How good are air ionizers at alleviating indoor pet allergies?

HOW TO DEAL WITH SEVERE PET ALLERGIES?

• okay so first off, i am NOT sure if i have this much of an allergy towards rabbits. probably not.. but i practically almost died in a pet store today ._. ... so here are the reasons why i do NOT think i have SEVERE allergies towards rabbits: i visited around 4 other rabbits recently and while i was holding them i didnt even get a single cough. no itchy-ness, no teary eyes, no sneezing no nothing. i am allergic to cats so if i even PET one through a cage then i start sneezing. but here are the reasons why i do think i am allergic to rabbits (mild through severe) the last rabbit i visited (the one before today) it was a shedding mini lop, and when i held him around 1 min later i felt like a piece of hair was stuck in my throat and it was sort of irritating. it could have been a piece of hair; i honestly dont know. also heres what happened today: so i am interested in adopting this rabbit from this rescue and they emailed me saying that he was staying at this pet store. so i went there today and when i got there; no reaction. i pet the rabbit, and stuff. but it was VERY similar to petland. except no dogs or cats. but they had a bunch of small animals and birds, and they even had a chinchilla and hedgehog! they didnt have any rabbits, rats, gerbils. all they had were some cockatiels, hamsters (4-5 different breeds), 1 african grey parrot that someone bought while i was there, and guinea pigs. oh and parakeets and some other birds. they werent crowded at all, but still you know.. after like... 15mins of being there i feel my throat sort of tighten/ get irritated. i brushed it off and began to hold the baby guina pig and cockatiels and the rabbit i was interested in (i held all of these before my allergies/ throat symptoms came in) i stopped petting the animals once i felt my throat start to clog. and we left like 5 mins later. i have NO idea what i was allergic to. they had ferrets also. and snakes and a bunch of fish. the place was like petland so the cages had open tops. so im assuming that pet dander was flying EVERYWHERE. in the car my voice began to sound weird / muffled, and my throat was tightening a lot (much like my nut reaction except very mild). and i was wheezing (barely). when i got home my face was pale but i felt a whole lot better. what can i do to prevent this? IF i am allergic to rabbits then i would be so dissapointed, as the cage will be in my room..... but is there ANYTHINGA I could do? get some shots? or something? i took some allergy medication but eh.. everyday? that seems like it would damage my liver. also i was thinking about an air purifier but too pricey. my dad said that he will schedule an apt with an allergist so yeah. but any ways on how i wont react like this ever again? PS. in all my allergies; this has never happened with animals... i am 14 and a girl!

• Answer:

  Yes, it could be an animal. but, if you are allergic to nuts that could have been it. Some animals will eat nuts or have them on their little chew bar things. So, it could have been that. If you have a nut allergy, you are likely to have environmental allergies as well. Asthma, all allergies and eczema are kind of tied together. So, best idea is to tell the allergist what happened and what you already think you are allergic to. They specialize in allergies, so they will do a GREAT job! :)