UPDATE: Surviving a home with dander and dust

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Posting again in the aftermath, looking for advice on how/whether to review this housesit, and in hopes of helping anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

Original post here: Surviving a home with dander and dust - #30 by SierraNevada

So, we stayed at the sit for the full week because a commitment is a commitment. It was terrible. For anyone doubting whether this was really allergies, I took anti-histamines constantly, which helped a bit; and my symptoms subsided after being out of the house for a full day mid-sit, resumed upon return, and have diminished once again now that weā€™ve left. I still sound a bit like a toad. Meanwhile, my boyfriend developed allergies for literally the first time in his life.

We did not text the HO about this since (1) in the last post a few replies had me questioning myself, i.e. what if it was just a head cold, (2) didnā€™t want to ruin their vacation since there was nothing really to be done and weā€™d decided to stick it out, (3) we never had the usual Zoom interview, i.e. hadnā€™t developed a rapport which I now realize was a mistake I wonā€™t repeat.

Now that weā€™re out, Iā€™m struggling with how to proceed. Help me solve this / figure out WTF just happened to us and whether we need to warn the HO / future sitters. Iā€™m assuming they live in their own home just fine, although they did have a small air purifier in the bedroom and large bottle of the aforementioned anti-histamines in the cupboard. One previous sitter left a short generic 5-star review.

Relevant detailsā€”

Active construction was only in the front yard, half the interior was recently/beautifully renovated, other half of the house was like theyā€™d just moved in. Boxes and vaguely dusty. Everything indoors was generally ostensibly clean, dust on some upper surfaces, and it looked like construction dust as well as the usual sort. Drifts of dog hair but nothing excessive. The crazy-making thing is that nothing about the home seemed obviously dirty, but there was a LOT of dust floating in the main room (I took a video catching it in the lightā€”a bit like tiny snowflakes). My boyfriend said that all the linens and bedsheets reeked of dog, but heā€™s got a super-sensitive sense of smell; I wouldnā€™t know, was so congested I couldnā€™t smell anything the whole week.

We only learned about the exterior construction the day before but thought, no problem. This is an older house in a southern U.S. state not known for regulations. Very hot climate so the AC was running constantly.

When I mentioned in the last post that Iā€™ve had cat allergies in the past, I meant that I sometimes have to wash my hands after petting certain indoor-outdoor cats to avoid itchy eyes and congestion. Minor sh*t. Not full-blown allergies so bad I can hardly focus on my work. I have to visit construction sites for my job; my momā€™s home has mountainous dog hair drifts and Iā€™m fine; my best friend has literally four indoor cats and I can chill at her house and cuddle them, no problem. Weā€™ve had two dozen successful sits, 10 of them with cats. There was no reason to think this 2-dog 1-cat sit would be a problem. The only possible concern might have been that when the listing said the cat was allowed to go outside, they meant she preferred mostly outside and only came in at night. Even so, if like certain indoor-outdoor cats of the past, that would have just meant I had to keep a bit of distance and wash my hands after petting her.

I agree this was probably a confluence of factors, and perhaps other people could stay in this home no problem, but I would absolutely hate for anyone else to end up in our same situation. Maybe it was just me having a full-blown allergy attack for the first time in my life, and my boyfriend getting minor allergies for the first time in his.

On the other hand, I hate to go to the HO after the fact with all these speculations like, hey, your beautifully half-renovated home quite possibly just made me sick for a week. Or to dock them stars and ding their profile when theyā€™ve only got the one other review and this could be a great sit for someone else (maybe. I have misgivings.)

Sorry this is so long. I need to process. I wish I could write a simple just-the-facts review and not answer the star rating part. I hate to leave less than 5 stars and might otherwise just not leave a review, but not saying anything at all feels irresponsible to future sitters, if this is indeed a problem with the house, and thereā€™s a fair chance it is. Thoughts?

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You can dock them stars on ā€œAccuracy of listingā€ because of the renovation and cat behaviour. Similarly for ā€œcleanlinessā€. I donā€™t think you need to speculate about the original source of the dust etc., just that it was there and the owner didnā€™t take sufficient steps to clear it for your arrival.

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You claim the ā€˜beautifully renovatedā€™ home and the pets prompted your allergies and that your boyfriend developed allergies ā€˜for the first timeā€™ on this week long sit. Without histological diagnosis, it seems irresponsible to cite this in a review. Have you considered you both might simply have had a bacterial or viral infection?

I have to agree with other posters in your original thread, since you state you have known cat allergies, should you really have agreed to a cat sit? You took a risk, without informing the pet parent, yet now seek to penalise that pet parent for your outcome in your review. Sorry, i dont think thats on.

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@loirj, what ā€˜cat behaviourā€™ would that be?

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Itā€™s one of those things thatā€™s not a problem, but the catā€™s behaviour is different to what the owner communicated. Hence: Accuracy of listing.

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@SierraNevada it all comes down to what you aware of before the sit, and mark it accordingly like what @lolrj said, but take into account that you have history of allergies in the past. Itā€™s as simple as that, and only stick the facts. What did you know about prior, and just mark it based on that. Simple. You canā€™t necessarily blame the HO for your illness as you donā€™t factually know whether you had picked up a bug somewhere. So just stick to the facts only.

Also, it was probably a steroid-based anti histermine that you probably needed given your history, not just a normal anti histermine, thatā€™s why some like me said go to the docs last time. Saying you have never had a full blown attack before, can not be blamed on the HO when you have a history of the problem, albeit not as bad.

