Suckage: Allergic to my family's cat

[ipwrcanto]

I've never been allergic to anything. We got a kitten two thursday ago. We've never had a pet before.

http://www.thevolf.com/albums/Kitten/kitten_home011.sized.jpg
http://www.thevolf.com/albums/Kitten/smudge.jpg

We've all already bonded with him except that I think i'm allergic. I've had flu-like symptoms since last Tuesday ( was out of town fri/sat/sun/mon ).

Doc thought i had strep, but second doc said no way, its allergies. AHH!!!
Hopefully seeing an allergist tommorrow (if i'm lucky, POS HMO). Anyone else have a similar experience that decided to take meds instead of getting rid of the pet?

[Jenny]

I think I'm allergic to mine, too. :( We've come to the realization after 8 years of being married and having cats the whole time, that my allergies aren't just seasonal. LOL So... let me know what you find out. Cause I don't wanna get rid of my 3! :(

SOOO cute btw!

[hapoo]

thats a beautiful cat!
I'm allergic to cats too, one of my friends had one and everytime i'd touch it my body would start itching and i'd get flu symptoms. After being expossed to it over an extended period of time it got much better though it never went away.

[Markel]

Certain kinds of air purifiers can help with pet allergy problems. We use one that many people find to really make a difference.

[ipwrcanto]

We got a cheap-ish Holmes $150 one from target just to test it i guess. I do think we need one of those IQair ones for $800 cuz the space/room the cat is in is like 1200 sq ft or so.

Also, apparantley male cats are the most allergen-producing ,where as neutered males are the least. He's scheduled to be neutered December 1st, and I'm hoping this will help along with me taking Flonase and whatever other meds the Allergist will (hopefully) put me on tommorrow. Unfortunatley I can't be tested for allergies tommorrow and have to make an appt for that, so he may not even want to give me any prescriptions. I got the flonase from my grandpa who had an extra new box.

Anyway.. Just wanted to know if anyone else lives with cats that's really allergic, or was.

[Yossarian]

you might develop an immunity to it after a while. i had some reaction when we got our newest cat, but it went away after about a month

[ipwrcanto]

Yeah that's what I'm hearing from people. I'm hoping all these little things combined will make the allergy go away and w'ell be able to keep him! I'll let u guys know what the allergist says.

[GracieBayb]

cats are evil... i am allergic and i hate them, yet i am stuck feeding my friend's cats for the next 5 days while she is up north with her family for thanksgiving - anyone in the OC area, want to give me a hand with the little monsters? :hihi:

[cheapie]

it's a freakin' cat and you're spending all kinds of money to fix your allergies? throw the dang thing out the window!!!

or give it away.....

http://www.users.tsn.cc/kraker2/pics/fun/free%20cat.jpg

[TofuNinja]

so mean. Pets are like a part of people's family.... you wouldn't throw out a son or a daughter like that....

You kitten is cute. It would suck if you have to get rid of it.

[ipwrcanto]

No kidding. You wouldn't understand unless you had a pet (and i dont mean a fish or rat).

[cheapie]

i have a cat. which we used to adore. until we had a son. then we were like "wtf were we thinking?" the cat is cool but it's just an animal

[johnnymk]

I'll take my cat over any human. She's a real sweetie!

I think there is something you can put on a cat's coat to make you less allergic.

[cheapie]

lol. that's because...well, nm. i dont want to presume you don't have a kid. but once you have a child, animals are just, well, just animals.

[TofuNinja]

I guess to some people ;)

[johnnymk]

Kids are cute when they are small, but my kitty will always be cute.

[TofuNinja]

my kitty is cute too. He's like a member of my family.

[kei2]

Cheapie, I'm not usually offended by your posts but I thought that photo and comment were jacked up. Just because your cat doesn't mean anything to you...

volfman, I agree that a HEPA filter can help relieve allergies. My sister is highly allergic to pet dander (dog, cat, etc) and she takes over-the-counter allergy medication for it. It works really well. I'm not positive what brand it is, but I want to say Tylenol Allergy.

[oblongmelon]

lol. that's because...well, nm. i dont want to presume you don't have a kid. but once you have a child, animals are just, well, just animals.
Unless they are dogs...then they are like having another kid around..*I-heart-my-chocolate-lab*

[chrissy]

I dunno, I kinda agree with Cheapie. I was fine with the two cats and dog we have until the baby was born. Now they put more stress on me. Mostly because the dog and one cat sheds continueously and Patrick ends up being my human dust mop :( And then, of course, we can't have normal animals. One cat is very picky and emotionally sensitive and any differment of a normal routine will through it into spasims and make it physically sick. The other cat is allergic to itself or us (we assume) because it sneezes all the time. And they are not clean sneezes. I don't mind getting up and sweeping the floor daily, but with Patrick, it's almost an hourly thing :(

The puppy, well, she just chases shadows and lights -- sun coming in and bouncing off her dog tag onto the floor drives her nuts. She has ruined two carpets by biting at the floor chasing the lights!

I want to give them away but with their quirks, it would be hard. And Donnie and the older kids would be really upset. So, yeah, I would choose my kids over the pets.

[TofuNinja]

Why choose, just treat your pets like members of your family. Tis all.

[kei2]

Yeah seriously. Besides, your pets didn't choose you; you chose your pets. So to consider throwing a cat out of a car or something is pretty messed up. That'd be sort of like somebody adopting a kid and then just leaving him/her somewhere.

[ipwrcanto]

Update:

So, I've gotten alot better. I don't let him in my room anymore and the allergist put me on Flonase and Advair until I get tested and what not. Its helping a bunch and I play with the cat and hold him and stuff all the time, as long as I wash my hands and change my shirt if i was holding him, theres really no problems.

Still cough sometimes but nothing terrible. I usually go through the whole day coughing once or twice, and at night i'll cough just a bit more, but for now its fine.

So hopefully we're keeping him! :)

[Lolita]

Let us know what the allergist tells you when you get tested.
My friend had the same cat for the past 13 years and about 3 years ago I started having allergic reactions to it (and with that came allergies to many other things) so long story short, after I got tested it turns out I'm allergic to pretty much everything :( I'm heartbroken that I'm allergic to dogs...but even that won't stop me from getting one when I move out...I'll just have to take allergy shots or something

stupid allergies, how do they just come out of nowhere? :(

[GracieBayb]

i loooove dogs - especially mine, Clancy! i just hate cats... evil little fockers