I need a fucking cat

I want a friend to cuddle

I had a cat from age 6 to 22 and was fine, it was just when I went to college and then she passed I de-aclimated and now I get itchy eyes

Waves hands

whatareyoudoinginmyswamp: Advise me

I stopped fostering because I thought I was allergic and it turned out not true, I now have 3 cats and a backyard of Friends

I am definitely allergic though :/a

Okay so we tried different litters. Unless you have allergy tests showing you are allergic to cats, it is possible the dust from clay litters is fucking you over.

Even if I'm nowhere near a litter box?

yeah it gets in their feets

Like my brother's cats' boxes are on a separate floor and I react to them

Hmm

Worth looking into

We use a corn based litter and you can see if someone just zoomed out the box to your blanket sometimes bc.
Little yellow paw prints. :|

Lol

I think I am probably for real cat allergic but I will see if I can find out for sure

We make our bed by hiding or covering our pillows bc otherwise you go to go to bed and you see the skin of dust and you just know
I just know someone had a rad poop then immediately napped there

As they do

some cats like to ROLL in their litterboxes when they are recently cleaned, like a dust bath...

Go get a test! It's not bad at all, I did it for food allergies you'd do it for environment I believe

Oh Quest does them for like sixty bucks, that's not bad

so yeah what cyn said, that dust can rly get everywhere bc of kitty

If you are Allergic Allergic it's a different beast but I was not, I don't believe, and changing litter + air purifier + getting the cats in my home spaces seemed to do the trick

every new cat that comes into my home sets my sinuses off for at like 3 days. It's like I have to adjust to the new butthead. But then I do and we good.

My eyeball literally swells up if I go too long around a cat without meds so SOME allergy is happening

jayjayjayjayjayjay: or they go in just because you cleaned in. They don't use it but just really dig around like to make sure you got all the poops???

I feel like my cat allergies have gotten milder as I've gotten older but I haven't been around cats often enough to really tell for sure

it also seems to vary from cat to cat tbh

I have issues with dogs so I get it. I know hairless cats are a LOT of work though that is an option.

Goreo: I once asked a doctor if I'd reacclimate and she said probably but couldn't guarantee it, so I've always been hesitant to go down that path

my best friend is allergic but some cats set her off and others don't really

moonfell: my friend's cat never really seems to bug me but he is the only special boy

Diet can do it tbh

It could be something in that cats food that isn't or is in your bros cats food, it will be present in their saliva/on their fur and cause issues

I do want to clarify it has basically been all cats minus Sir William, it's just my brother's cats are the ones I see most frequently

What's the longest you've spent with a cat recently?

Uhhhh recently was the non-reactive cat for a half hour or so when I went to give him cuddles while his parents were on vacation

I really feel like I just needed them to live with me so I could adjust. Or like, I needed them to be in my environment and not just a thing I experienced from time to time? But I don't know how that would translate if you had a legit allergy to then

Before that probably an afternoon at bro's house last time I visited

whatareyoudoinginmyswamp: yeah my concern is I never adjust and then am miserable

I would def take the test and if you aren't allergic try spending like a weekend with a cat! If you are then. Idk.

If you ever marathon in this part of Florida, just come to stay with us and I'll rub Fat Louie on you

I think I will! Test first and see what it actually says

I would be honored to be rubbed by Fat Louie

I'm sure you could also explain to a rescue and try fostering, and if after a week it just doesn't work then that's fine

sooo if you want to do it officially, you can also do immunotherapy, where you go to an allergist, get a panel done for what you're allergic to, and then they give you little shots of them every week (and eventually less) until your allergies are all but gone

Did mine set you off?

i was Also allergic to cats and dogs and uhhh like 30 types of plants until i did that shit. it's a lot of time and pokes but it sure does do what it says it does

theggnator: I can't remember if I reacted at all or not but it wasn't a huge problem since you vacuumed and I dosed myself and didn't get cuddles

I've found that the more space a cat has to live in, the slower I react. But I have an apartment not a house.

I can't remember if Vince or Howard ever went after you

cancerously: adds this to the list

I think Howard came to sit by us

I know it has something to do with their saliva/dander too.... my parents had a cat who set people off unbelievably a lot, more than any cat I've ever seen.

I've heard if you wipe the cat they don't lick themselves as much and you lessen the spit/dander situation

Seconding Cyn on the litter thing, the clay types are a massive irritant, are actually straight up awful for your lungs and people should really be masking up when cleaning those.

I use wood litter. It's much better but my fucking god they make a mess with it.

I wish I remembered what kind we used for our cat. Probably clay.

But there are also some cats that produce less dander naturally.

Clay is the gray sort usually. Very common.

We used newspaper pellet litter when Louie had surgery and it was fine but not sustainable, so we now use Worlds Best Litter and no issues.

