Allergic to cats?

[ginismom]

My father-in-law had two cats downstairs and I used to go downstairs and pet them almost everyday. I never had any reaction to them at all. Well, my husband and I moved out of state and there was this beautiful cuddly cat that does not belong to anyone. I've been feeding it and practically taking care of it.

I started to notice that I had a rash like hives on my arm that was tingly and itchy, but soon went away later in the day. Recently, my throat and ears started to itch. Now, my nose is runny and I have a chronic cough and I'm wheezing. I also felt like I had a fever but I took an aspirin for that. I started to take claritin and I'm using Robitussin for coughing.

Now, I'm thinking of not caring for this cat that I absolutely love but I don't think I can be around her. Is there anything else I can do or take?

[ginismom]

Thank you. Well we moved from NJ to SC and we did come last April to look for houses. I was ok and felt great. When we finally moved I was the same until we saw the cat and eventually let the cat in to eat. My husband, the kids and I fell in love with it and it started to follow my around the house. I was washing my hands every time I would pet it. Then my ears,nose and throat started to itch. Now I'm having a bad cough and can hear myself wheeze when I breathe. The cat is long haired and yet I feel so bad for it because t is a good cat.  Your right though, I need to get tested for allergies and see if there is anything that I can do.

Thank you.

[April2]

You say you moved out of state. Could you be reacting to something in this new state? There could be different types of trees, plants, grasses, etc. in this new state that you hadn't been exposed to. If you moved from an arid climate to a humid climate, you could be reacting to molds.
It's possible to have a reaction o one type of cat and not to another. Is this new cat long haired? Also, if it's a stray, it could be carrying around more pollen, dust, etc. on itself that you could be reacting to.

The only way to know for sure is to get tested for allergies. This would give you a clue as to what types of things to avoid. We had my son tested and found out all kinds of trees, etc. that he's allergic to. He also tested alergic to dogs and cats which surprised us because we had pets. Now we just have him keep the pets out of his room and he washes his hands after petting the cats. We also started him on the allergy shots and they work great. He's 19 now and seems to have his allergies under control pretty well. If he had ever gotten real bad with the allergic reactions like shortness of breath, etc., I would have gotten rid of the pets, but he didn't want us to get rid of our pets, so we just made compensations. We also have a dog who's supposed to be better for allergies because of his hair. He's a maltese mix. Poodles, Malteses, Bichons, they're all good dogs to have if you ever think about getting a dog. As for cats, sometimes getting a short haired cat is better, but it depends on how bad you get a reaction. I don't know if any of this helps or not! I'd go for getting tested first and see what's going on.