I'm Allergic To Cats But I Love Them - Is There Any Way I Could Make Volunteering/fostering Work?

[tiquetoque]

So I absolutely love cats but sadly I'm quite allergic to them. My allergies aren't so severe that they'd put me in the hospital, but they're bad enough that I can probably never own a cat again. I grew up with one but I pretty much couldn't ever breathe through my nose and it triggered my asthma as well. I do find that after being around a cat for a while, I become somewhat desensitized, but there are still always symptoms. I've considered immunization therapy but from what I've researched it doesn't look very promising, and it's very expensive.

The thing is, I'd still like to be able to interact with cats and help them, but maybe in a more limited way. I've considered both volunteering at a shelter and fostering kittens. I think there are ways I could make it work. I could wear an allergy mask and gloves as needed. I could wear disposable smocks to keep fur and dander off my clothes. For fostering, I could have a "kitten room" for the babies and keep them out of my main living areas.

I'm just not sure if it would work. And I have a lot of questions:

- Would a shelter even allow me to volunteer or foster knowing about my allergies?
- Would I be allowed to wear my protective gear in a shelter? I imagine in some cases gloves would even be required so that part wouldn't be unusual.
- Could my protective gear be confusing or upsetting for kittens? Would not always being able to see my entire face be bad for them? I'd be able to handle them without a mask at least some of the time.
- Would kittens be okay spending most of their time in one room? I could get a pen for my living room or something so they can still see me and get plenty of attention. But I wouldn't be able to let them onto my furniture, into the bedroom, etc.

I know there's a lot more to volunteering and fostering. What I ultimately care most about is what's best for the kitties and I'd want to be able to provide the best care for them. In any case I'm definitely not in a position to do this now - my work schedule wouldn't really allow for it and I can't have pets in my apartment. But it's something I'm considering for the future. I guess the best thing I could do is contact a local shelter with my questions and concerns. I would want to volunteer with them for a little while to get some hands-on training and test out my allergy protection first, too.

Anyway, please let me know what you think, or if any of you have experience caring for cats when you have allergies or ideas for minimizing allergies.

 

[tangers40]

Are your allergies the type that are treatable with medication? For example, could you use an antihistamine/inhaler before leaving your house for the shelter, like a pre-treatment each time?

I am not allergic to cats, but am apparently allergic to SOMETHING (haha!) as I take 3 allergy medications every day, year-round. I am also a pharmacist, so I'm pretty familiar with allergy medications and regimens if you have any questions.

 

[molly92]

I'm allergic too and had asthma issues around cats growing up. I did get allergy shots as a teenager. I confess I don't know how expensive they were, but I think insurance covered at least some. They worked really well for me. I still have allergy symptoms but it's very rare that cats will trigger my asthma anymore, and I used to not be able to even visit a house where cats had once lived. I have heard that allergy shots work best at that age.

But there are still lots of tricks to manage allergies without shots. Antihistamines, of course. I take a Zyrtec pretty much every day and also Flonase seems to help me. I started off volunteering, even before I started allergy shots, and it made a big difference when I took medication before going in to volunteer.

All of the solutions you mentioned I think would be totally fine. I don't think most cats would be scared of gloves or a mask at all! There are also lots of jobs to do at shelters and rescue groups that don't require much direct handling of the cats.

It's very common for foster cats to be kept in a separate room of the house, which a lot of fosters do to make it easier to clean and sanitize and just have a room dedicated to the foster kitties. With cats, they don't so much need a lot of space as they need enrichment-toys, scratchers, places to climb and hide, etc.

Something I learned very quickly while volunteering is to wash hands with soap and water often and not touch your face! On the occasions when I did forget to take a Zyrtec and accidentally rubbed my eye, I would find some relief in flushing my eyes with a bit of water or clean wet paper towels, and also a lot of nose blowing.

When it comes to having fosters in your home, I found that using a waterless shampoo on the cat every so often made a big difference in my symptoms. Regular vacuuming and cleaning will help too.

 

[LTS3]

Some shelters have volunteer positions that don't involve direct animal handling. Things like office type work, washing bedding and dishes, collecting money from donation jars placed in local businesses, helping with fundraising, etc. A local shelter here has an animal themed activity group for toddlers and volunteers are needed to read books, help teach toddlers about animals, etc. Ask your local shelters and rescues what opportunities they offer.

 

[Nixiiie]

Hey there! I suffer from cat allergies myself, they always were pretty bad for me and would trigger my asthma. After being around a cat for a while they would subside but then the itchy eyes, runny nose, awful wheezing would spurt back up. I own TWO kitties now though! Without any expensive therapies. I'm on an allergy medicine daily that helps and i'm PERFECT with my babies now. Not sure if you're on any allergy medicine yourself but this is something you might be able to look into! I was using like prescription brand clairiton