This is a technical topic. There are a number of studies but it is hard to find black-and-white clear-cut answers which makes it tricky to write about this topic. And I guess it can make it difficult for parents to decide whether to adopt a cat if their child has eczema or they are planning a family.
I’m going to rely on a few studies and articles rather than a lot of them because it can be confusing when relying on a lot.
What I take from my research is that if your child has eczema, adopting a cat might make it worse while adopting a dog won’t. And adopting a cat might trigger eczema.
One article on the Greatist (not a typo) website which refers to many studies concluded that there is no hard evidence that contact with a cat will cause eczema but if a person is allergic to cats, it could trigger eczema symptoms. This probably comes from the Medical News Today article I have referred to below.
Exacerbate symptoms
A study published in 2020 (see citation at base of article) looked at whether the cat allergen can intensify eczema in adult patients. The participants were a group of 47 adult patients who had suffered from atopic dermatitis – AD – (the technical term for eczema) since childhood. Eighteen of them said that they had regular contact with a cat while 29 of them said that they did not. The control group was 16 healthy volunteers with no signs of eczema. They used a couple of measuring techniques to assess the intensity of the eczema called: SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) and visual analog (VAS).
The concluded that (in their words):
SCORAD and VAS scores were significantly higher in patients in contact with a cat than in those without it…The results of the study underline the need to beware of the cat fur allergen, and they stress forethought and caution in acquiring and keeping a pet cat by patients suffering from AD.
I take that to mean that having a cat can exacerbate eczema symptoms.
Trigger symptoms
An article on the Medical News Today website says that if a parent is worried about their child suffering from eczema, they should get a dog but not a cat. They argue that getting a cat may be detrimental to a child with eczema whereas the opposite applies for a dog.
They refer to a study from the University of Cincinnati. The researchers collected information from 636 children who had enrolled in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study. This study looked at the effects of environmental particles on the allergy and respiratory health of children. Their parents had allergies. Therefore, their kids were at high risk.
The purpose of the research was to see whether there was a link between pet ownership and the risk of developing eczema.
Tolly Epstein, MD, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine, the lead researcher I understand, said:
Children who owned a cat before age 1 and were allergic to cats based on allergy skin testing were 13 times more likely to develop eczema by age 4. However, children who were not allergic to cats were not at an increased risk for eczema if they owned a cat…Our research suggests that exposure to dog allergens early in life may actually have a protective effect against developing future allergies among a high-risk population.
I take that to mean very clearly that if a young child is allergic to cats – and about 10% of people are allergic to cats – they are more likely to develop eczema by the age of four.
Caution
That’s the clearest statement I have seen on the topic on my research. The conclusion that I have is that parents should be cautious about adopting a cat if their child has eczema and it probably goes further than that. If a parent or parents are allergic to cats their child might be also allergic and this may predispose them to developing eczema.
This is my interpretation. I am not a qualified scientist and I am not a veterinarian but a retired solicitor and photographer! But I’m a good researcher and I do understand cats.
Clearly the best and common-sense advice is to see your GP about this. And do your research as not all GPs are good GPs 😉.
If I was positively allergic to cats (and cat allergies are variable) and my wife was pregnant but we did not have a cat, I would not adopt a cat based on my findings in order to protect the child after birth. A personal view. Please form your own and please comment if you are in the mood.
Study citation: Jaworek AK, Szafraniec K, Jaworek M, Doniec Z, Zalewski A, Kurzawa R, Wojas-Pelc A, Pokorski M. Cat Allergy as a Source Intensification of Atopic Dermatitis in Adult Patients. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1251:39-47. doi: 10.1007/5584_2019_451. PMID: 31749134.
