bye bye kitties.

dTas · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject: bye bye kitties.

going to have to let go of my cats. my new wife is terribly allergic to them. she loves them to death but just can't comfortably live with them. when they're around she starts itching and wheezing, sneezing and coughing. the air purifiers make sleeping tolerable but now she's scared to touch the kitties or everytime she interacts with them she starts feeling terrible.

my wife cries every day over this decision but its either live or let go of the cats. :(

darskayairene · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 148

What do you mean by "let go"? I hope you are not going to chuck out poor kitties outdoors? This will be cruel ! You should give them to some friends or place an ad in a newspaper - maybe somebody will adopt them.

dTas · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:53 pm Post subject:

oh no way! we're definitely going to be responsible. we're going to give them to a non-euthenizing pet shelter. the shelter screens potential owners and matches them with animals that would best meet their needs.

out younger cat (4yrs) will definitely be adopted. he's pure white with blue eyes, totally loveable, purrs all the time, loves to play and be picked up etc etc.

my old car (12 yrs) may not be adopted. we may have to keep her until she naturally goes. she sheds less however and not as irritating to my wife allergicly.

the sad thing is... the white cat is her cat. its killing her to have to let him go. :(

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

That's a difficult decision to make, to let the kitties go. I'm mildly alleric to cats, and now that I only have one cat, it's not so much of an issue. Best of luck, and whatever decision you make will be the right one.

dTas · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject:

Purr: when you had more than one kitty how many did you have?

how much did reducing the number of cats help?

did you have long hair? short hair? what kind of cats?

i'm wondering if just reducing by one cat, to one cat, would be enough.

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

At one time, I had 3 cats, Mr. Kitty, Blaze and Purr. Now I just have Purr. All the cats were/are short-haired.

There were a couple of things I did to alleviate the allergy situation:

:arrow: purchased 2 HEPA air filters, one for my bedroom and one for the sunroom (3 season room the cats likes to hang out in)

:arrow: vacuum frequently, both the floor and furniture

:arrow: keep the cats groomed, i.e. comb them out regularly

:arrow: bathe the cats that would tolerate water. Blaze took baths like a champ, and I gave Mr. Kitty a bath now and again even though he didn't like it. That helped enormously with the cat dander.

:arrow: change my bedding, especially pillowcases when they might lay, frequently. Another option might have been to restrict them from the bedroom entirely

:arrow: change the cat's bedding frequently. They had several cat beds, with removable covers that can be washed.

It has been a big difference, with only 1 cat instead of 2 or 3. There's a lot less pet dander and fur around. But, I still keep up on the above things. I'm very prone to sinus infections, and I don't want to risk starting one because of an allergy attack.

darskayairene · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 148

Good advices, Purr. Dtas, I think you should follow them and maybe this will help. It is very difficult to part both for a human and for his pet. There are no desperate situations, we must be able to find way out of any difficulty. May be a vet will be also able to give you some advices? I hope everything will be ok.

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

One thing I was wondering, what kind of flooring do you have? Carpeting or hardwood floors? If you have carpeting, the fibers might be trapping and holding allergens.

dTas · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:28 pm Post subject:

yes, we have carpeted floors right now. in the next 6 months we're goign to be ripping out most of it and putting down hardwood floors.

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

The environment might improve with the hardwood floors, simply because they're easier to clean and won't hold allergens. At least that's I've heard from the people that have them. Maybe that might help, if you want to try to keep the cats, or at least one of them.

squirrel · Joined: 22 Jun 2004 Posts: 155 Location: Bucharest, Romania

:( Please try not to let go of the kitties!

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

Another thing that might help is confining the cats to certain rooms in the house. Keeping the cats out of the bedroom is one idea.

dTas · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:36 pm Post subject:

unfortunately its an open house. upstairs there's the guest room, bedroom, sitting room and then kitchen/dining/livingroom (all one space).

downstairs there's the dance studio and the office.

my wife needs to access the bedroom, sitting room, and office which only leaves the guest room that the cats could be restricted to. that's not a very happy life.

Purr · Joined: 25 Jun 2004 Posts: 553

dTas wrote: unfortunately its an open house. upstairs there's the guest room, bedroom, sitting room and then kitchen/dining/livingroom (all one space).

downstairs there's the dance studio and the office.

my wife needs to access the bedroom, sitting room, and office which only leaves the guest room that the cats could be restricted to. that's not a very happy life.

I don't think the cats would mind as much as you think they would. They'd evenutally adjust. And perhaps you could let them out for restricted visits.

I was wondering, why does she have a cat, if she's allergic?

dTas · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:25 pm Post subject:

she loves cats. they're soft and cuddly... they purr when they're happy. they have cute little faces... etc. why does anyone love cats.

she's not a dog person. she'll tolerte dogs and believes that dogs are usefull and serve a purpose. but she really loves cats.

it tears her up that she can't have one. but they just make her feel terrible.