I had allergy shots as a teen and now have absolutely zero reaction to the kitties I later adopted after it triggering itchy eyes and asthma as a kid?
My dad had allergies become unmanageable after the death of his cat too...I really think we underestimate the effect of stress on the system!

The allergy shots were super easy and while some of my allergies were too bad -- dust I could never ‘level up’ on, every time I got a more condensed dose than the first dilution I’d need asthma rescue – cats I went through the whole thing and it was great

That's neat, I never knew how they worked

theggnator: yeah, it’s dander! Some cats probably have drier skin and when they shed there’s dandruff.

Diesel made my friend's mom sneeze uncontrollably from 900 miles away because he'd slept on my hoodie that I wore to the airport when they picked me up, lol

effervescible: yeah it’s pretty interesting! It’s essentially like a very slow vaccine -- slowly conditioning your immune system to calm the fuck down

Fascinating

My BIL did the exposure thing for dogs. They now are fospice to an elderly terrier mix.

I react to dogs too but weirdly only when they lick me

Just being around them is fine

It is so tricky to pinpoint sometimes - I had not grown up around cats or ever really been around them (my dad is allergic) and the first time I housesat for a friend with a cat, their cat was super sweet & loving and gave me tons of head butts and kisses. I was miserable the next two days with allergies so I assumed I was full on allergic to cats

a few years later, I fostered a few cats and was totally fine?? so I took a chance and adopted my own, and haven't had any issues. the only difference I could think of between my cat and the one that made me super allergic is my cat (two cats now) is shorthair and the one I housesat for was long-haired

Simple things to cut down on the dander can be conditioning your cat to allow brushing and possibly bathing on the regular to keep their skin and shedding in better condition.

there are also certain types of cats that produce Less Dander but ymmv on those

When I moved away from my cat I experienced stronger allergies when I would visit

To lessen allergies in general, we always gave her regular baths, but they were still There

OKAY so this is something i know about real well

the litter has already been covered but the true culprit is the cat's saliva itself. when they groom it obviously ends up on their fur and as it evaporates you breathe in the protein that causes the reaction, but there are ways to mitigate it!

Would you be open to a hypoallergenic breed?

There are no -completely- hypoallergenic cats, but completing the allergy test should tell you the degree of your allergy and if you can afford to expose yourself to a hypo.

if you need to avoid the saliva (aka dander), look for short-haired cats rather than long-haired cats, that alone will help. a vacuum with a hepa filter and vacuuming 2x a week will also help

there are foods and supplements specifically intended to help reduce the production of the problem protein -- i haven't used them so i don't know what the cost is on that

and while some people will talk big about "bathing your cat regularly", that's honestly not necessary. there are bathing "wet wipes" you can get that aren't terribly expensive, and wiping a cat down with those a couple times a week will minimize dander pretty dramatically

if you work it into their regular grooming routine (brushing + nail trimming), it's super easy and only takes like. an extra minute

and then, any antihistamine you take for regular allergies will help with cat allergies too. for some people that ends up being all they need

Mine enjoy the wipes. I got them for when they roll on the patio or in the litterbox

(and then if you're open to a purebred rather than a shelter mutt, curly furred breeds tend to produce less dander than non-curly haired breeds, so that's your rex cats)

(EXCEPT for the selkirk rex, which is long-furred)

yeah i follow someone who has “hypoallergenic” breeds because they have allergies. They have a devon rex, an oriental shorthair, and a bengal

You could always get a bald cat

But in all seriousness, are you better with dogs? Because a dachsie or a terrier are cat sized, and I believe wire haired are less allergy aggravating?

Plus a terrier will help deal with any mice that haven’t heard that your place is a mouse free zone

Hairless cats require more upkeep in the way of bathing and are not better than normal breeds for dander.

piper is faaaairly hypoallergenic, she is a siamese (possibly a mix) and even though she's very fluffy she seems to be much less allergen generating

my sister is EXTREMELY allergic to cats, like, can't be in a house with them for more than an hour without getting extremely sick, and she is able to hang out at my place overnight with only a few sniffles

but also if you at all like little dogs... given you like to run that could be a good option too

but my terrier does not help with mice whatsoever thats false advertising

i was going to come in here and suggest allergy shots but it sounds like that's already been covered! afaik that's the best way to try and get past an allergy (source: my dad is an allergist lol)

Jack Russells are rodent machines.

LuceButNotLiterally: sizlaria: I would actually love a dog but our co-op bylaws forbid animals. But people have cats so it's either base-covering but really aimed at dogs, or cool in general as long as you don't make it obvious. But a dog would be obvious.

Fairless cats also sometimes do have hair weirdly enough, I got to meet my friend's sphinxes and they had soft peach fuzz

Like when they shaved Howard

LMAO yes

If I ever get a house I'll get a dog then

aconite: ty for the wipes tip! I would not have thought of that

Do you have any cat café type places near that you can test the waters with?

our local pet store and the spca straight up just lets people hang out with the cats