I've been reading a lot about raising cats and I've decided that I'd love take the plunge and adopt two boy kittens from the same litter. The only thing that is making hesitate is that my nose gets slightly itchy and a little congested after I've had a cat's fur in my face.
We had cats when I was a kid and I don't remember any allergy problems. My dad and stepmom currently have an elderly female cat that pretty much stays out of sight because there are three wild and undisciplined Golden Retrievers in the house. No allergy symptom. She finally came out and let me hold her. Because I've been thinking about getting a cat, I buried my nose in her fur. A few minutes later my nose got a little bit itchy and I seemed to develop a experience some slight congestion.
In the last two weeks, I've had two 45 minute visits in the "cat room" at my local humane society. The room is pretty small, probably 15ft x 8ft, and had six or seven adult cats roaming, sleeping and playing with visitors. The staff seemed to keep the cat room reasonably clean, but all of the cat trees/furniture had a hefty amount of fur all over them . It seems like there had to be a lot of airborne cat allergens in that room. I picked up a couple of females but they didn't like it so I played with a beautiful 2.5 year old Blue Russian male using the feather-on-a-wand toy. He was mostly staying inside a box on a kitty condo, but I coaxed him out for some petting. He turned on the purr machine pretty loudly! Then he went back into the box and he scratched my finger as I put my hand in there. The fact that he scratched me didn't bother me; I had gotten him riled up and he probably mistook my hand for a toy. That scratch produced a little bit of blood, but did not swell up at all then and over the next couple of days. Near the end of my visit, he popped out of the box and I picked him up. Then, for the purpose of testing myself for allergies, I buried my nose in his fur. For the first time in my 45 minutes of being in there, my nose got slightly itchy and I felt a bit of congestion in my nasal passages. I've never been sneezy or developed red, itchy eyes.
I haven't washed the shirts I wore during those visits. When I rub them in my face, I get the mild itchy nose and congestion.
So it really seems that the airborne cat allergens don't bother me in the way that some people have bad reactions from just being in the same room as cats. But getting fur in my nose seems to produce some mild itchiness and congestion. I imagine that getting any foreign material the size of animal fur could cause that. I'd like to say that I can live with it, but if I'm adopting two kittens that will be strictly indoor cats, I'd have to live with it for up to 15 to 20 years.
So I'm thinking that I'd keep the cats out of the bedroom so they can't lay on my pillow or other bedding. I'd also keep PJs in the bedroom and not wear any fur-covered clothes to bed.
What do you think? Is anyone else in this boat? Have you made it work? Did your sensitivity get better with time?
We had cats when I was a kid and I don't remember any allergy problems. My dad and stepmom currently have an elderly female cat that pretty much stays out of sight because there are three wild and undisciplined Golden Retrievers in the house. No allergy symptom. She finally came out and let me hold her. Because I've been thinking about getting a cat, I buried my nose in her fur. A few minutes later my nose got a little bit itchy and I seemed to develop a experience some slight congestion.
In the last two weeks, I've had two 45 minute visits in the "cat room" at my local humane society. The room is pretty small, probably 15ft x 8ft, and had six or seven adult cats roaming, sleeping and playing with visitors. The staff seemed to keep the cat room reasonably clean, but all of the cat trees/furniture had a hefty amount of fur all over them . It seems like there had to be a lot of airborne cat allergens in that room. I picked up a couple of females but they didn't like it so I played with a beautiful 2.5 year old Blue Russian male using the feather-on-a-wand toy. He was mostly staying inside a box on a kitty condo, but I coaxed him out for some petting. He turned on the purr machine pretty loudly! Then he went back into the box and he scratched my finger as I put my hand in there. The fact that he scratched me didn't bother me; I had gotten him riled up and he probably mistook my hand for a toy. That scratch produced a little bit of blood, but did not swell up at all then and over the next couple of days. Near the end of my visit, he popped out of the box and I picked him up. Then, for the purpose of testing myself for allergies, I buried my nose in his fur. For the first time in my 45 minutes of being in there, my nose got slightly itchy and I felt a bit of congestion in my nasal passages. I've never been sneezy or developed red, itchy eyes.
I haven't washed the shirts I wore during those visits. When I rub them in my face, I get the mild itchy nose and congestion.
So it really seems that the airborne cat allergens don't bother me in the way that some people have bad reactions from just being in the same room as cats. But getting fur in my nose seems to produce some mild itchiness and congestion. I imagine that getting any foreign material the size of animal fur could cause that. I'd like to say that I can live with it, but if I'm adopting two kittens that will be strictly indoor cats, I'd have to live with it for up to 15 to 20 years.
So I'm thinking that I'd keep the cats out of the bedroom so they can't lay on my pillow or other bedding. I'd also keep PJs in the bedroom and not wear any fur-covered clothes to bed.
What do you think? Is anyone else in this boat? Have you made it work? Did your sensitivity get better with time?