Hope you are feeling a little better now anyway.

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How is the behavior different to what was communicated? The listing said that the cat went outside. How long the cat spends outside is irrelevant and probably varies depending on the weather, who is in the house, and other factors.

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Iā€™m literally quoting the OP here.

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Thank you, Iā€™ll ask my doc about this episode on the next checkup. We were out of state and U.S. healthcare being what it is, I typically donā€™t run to the doctor for answers unless Iā€™m actively dying or gushing bloodā€¦ and sometimes not even then, lol (that $400 ER copay slaps).

Whatā€™s ironic is that I have another good friend with legit serious allergies, to cats and everything else, who insists that I canā€™t possibly have real allergies if I can still stick my face in their fur and live with them. Allergies are weird. A lot of people seem to think itā€™s black/white.

Iā€™m leaning toward giving 5 stars (feels like a lie, but) with maybe one minor star knocked off for cleanliness due to all the dust, and then writing a factual review and if anything happens to the next housesitter thereā€™ll at least be a paper trail of sorts.

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This is purely speculation but it seems like indoor/outdoor cats just get dirtier somehow?

I just spent a month on a sit with a gorgeous kitty (she is my favorite cat in the world) who was basically snuggled in my lap the entire time. Obviously circumstantial, and Iā€™d have to check the science behind it, but Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™ve never had a problem with an indoor cat, or with cats that only go outside for a little while and are mostly indoors. Other indoor/outdoor cats have been totally okay (but in California where we live with the doors and windows wide open).

Definitely one of those questions Iā€™ll get clarity on from HO in the future.

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Also if you read my post (and forgive me, I know it was long, perhaps the details slipped past) regarding allergiesā€”10 happy cat sits, Iā€™ve lived with cats, Iā€™ve stayed at homes with multiple cats, held them, stuck my face in their fur. No allergies, no need for meds, no problem.

The 2 cats that have triggered a minor reaction in the past were indoor/outdoor and I had to wash my hands after petting. I lived with them (home had airflow though). I got stuffy for maybe like a day after taking a long vacation, and it went away easily within 24h without meds.

Tl;dr: This was not a foreseeable risk.

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If you read my post, I went out of the house for a full day in the middle of the sit. Symptoms had subsided substantially, even without antihistamines, by around 10pm. When I returned, symptoms returned. This also happened on night 1 when I went out to sleep in the AC of my car for a bit, and again when we left for good. Basicallyā€”I left the house, I started getting better. I came back, got worse.

To my knowledge, bacterial/viral infections donā€™t work like that.

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If I remember rightly, your boyfriend was wanting to leave pretty early as you were so sick.
Glad you both managed to complete the sit and hopefully no long term ill effects.

Are you pleased you completed in hindsight?

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We had renovations to our old house that kicked off strange allergic reactions for us both- turned out it was the chemicals used for spraying the attic space for woodworm. Also taking up the carpets and getting our lovely old oak floorboards sanded allowed black mould spores through the tiny air spacesā€¦.
Allergies are unpredictable but a severe reaction is truly horrendous and scarey too. I feel so sorry for you.
All you can do is hold the HO to account for factual discrepancies. They canā€™t be held responsible for your very individual personal bodily response to their home , as frustrating as that is.

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Glad youā€™re out and feeling better! Iā€™m late to the game, but to me it sounds more like a dust or mold allergy than a cat / dander allergy, especially as it affected both of you. Mold is hard to detect and not always harmful, but many people are sensitive to it. I guess you could mention that, unfortunately, you and your boyfriend had an allergic response to ā€˜somethingā€™ in the house. It doesnā€™t sound too much like criticism of the HO, but sitters with chemical, mold, dust, or dander sensitivities can be made aware.

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You know, itā€™s one of those weird situations that if it had happened to, say, my sister or friend, Iā€™d want them out of there immediately. So I understand my boyfriendā€™s reaction (also, the younger dog had chewed apart a pillow and peed on the only bed when we arrived. We were trying to solve that, past bedtime and desperate to sleep, while I was initially starting to blow up with allergies. It was just not a great first impression).

But when it happens to you personally you grit your teeth and figure you can handle it. Not sure Iā€™d have lasted for more than a week. And if, God forbid, this ever happened again, Iā€™m not sure I could go through it again.

But yeah, Iā€™m kind of proud of myself for sticking it out and upholding the commitment, even if Iā€™d never want someone else going through this. Hence this post as I try to figure out if this was a freak occurrence or something that I have a duty to warn future sitters about. Iā€™m not trying to hold the HO accountable per se, when we canā€™t know for sure what happened, or punish their profile in any way.

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Honestly Iā€™m starting to think it may have been something like this. It doesnā€™t make sense for me to react that strongly just to a cat, even an indoor-outdoor one, when Iā€™ve never reacted anywhere near that strongly in the past. Something about the house just felt off and I could feel it in my lungs when I was in there, and when I was out, like I was breathing clean air again.

In any case, whatever it was, Iā€™m sure the HO are acclimated / donā€™t know (I assume they live in their own home just fine) and I certainly donā€™t blame them.

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I agree, the mold/chemical reaction is starting to make more sense to me. The house was 50 years old and who knows what got stirred up during the ongoing renovations.

Thank you :pray:t2: Thatā€™s great wording, and Iā€™m going to use it.

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