the question, “Can an air purifier help with pet allergies?”, from this experience the answer would be a resounding yes. I can’t speak for other air purifiers, but the ActivePure Pure & Clean certainly made all the difference. I appreciate many will be sceptical, as this was not performed under controlled conditions, but who lives in a controlled environment anyway? The indoor environment changes all the time with doors and windows opening, cooking, cleaning, etc. I just wanted to find out whether it would stop my allergies if I had a dog in the room, and it did.
Maybe with ActivePure we can look into getting a dog again sometime soon. I know my boys would be ecstatic to finally have one.
To find out more about ActivePure’s unrivalled air and surface purifiers that are inspired by patented NASA technology.
- Call us on 0800 9774 423
- Email activepure@kinetico.co.uk
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