Can you become a Vet if you have Animal Allergies or Asthma?

Hi, I’m Kat. And I’m a vet who is allergic to animals and an asthmatic.

I want to be clear that every person is an individual, and you should always follow the advice of your doctor when it comes to allergies. Some people have reactions that can be dangerous, and these should be taken very seriously. I’d like to share my experience in the hope that those with mild allergies realise there are options to manage them that don’t preclude entry to veterinary medicine.

Here’s my allergy story:

As a hopeful teenager in Australia, becoming a veterinarian was always an aspiration of mine. But because of my allergies, which often flared up on farm and pet shop visits, I was lead to believe that this career choice would be impossible.

Despite my love of anything with four legs, my contact with most animals resulted in a series of physical reactions, from uncontrollable sneezing and itching, through to red-rimmed swollen eyes and raised hives on my forearms. My mum joked I would just have to be a reptile vet. I didn’t think it was funny.

At the age of 15 when I started to become more vocal about my choice of career, my mum arranged a doctor’s visit to discuss the likelihood of overcoming my allergies. I was referred to an allergy specialist 3hrs hours away, and on my first visit, he ordered a skin prick test. Now, I wasn’t allergic to everything but the pink raised rings on my forearms around the allergens for grass, dust mite, dog, cat, rabbit and horse, was not an encouraging sight.

The specialist looked me straight in the eye, and said:

“If our treatment to reduce your allergies doesn’t work, it would be foolish for you to study to be a vet”

He recommended a series of expensive desensitisation injections, which I dutifully received at the doctors office regularly over a year. I remember sitting alone in my school uniform in the doctor’s waiting room, my arm stinging from another desensitisation injection, silently praying this would work.

It didn’t.

And after a year, we gave up on the treatment.

When it was time to choose my subjects for my final year of school, I chose all the prerequisites that I’d need to apply to vet school. I told myself that really, I would apply for human medicine, or maybe physiotherapy, but secretly, I made sure the path to becoming a vet was never closed.

I also started to really take note of my allergies, to try to learn how to control them. Soon, I learned that I could safely pat my friend’s pet dogs and cats, as long as did not touch my face, washed my hands, and didn’t sit on any furniture where they slept. I found I could take horse-riding lessons outdoors fairly safely, but being inside the dusty barn was a no-go.

I also found that my allergies tended to decrease the longer I was around an individual animal. While I had been very allergic to my family’s new kitten, by the time he was one year old, we could safely sleep in the same room with no consequence. Now, allergic reactions decreasing with familiarity is not something that happens to every person (and sometimes it can even make them worse), but for me, it was a little victory that made all the difference.

The one thing that really made me believe that I did have a chance to be a vet, was when I attended the open day for the Veterinary Medicine course in my city. There, I met a vet student who mentioned that she was allergic to animals, but was still enjoying the course! And since then, I’ve met dozens of vets and nurses who find ways to manage allergies in clinic!

When the time finally came to put in applications for Vet School, I did it. I thought back to my doctor telling me I was foolish, and I applied anyway.

And in my case, the doctor’s concerns were unfounded.

As a full-time vet who treats over a dozen animals a day, my allergies are better than they have ever been. For me, the more time I spent around animals, generally, the better my allergies have become. Now, I very rarely have a reaction to a dog or cat in clinic. Rabbits, Guinea pigs and horses are a weakness, but I know how to control my allergies so that I am still able to work effectively.

The Survey

Allergies in the vet clinic aren’t that uncommon. I asked my veterinary colleagues on instagram about their experiences with asthma and allergies.

Of 116 veterinary responders, 22% said they had asthma, and 35% said they had animal allergies. The participants in this survey were self selected, so I suspect that this may be a little higher than the real prevalence of asthma and allergies. But it goes to show that us allergic vets are not alone!

My Tips

Here are my tips for controlling my asthma and animal allergies as a vet:

Hygiene– Always wash your hands between patients with soap (up to your elbows), and be careful not to touch your face or eyes. Wipe down consult tables between patients too, especially if they are shedding in the consult. Sterility– If I’m seeing a rabbit or guinea pig and I know I’ll have a reaction, I wear a face-mask and gloves to handle them to prevent any allergens reaching me. I also change my scrub top if I’ve been holding the animal so no hair will be stuck to me for the rest of the day. Ventilation- Work in well ventilated spaces when there are allergens about, whether that be using spacious consult rooms with windows, or treating horses in the yard or field rather than in a barn where hair and dander has built up. Avoid fur- Vets shave a lot of animals on a daily basis, whether that be for wound cleaning or preparing for surgery. I ask my vet nurses to do this for me if possible, and I ensure all hair is in the bin before I get to work on an animal. The last thing I need is a clump of rabbit hair floating around or sticking to my uniform while I work. Carry Medication- I always carry a pack of antihistamine tablets and ventolin with me at work, for those situations when I know I can’t avoid allergens. Piriton won’t solve every problem, but sometimes these tablets give me just enough of an edge that I can do my job without sneezing and interrupting a procedure.

What I realised after graduation:

There’s one more huge reason why I believe the allergy specialist was wrong to tell me not to become a vet, although it took me almost a decade to realise it. And that is, that not all vets have to work directly with animals!

During my time with university, I met heaps of amazing accomplished vets who no longer had to handle animals during their day. Whether that be working as a radiologist or pathology consultant, or taking on industry, government or epidemiology roles, you should know that vets have skills that are desirable in many places beyond the farm and clinic. So even if I had been unable to work as a vet in practice, my degree in Veterinary Medicine would still have been incredibly valuable to me in less traditional roles.

Now, every person is an individual, and allergies can react in unpredictable ways. I do not condone ignoring the advice of your doctor, or taking any risks to your own health for the sake of your career. My allergies were never life-threatening. If they were, I would not have attempted a career in this field either, so please, don’t ignore your health care professional.

But just know that having allergies as a child is not an automatic indication of your ability to study veterinary medicine.

Further Information

If you’re a veterinary professional with animal allergies, I’d love to hear how you manage your allergies at work, and how its shaped your career- please leave a comment below.

And as usual, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out any time on my contact page!

And don’t forget to check out the other articles in this series:

• Can I become a vet if I’m colourblind
• Can I become a vet if I’m bad at maths or physics
• Can I become a vet if I have tattoos
• Can I become a vet if I’m squeamish or don’t like blood

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