This is my experience as well. I’m allergic to cats and I’m also allergic to dogs. But live just fine with my SO’s enormous, very hairy pooch as well as my cats for years and years.
My cousin recommended a product that you wide through your pet’s fur once a week. I find it hugely effective. I used to use a kind that came in a bottle, but the liquid is supposed to counteract the allergen in pet dander. You don’t need to shampoo the pet, just rub it in the animal’s fur.
When I first got Lenny, my nose would run like a faucet and my eyes would get red and puffy. I rubbed this stuff in his fur and it worked just as my cousin described - awesomely! Eventually, I got used to Lenny and didn’t need it any more.
ETA: I also had to use it on my finacee’s dog for awhile, but he doesn’t bug my allergies anymore either. Oh, and initially my doctor recommended getting rid of the cat. I had Lenny for 14 years.
My concern is that you and your optimistic SO will decide to take a flyer on getting a cat and then she’ll find that she can’t handle it and you’ll have to get rid of the cat. As you know, they are much easier to acquire than to get rid of responsibly. Cats, that is; for SOs, mileage varies.
With your SO not knowing if she can even tolerate the cat, or if her allergies can be controlled, or how much of an expense or PITA such control would be, I suggest you “test-drive” the cat before you make a permanent commitment. I would check into borrowing a friend’s cat (if the cat is well-adjusted enough to have an out-of-home holiday), or house-sitting for someone with a cat, or fostering cats through your local humane society.
I’m about as allergic as Knorf seems to be, and have decided a cat is a dealbreaker for me too (sadly, because I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a cat, but it’s not worth it IMHO). But if the SO is willing to consider it, I think we need to respect that.
Having said that, Jodi’s idea about test driving a cat is super smart. You’d hate to go through everything (including spending a lot of cash on a special breed) only to find out that it truly is intolerable.
Definitely. As I mentioned the spouse is allergic, and ended up getting shots which were successful. However, before that (several years before, when we were living in apartments) we decided to get a cat. He said that his allergies weren’t that bad and one cat shouldn’t be a problem. So Phantom, a little black kitten we got from somebody in the newspaper, entered our lives.
It took eight months for the allergies to get intolerable. Everything seemed fine–we didn’t realize that it was getting incrementally worse. Then one weekend we went away overnight–when we came back, the spouse got progressively worse throughout the evening (from being away from the cat and then being hit by the dander all at once, we suspect). He ended up having to go to the emergency room. (As emergencies go it was pretty minor, but he was having some trouble breathing.) At that point, we regretfully decided that Phantom wasn’t going to be able to stay with us anymore (he also had some issues with using the litterbox and generally being a bit psycho, but we were willing to work with him on those.) Fortunately, my mother had a friend who was willing to take him, and he got himself a good home. But I still feel bad about having to give him away.
It worked well for me and my ex who was much more allergic than me and we were cohabitating with my cats, Lenny and Squiggy. I can’t vouch for the wipes. We used the stuff that comes in a bottle. I think the brand we initially used was Outright, and they had a cat-specific formula. We switched to Simple Solutions’ “Pet” formula that is supposed to work for both cats and dogs and the results were just as good.
We’d rub about a capful into the critter’s fur once a week. You don’t have to soak them or bathe them or anything. Just make like you’re putting mousse in their hair. It pissed them off, but we wouldn’t sneeze anymore. We could play with them, pet them and groom them and do all the normal pet owner stuff.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say my cat allergies were about 6 and my ex’s allergies were about 8.5. Gradually, we both got used to Lenny and Squiggy and we stopped needing to use it. The only ongoing issue was that if Lenny accidently bit me while we were playing with the Sock Puppet Monster (he did NOT break the skin), his saliva made the play bite puff up in an allergic way. But then I just had to wash with soap and water when we were done playing.
We had a friend whose cat allergies (on the 1-10 scale) were about 9.9 and he used to be able to come over for dinner when we were wiping the cats down weekly, but not after we stopped.
I’d recommend fostering a cat and using the allergy product to see what happens. There are a lot of cat rescue organizations who are looking for temporary homes for cats. That way you’ll be able to better gauge your level of reactivity and see if the Simple Solution product works for you before you commit to a lifetime of hair in your house.
