Hypo allergic pets are a lie, my friend! We went to purchase a poodle, which are supposed to be the hypo allergic pets for dog owners. I was all ready to shell out the big bucks when my eyes swelled up and I started to sneeze. Maybe these Maine Coons are the real deal, but I’ll never know, because I won’t get fooled again.
She’s been tested, and the short version is “she’s allergic to everything up here” - garlic seems to be the only food issue, though.
The cat isn’t the dealbreaker; she says her allergies were just as bad before. It’s an annual thing.
Steve, we just take the cat (ludicrously long and thick hair) to the local groomer every 45 days or so, and they chop it down to just a little fuzz. Makes a huge difference in shedding and how allergic Betsy is.
Agreed on the “non-allergenic pets”. My SO’s parents had a standard poodle, and I swear I was more allergic to that dog than any other dog I’ve ever met.
The allergy tests have changed for the better nowadays. I recently developed worse allergies that were triggering my asthma, so I asked for an allergy test. Now they just take some blood and do test on it in the lab. Much better than that skin-test torture. Also, your allergies change significantly over time, so if she had an allergy test more than a couple of years ago, it might be worth re-testing.
I’m afraid I’m firmly in the “medication is your friend” camp, because its the only thing I’ve found that reliably helps. All the cleaning and air filters tend to help, but not solve the problem. Taking generic Claritin and Flonase everyday, along with asthma meds keep me able to breathe. I would rather take meds and be able to have furry friends in the house, than go without animals.
Not that J-Mac is actually considering this option, but this is a terrible idea in terms of allergies to cats - cats can transmit Toxoplasma gondii to unborn fetuses. What happens next? It fucks them up.
Dude, if you are dating a guy and you can’t breathe then maybe you should reconsider why you are dating the guy.
Breathing comes before relationships.
Basic First Aid: A for airway, B for breathing, C for circulation.
Nowhere do I see the word P3NIS in there!
It is the cat feces that contains the Toxo… hence preggos should never be in a house with cat litter.
But then again second hand smoke kills fetuses. So does the pollution in the air. Preggers shouldn’t handle telephones because phones are 400x more contaminated with bacteria than toilet seats. Kids should never be in cars either because highway driving can lead to fatal collisions.
Let’s just keep all of our kids in bubbles so they can become Little Bubble Boys and Girls.
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Bottom line: dude should either get rid of the cat or get rid of the pussy.
dude, is your gf’s name really “Betsy”?
if it is that should be reason enough to drop her right there… sorry man… but when I hear Betsy I hear cowbells.
Huh? A few points:
- I’m married, to a woman
- I was responding to a poster who said “allergies are no biggie, just give the sufferer a little reassurance and all will be well.” This is untrue.
- Huh? (Worth repeating)
My son’s allergist told us the opposite–as you tough it out, your body gets more allergic; if you stay away from the allergens, your reaction can go down over time.
My wife was extremely allergic to the world–my house has a HEPA filter attached to the central A/C, dust-mite covers on everything, the works.
The HEPA filter definitely made a difference–she could get relief pretty quickly after we turned it on. I’m not so convinved on the dust-mite protectors.
If she’s allergic to mold, it may be worth checking on ways to make mold less likely to grow in your house. Unfinished basement, mitigate any water coming into the house, that sort of thing. The only problem here is that it’s easy to go too far and end up spending a lot of money for a minor improvement (been there, done that).
If you get the air ducts cleaned, I’m not sure why you’d want to seal them off.
Instead of constantly dusting the bookshelves, see if you can get doors for them.
No! Let’s throw them out into cold night and let them raise themselves! Nietzsche, you little motherfuckers!
Okay, now that we’ve run to each pole of the others arguement in typical stupid internet argument style, let’s be realistic:
Bottom line: dude should either get rid of the cat or get rid of the pussy.
WERD. It sounds like ze cat needs to go. I have fairly serious allergies, to cats and other microscopic PARTICLES OF DEATH. I did, however, become attenuated to my girlfriend’s cat, the adorable, evil little fucker (the cat is adorable, too). That stuff whatever up there about allergies is no strict rule of thumb, nor does it really work that way.
HERE’S A BILLY D. SUPER MAGIC EXPRESS SOLUTION:
Get a neck cone for the cat. WAIT WAIT BEAR WITH ME. Now, check it: cats won’t/can’t groom with the neck cone on. This means no saliva in the cat’s dander. But you, Jasonificent Alouicious McCulloughcuddy, you need to also buy cat bathing/grooming products and groom him yourself every 2 or 3 days. What fun!
