Chance's Allergy to Tobacco

[M0onkist]

Yep, I know it's odd to be thrilled that one's rat is allergic to the smell of tobacco. It's really just the same allergy I myself have (which has been confirmed by two separate allergists), coupled with one to marijuana.

So. My neighbours looooooove filling the hallway with tobacco/pot smoke. I totally respect their wish to do whatever in their apartment (swing from the ceiling, smoke, eat weird foods...). BUT, as I said, the hallway gets filled with smoke. They aren't careful at all about keeping their door closed, or maybe just don't care. I am in the process of sending a letter to the management company complaining about this, because the smoke level has gotten to the point of giving me a cortisol crash when I walked in the hallway Sunday - think of it like an asthma attack, or an insulin somethingorother, it can definitely be life-threatening.

Now, a few weeks back Chance was getting a major cold (had coughed once or twice), so I put him in the super-air-filtered bedroom with Mr. Honeycomb. A couple of weeks pass, and he's almost 100% recovered, so I put him back in the main cage. He was SO happy to be able to run around with Mr. H.

But while I was handling my cortisol crash, they were exposed (as is ALWAYS the case, no amount of weather-stripping can fix this) to some of the smoke that filters in through god-knows-what cracks and stuff.

Chance is back to coughing, my poor baby. So he's back in the travel cage in the super-air-filtered bedroom, and being a real saint in putting up with being so confined (they both get tons of out time on the bed, but still, it's not quite the same as having constant run of a cage).

So that's the background... now to my question.



Is there any kind of allergy medication that people can give to their rats to make sure they're comfy and prevent them from getting so many colds?

 

[jorats]

I've given allergy elixir to my rats at the recommendation of my vet.

I find it so horrible that people who choose to harm themselves with any kind of smoking to subject others to it as well.
Second hand smoke kills. Shame on your neighbours.

 

[M0onkist]

Oooh... it's great that they have something! I wonder if Dr. Munn has one too...

I know that some people smoke, and in the privacy of their own apartment, that's fine (they'll have health problems, of course, but that's their choice). But you're right Jo, second hand smoke kills.

In my own way, I could care less about the impact it has on ME, compared to the impact it has on my rats. My poor babies - they have no choice as to whether to be exposed or not, and I can only do the very best I can to keep them isolated from any smoke or anything that makes them sick. I have to say, they're being true champions, both of them. They never seem to mind that they're in the travel cage or in the big cage (my own heart hurts that they're confined at all, for any reason), they just take it in stride and treat it as an adventure.

 

[jorats]

The allergy elixir is one bought over the counter at a drug store, it was something like Benadryl.
My vet has also suggested to me to give children's Tylenol when rats were feeling very sick.

 

[M0onkist]

Good news, the pot-smoking partiers have moved out!!!

 

[mamarat]

:joy:

 

[jorats]

Good news, the pot-smoking partiers have moved out!!!

Woot!! that is good news.

 

[puffnstuff]

Good riddance! Maybe somebody else on your floor already complained about it.

 

[M0onkist]

They had several noise complaints against them (which they themselves admitted, in an abrasive letter shoved under OUR door, blaming US for their noise (which is pretty funny, given the complainants were directly below them, and shared no overlap with us).

The super was also well aware of the smoking problems - I went to her one evening while wearing an N-95 mask, because the hallway was so choked up with smoke (figured it wouldn't hurt to have her smell the smoke). I think there was some concern that they would cry or previously had cried discrimination (because they were a same-sex couple), but honestly... orientation has nothing to do with smoking pot and tobacco to the point of filling the hallway with smoke.

 

[lilspaz68]

YAY! for Everyone's lungs!! :joy:

 

[SQ]

:joy:

I live in an apartment and am highly allergic to cig smoke. Just the smoke on my skin causes allergic reactions.

Sorry but people living in apartments should not be allowed to smoke inside their apartments because the smoke does not stay contained but goes into the hallway and into other people's apartments. It is illegal for people to expose others to second hand smoke in the workplace and even worse to force this on others in the privacy of their homes. There is a local group presently working toward getting a law passed to ban all smoking inside apartment buildings. They have a long way to go but I hope it happens.