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Bathe your pet

Research shows that frequently bathing your pet reduces the allergens found in their dander.

A 1999 study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology compared the levels of allergens in dog dander before and after a five-minute bath with an unnamed “proprietary shampoo” (which could describe an allergen-reducing shampoo such as Groomax). The researchers found that the bath reduced the dogs’ allergen levels by about 85% (pdf). But the allergen levels returned to normal in about three days, which suggests that dogs need to be washed at least twice a week.

Similar studies using cats have had mixed but generally less encouraging results.

Next: Clean cages