Living with cats and dogs may reduce atopy

I found this article in the Australian news paper on Saturday showing that people who live with a dog or a cat may be protected from developing allergies. It makes me happy that I am rasing my children with cats and dogs

PEOPLE who live with a cat and a dog: their pets may protect them from developing allergies, research suggests. A study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology involved 1037 people who were tested for atopy, a tendency to develop allergies. Children who had owned a cat and a dog between birth and the age of nine were less likely to be atopic at age 13 than others. Living with only one of these pets was not protective against atopy. The pets' protective effect continued into adulthood. Among those who were not atopic at 13, having both a cat and a dog in adulthood was associated with a lower risk of atopy by age 32. This link was significant only among those whose parents had atopy.

JACI

2009;doi:10.1016/

j.jaci.2009.06.038

For the full article http://bit.ly/VGzVs