Also, having a bald pussy is indeed a good idea. The reason? Shaved cats groom themselves less often (typically, YCMV).
You also ought to think about sequestering the little bastard in one room for at least awhile. And, uh, not a room Heavens to Betsy needs to like EVER GO INTO EVER.
The result? Well, let’s just say it’s easier to give blowjobs when your nose isn’t plugged up SO I’VE BEEN TOLD.
Not everyone with bad allergies is allergic to cats. If she has grown up with cats and been around them for a while. It’s probably the not the cats. We have a good friend who thought she was allergic to cats. It turns out when she was tested that she’s allergic to dust, and the dust has a good way of finding its way in the the cats fur. Wiping the cat’s fur with a damp wash cloth once a week helped her. On toxmoplasmosis, most exposure comes from eating under-cooked meat, and a large percentage of the population already has antibodies. Cats contract it by eating wild game. Indoor only housecats should not present any risk of toxmosplasmosis. If you are really worried about contracting it during pregnancy, eat only well done meat, make some else clean the box - Or, wear gloves, clean the box with a bleach solution and wash your hands very well.
I have killer tree and mold allergies, for some reason they are really bad this spring. I too do the claritan, rhinocort, psuedophed (alert the DEA) dance. It seems as if they all just knock down the allergies a bit - nothing makes them go away. Plus I love being outside in the fresh :) air. I know that the allergy gods tell you not to be outside during peak pollen producing hours (12-3) or so, but I can’t help it. It’s torture to stay inside. I also work in a building that was built in the 70’s at the height of the last oil crisis. It received a huge architectual award at the time for it’s engery efficiency so it’s tight, and we had a flood last fall - the lower level is mold central. Being inside at work is as bad as being outside. Jason, I can comiserate with your girlfriend. However the best bet is for her to keep drugging herself up, and trying to avoid the tree pollen and mold (as my Dr. says almost impossible). Keep the cats.
I have a Kenmore 83200 air cleaner from Sears; one of the few things Sears sells that’s unique nowadays, and the top rated from Consumer Reports other then some obscure German model that’s 2x as expensive. This isn’t one of those ionizing air cleaners but just a HEPA filter, a blower, and a carbon pre-filter. It works really very well, but you need to keep the room door closed all day long to “sanitize” the room; it also takes 1-2 days to fully clean the air.
It worked miracles for my allergies though - i could literally feel my nose clearing up just walking into that room from the outside house air filled with pet dander and dust. It’s also fairly quiet. The thing about air cleaners seems to be - 1). Ionizing cleaners suck and produce ozone. 2.) If you ain’t moving air it doesn’t do jack. This cleaner will cost you about 200+ a year to operate though - 30$ every 3 months for the pre-filter, and 80+$ for the HEPA filter every year.
Supposedly there are also Kenmore whole-air house cleaners you put on your central air that are actually less to operate in the long run, but you have to have a Sears nearby that will install it and also, apparently, sometime they won’t do it unless your upgrading your whole air conditioning system.
So to summarize:
- Dump the girlfriend.
- Rename the girlfriend.
- Dump the cat.
- Do very strange things to the cat to get more sex from the girlfriend.
- HEPA filter on the central air (heating only here, unfortunately).
- Get a super air filter.
Is the consumer reports with the air filter comparisions available online somewhere for free? We already have a subscription, and I’m not about to shell out another chunk of money for access to this page. I swear, the lies and competiting standards for air filters is like bargain-basement memory shopping.
Don’t rename the girlfriend. Betsy is a kickass name. It does make me picture you as an urban hipster with your girlfriend Betsy riding around on the back of your Vespa, though.
You forgot “post pics of the girlfriend so we can start a poll”. Heheh.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/air-cleaners-1005/ratings/ratings-room-models.htm
Maybe this page ?
Oh cool, I thought that was hidden behind the paywall. Thanks.
Based on consumer reports and some product reviews scattered around, I picked up an Eureka 4870GZX. I’m a total dork I guess, but I was bellowing in triumph - it’s fairly quiet and picks up an unbelievable amount of dirt.
The previous vacuums (Betsy’s old one and my year-old cheap model) both would set her into horrible sneezing fits, but she doesn’t notice when I vacuum with the new one at all. So hooray! Great product; apparently it’s based on an expired Dyson patent.