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Your child's health or a pet?
Hello, so we have a ferret and I am highly allergic and suffer from asthma,fur from the ferret makes it worse. Even though there is a ferret cage outside and they are capable of living outside my mum still brings it inside during the nights when my asthma gets bad. It's placed in the living room where I am usually sat. Do you think my mum should put my health first?
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Pets?
As the owner of a sweet and wonderful dog, I can understand the attachment people have to pets. In fact, unless you are a pet owner, you likely can't understand that they are truly another member of the family.
That being said, a parent's first responsibility is always to his or her child or children. Simply put, being a true parent means the children come first.
So, in my opinion, the first priority has to be your allergies and asthma. If there is a way to limit the allergens and things that trigger your asthma and still keep the ferret, that would be an ideal solution. However, if there is not, perhaps your mom should consider finding a nice new home for the fury little friend.
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I have a hard time believing a mother would put a pet's well being ahead of that of her child. Is your mother aware of the severity of your asthma? Pet fur and dander regardless of allergies is a trigger for asthmatics. The fact that you are also allergic to pet fur makes me wonder how you can be in the same room with the ferret.
Yes your mother should put your well being first. There must be other places the ferret can be placed on those really cold nights that mom feels the ferret is safer in doors. What I suggest is as follows.
First: You need to talk to mom and explain to her how having the ferret in the house affects you. Make sure she understands that the ferret is making you sick.
Second: If the first solution does not work speak to your doctor and have the doctor talk with you mom. I'm sure the doctor can be very convincing that having any animal in the house is bad for you and instruct her to either get rid of the ferret or keep it outside.
Three: If neither one or two work you can ask for help through Child Protective Services, (CPS). There are several different ways you can contact them. You can ask a trusted adult like and Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent to contact them for you. You can wait until school opens and ask a trusted teacher or school principal to contact them. You can ask your doctor to contact them. As a last resort you can call them.
CPS can remove the animal, make sure the house is cleaned of any pet hair and make sure mom does not replace the ferret. CPS will also make sure that mom sees to it that you get proper medical care for you Asthma and allergies.
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I have a question: How old are you? If you are an adult then you might want to consider finding a place of your own. If you're not then you should sit down with your mother and tell her the severity of your situation. Hopefully your mother would come up with a compromise. She should never put an animal above her child. If that is how you feel then you should speak to her about it. If she still doesn't budge then there's not much you can really do.
***Visit my self-improvement blog at mindfulmema.wordpress.com***
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I stayed for a short while with a family who had 3 cats and two guinea pigs. The pet dander was bad enough, but most the time they couldn't afford to change the litter for cats and pigs often enough and that odor on top of it made my very ill. I had respiratory colds all the time I was there and it didn't clear until I left. There were children in the home who had constant runny noses and the mother just didn't get it that the environment was making the kids sick. they didn't even have allergies. So I can imagine what its like for you. Your mum may need to wait until you go out on your own, leaving the house. In meanwhile, a talk with her about it would be good. If she won't listen, talk to other relatives and find a way to get in to see an allergist. Get tested if you haven't been already. Or mention to Dr. that Mom got a ferret now and your allergies are worse since then. Get tested for ferret allergy if there is such a test or have the Dr. talk to your Mom and recommend keeping ferret out of the house. YOur health should come first. this would mean she'd need to find another home for the ferret with a family who isnt allergic to it.
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Ok, first of all, let's answer the question "why would mom do that?"
Here are the possible answers:
1.) She loves her ferret more than you
-which is pretty improbable, so no
2.) She's addicted to fur
-why did I even put that there?
3.) She's not aware of the sensitivity of your asthma
-you might want to check if she knows, in case she doesn't tell her you're extremely uncomfortable, and tell her what happens with the fur.
Ok, most of these answers are dumb. But here's what I ask you to do, talk to her over and over again until she realizes what she's been doing ;)
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