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I won't say cats are evil. I know too many people (seriously - entirely too many) who have beautiful and loving felines in their homes. They find huge amounts of comfort and joy from them. But for me? Cats are toxic. They are really super cute, and I wish I could benefit from those cats who love to be rubbed and snuggled. But as it happens, if I stand next to you and you have cat hair on your clothes, I'm gonna react to it. If you hug me and I breathe more in, I'm going to react more. If I enter your house and cat dander enters my system on a regular basis (it takes about 10 minutes), it's gonna get ugly.
If you expect me to stay longer than 10 minutes, please preplan by mapping the quickest route to the closest ER because that's where we will be spending our quality time together..
In the past, my strategy has been to seek out and avoid. Friend, "Hey, you wanna come over and meet the family?" Me, "I'd love to! Do you have cats?" Friend, "Yea, we have one. She's great!" Me, "Oh. Sorry. I can't ever visit your house." Friend, with stupified look, "Oh. Well that sucks." And the friendship is now defined with an explicit boundary. Ugh. Have I mentioned yet just how many people have cats? Trust me when I tell you - an enormous amount.
But there's hope for me in this war against all things cat. Knowing I am allergic to the elements in cat saliva that attach to their dander when they groom themselves, I was interested immediately when I first heard that corn-based cat food amplifies those excretions. Cats are meat-eaters, so feeding them grain-based cat food causes THEM to react, and people with cat allergies then react to that reaction. Isn't this fun? In other words, feeding cats (and dogs) grain-based foods as their staple diet just ain't natural.
My neighbors have two cats and a dog. I love their pup, Hazel, and she comes over to hang out when her parents have to be away. Unfortunately, she also has come with cat dander on her and I've always reacted to it, which forced me to not pet her as much as I want to. Until this last time. Her parents decided to try changing the cat food from the grain-based food to a meat-based food. After a few weeks (and a bath for the pooch) I was able to snuggle up with Hazel when she spent the night without reacting.. !!! ... Holy crapola - is it working?!? I tested it further and sat inside their house for about 20 minutes... They had cleaned and opened the windows and OMG I was able to sit there be fine! It's hard to fathom that after 43 years of waging this war, I might actually have a small battle under my belt..
THIS, my friends, is sooooo newsworthy!!
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