Actually, being allergic to cat hair of any length is quite rare. The more common cat allergy is to various proteins contained in cat saliva. These proteins can be deposited on hair and skin when the cat grooms itself and then become airborne when hair or dander (dead skins cells are shed.
More likely the symptoms are from dust, mold, and other debris that get kicked out into the house when you first few times the central heating system kicks in. Having the air ducts cleaned out once a year, either in spring after you no longer expect to need heating, or in early fall, before the heating system kicks in would help quite a bit.
Because the saliva is on longer hair, you can get exposed to twice as much, so it is quite possible to be more allergic to one cat than to another. I just got a nice hepa-filter air cleaner, a big one, and ran it in the house and we all sleep better. Maybe you could try something like that. Mine was from Home Depot and I got the biggest one they had and it's great. I think it would even make the clothes in our closet smell cleaner-fresh if I ran it in there.
When I worked at a pet store we had dog baths that you could purchase time for. I wax surprised the first time I saw a lady come in with four big cats ro wash. Turns out she brought them all in once a month for just a bath cause she has really bad allergies and she found it helped with the dander. Only thing with this is use special shampoo and don't do it more then oonce a month as it can really dry out their skin.
Cleaning the vents out is probably a good idea. Unfortunately, that may have to wait till Spring. I just don't think we have the money for that right now, especially with the holidays coming up. But it's something to think about, for sure. I will check into it.
The hepa air filter cleaner sounds great. I will have to check into that also. If it's very pricey, that also may need to wait for awhile. I may get a part time job and that would help bring in a bit more money.
I've been tested for allergies in the past and had a reaction to several things, including grass, trees, and yes, even cats. I was suprised about that because I had two cats, always had cats growing up. So apparently I am allergic to cats but never had a real bad reaction before. I do get allergies but always assumed it was a high pollen day or something.
Interesting enough, some dogs I do ok with but I noticed after petting a friends dogs my arms broke out in a rash. So, I guess I can be more sensitive to certain breeds of dogs but not others too.
This morning I ran to the store, bought some cat shampoo and allergy medicine and came home and bathed first the long haired one, then my other cat. It did seem to loosen up a lot of hair and such. Maybe that will help some with the hair and dander.
I'll try to vacuum more too. Not sure what else I can do at this point but I will check into that air filtration and cleaning the ducts.
Thanks everyone!
The air cleaner I got is free-standing, about the size and shape of an old-fashioned round hassock for an armchair (though much lighter and easy to move around), and it cost about $150. It's a Honeywell product. Air cleaning units come in smaller sizes, but this one is a peach, smaller ones I've tried are not much more than a glorified fan. Once my sister-in-law came over and was sneezing because we had a noble fir for a Christmas tree, and I turned it on and she was fine after that. It must have cleaned two storeys worth of air in about 20 minutes.
Wow, sounds great! Guess I better start saving my money after we get through the holidays and check this out.
Thanks for the info!