Zyrtec works for me. I was horribly allergic to cats as a kid, and as I’ve gotten older it bothers me less and less, but I have two cats in my house right now and no problems with Zyrtec and a gradual acclimation to the beasts.
You might also consider starting out with a foster kitten or cat to see if your SO will be able to handle it before you fully commit to adopting.
My wife is allergic to cats (and dogs, and dairy, and soy and everything else in the world) and we have a Devon Rex . (We had two until recently, as one just died ) She is significantly less allergic to them than to other breeds of cat. The reason, we were told, is that they only have two out of the three types of hair that most cats have, and that for some reason people react to them less. I don’t know if that lack of the third type of hair is the reason or not, but we had two of them for 8 years and they did not bother her allergies much. I second the advice about keeping them out of the bedroom, as ours LOVE to sleep on our pillows.
They are pure bred cats, and as such will cost you around $600-800 dollars, and my experience is that purebred cats are more delicate, health-wise, than “regular” cats, so budget for some extra vet visits.
All that said, I would definitely recommend the Devon breed. They are very distinctive looking and generally very friendly and loving.* The breeder we first bought from gave us a 30-day “allergy trial” so we could be sure that my wife’s allergies would not kill her with the cat. You might ask for that if you decide to go for it.
A friend’s hubby is allergic to cats, and she really wanted one, so I “loaned” her one of mine. The deal was that if her husband’s allergies couldn’t be tamed, I could always take my cat back. Her husband started taking Claratin, they installed a screen door in front of the bedroom, and they bought a HEPA filter. The bedroom and computer room were both a no-cats-zone, but other than that, the cat had the run of the house.
It worked out well, and the cat, Mena, lived out the rest of her life with them.
You know, I don’t think our OP’s SO deserves ppbth’s weirdo at all. Bad Muffin! Bad Muffin! squirt bottle
A friend of mine is allergic to half the world. Class visit to the botanic garden? He couldn’t come. Trekking on the mountains? A month’s worth of shots beforehand and he got to carry the first-aid pack, since half of it was his anyway.
He didn’t use to be allergic to cats, but when he got that allergy his dad had to call the ambulance Both him and the cat he’d been petting were fine… but I still think that, while there’s things you can do to minimize the risk, you need to be aware that there may come a point when you have to find a home for the cat.
How severe is the allergy? A friend was only mildly allergic, and hooked up with an SO whose cats predated him. He had some minor problems for a while, but now the only time the allergy bothers him is if one of the cats is right on his face for a long time, like the middle of the night.
Do you have any allergies yourself? Because if you did, you’d know that they’re miserable to live with, and the potential for asthma downright dangerous. Medication can help, but can also frequently barely touch them.
I also find it disturbing that you think it’s perfectly acceptable for your SO to spend her life dosed up on meds just so you can have a little fluffy toy.
Sorry for the hijack, but how did you do this? I have to keep my office door closed when I’m playing Warcraft or else all the cats get in and drive me crazy, which means that in the summer it gets unbearably hot in there because the AC doesn’t vent correctly with the door shut. Can you install a screen door without removing the regular door? Where do you even find screen doors that fit interior doors?
Still cat related, but tangentially (sorry). To avoid hijacking further, could you PM me? Thanks!
Short version, got a screen door, cut it down to fit, stained it to match the woodwork, and installed it just like you would for an outside door. However, we live in a 70+ year old house with real walls, so that may make the difference.
Yes, I put it in to keep the cats out of my bedroom while still being able to leave the windows open and run the central attic fan. I do still have a regular, solid door also.
I’ll have to get details from my partner who did all the work, but I’ll be happy to PM you with those.
) She is significantly less allergic to them than to other breeds of cat. The reason, we were told, is that they only have two out of the three types of hair that most cats have, and that for some reason people react to them less. I don’t know if that lack of the third type of hair is the reason or not, but we had two of them for 8 years and they did not bother her allergies much. I second the advice about keeping them out of the bedroom, as ours LOVE to sleep on our pillows.