From Sneezy to Breezy: My Guide to Getting Past Cat Allergies

Me and Cats - we've just never been able to get along, at no fault to either of us, it's just the way it is. It's hard to find something cute when simply being in the same room results in a feeling that I can only describe as cutting onions and having an asthma attack while rolling around in poison ivy. Okay, maybe a bit dramatic, but if I were to touch a cat, that would probably become an understatement - if you have allergies, you know what I mean.

It's hard to stay away from cats though, and no matter how bad it gets, you convince yourself that you'll "be fine" so long as you "don't touch" - until your the airborne dander that every cat gives off finds its way into your nasal passage, or even just onto your skin. 

Saying that, if you were to tell me a year ago that I'd be living in a one-bedroom Toronto apartment with a cat (albeit Michelle's cat), I would probably say it sounds like torture - but here I am - sniffle free since we've moved in, and able to put my face in the belly of the beast (quite literally). 

It took some work - and a LOT of planning, but Michelle and I knew that we needed to come up with a solution if we wanted to a) keep Marty, and b) stay happy. Either I'd live with my allergies and resent her for them, or we'd get rid of Marty and she'd resent me...it's actually a pretty serious thing that I would recommend new couples talk about. Pets aren't easy to just get rid of, and if you can't handle the one your partner has, it can really put you in a predicament. 

So how did we do it? Here's some tips for you if you're suffering from cat allergies, and you're not willing to get rid of the cat (or the person who owns it)...

1. Clean, Clean, Clean.

• We started off on the right foot because we were moving into a new place - had we lived somewhere that was already inhabited by cats, we might have not been so lucky. We cleaned the place top to bottom, and made sure all of our existing stuff was dust and dander free before bringing Marty in the new home

2. Clean some more (the cat this time)

• Before bringing her to the new place, we washed her - with a hypoallergenic shampoo. There were a few at the pet store, but most have the same ingredients, so we went with the most cost effective solution. It wasn't a fun bath - considering Michelle hadn't bathed her in years (literally), but we knew it had to be done. 
• We looked into a liquid called 'Allerpet' which is a solution that you wipe your cat down with every other day - but after reading some research articles about it, it turned out that it's really no more effective than wiping your cat down with a wet cloth once per day, so that's what we've been doing. It keeps dander from drying and flaking away.

3. "How Am I Supposed to Breathe with no air?"

• Before moving out, we looked into our options for air purifiers, and despite their price (they're a bit pricey), Michelle was pretty adamant about buying one (or a couple). We checked the usual places (Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, etc.), and found a few we liked, but one day after browsing in FactoryDirect, we found the same Sunbeam ones we liked at Walmart for like 25 dollars cheaper - so Michelle bought two of them. They're rated for certain size rooms, so we figured if we had one in the bedroom and one in the living room, it should hold up. These things are operating 24/7 at our place.

4. Medicine

No really...
you snort it

• For the year prior to moving in together, I was doing what any allergy sufferer would do - load up on any mixture of antihistamines and allergy medicine. Sometimes it got so bad that I had to suck back entire bottles of cold liquid, just to get rid of my symptoms fast - I was like a drug addict, out of necessity. Then my dad mentioned how heavy antihistamine use can affect your heart...and that was that - I knew that moving in together, it wouldn't be that "simple". 
• The Michelle's allergy doctor gave her a wonder drug...and if you were to describe it to people how it really is, you'd think we were crack addicts - it's a white powder that you snort every day....but it really does work - since I've started using it too, I've had little to no problems with even my SEASONAL allergies, which can get pretty bad sometimes. Whether this is the main reason for my "cure" or not, it's at the very least a fail-safe.

On top of these things, we just make sure to clean our couch, our bed, and clothes OFTEN, and do NOT let your cat near your closet. The last thing I need is to start testing my body's willpower by having dander all over my wardrobe. 

Anyway, hopefully this can help at least ONE person, who is desperate for some relief from cat allergies. It might take some hard work, but sometimes it's your only choice. I definitely wasn't willing to put any sort of strain on Michelle and I living together, and with the torture that comes with allergies, I have no doubt that that's what could have been.

Instead though, we're left with this little terror...

I can live with that