who's crazy enough to adopt a cat while being allergic to cats??

[ryleeroo]

me thats who. I'm Jayla and this is my kitty cat boy Rylee!

da boi.PNG

• ryleeroo
• Apr 2, 2017

Rylee was a stray found by my neighbor who is a vet tech on the side of the road after getting hit by a car. She took him in and rehabilitated him, he had issues peeing and the accident left him with no feeling in his tail, so they amputated it. He just has a little nub! As much as I love animals(I spent my summer vacations watching Animal Planet) I am allergic to cats and dogs. In December of last year my neighbor asked if we could cat sit him for a night, I forget the reason. He came in a little scared but after 2 hours he was in my lap. I feel in love, he even got my mom to snuggle with us, who at first wasn't fond of cats. My mom grew up in a cat hoarder situation and never even entertained the idea of getting an animal... my fam just aren't animal people. Or so I thought. My neighbor tells us how he's an amazing cat, but he is extremely aggressive with other cats. My neighbor has... alot of cats. Long story short, we decided to adopt him after she said she was having a hard time finding a one cat house. I thought the cat would be just mine, but my mom has become extremely attached to him! She calls him her grandson 

It took me a while to get my allergies under control but it was honestly all worth it, he really is amazing! He loves to snuggle and whevener I get up, even when he's sleeping, he will get up and follow me! When I cook, clean, shower, he's there. He just turned a year old and I have done alot of research to make sure I'm doing the right things. I got a bunch of toys for him, his favorite seems to be these soft sparkly balls. He brings them to me and he will run around the house chasing them. I let my room open at night and he will take a ball and chase it around my bed. While I'm sleeping. At 3 am. I try to play with him at the same night every night, I think he's getting bored of our games though. Any suggestions? He just loves soft materials to pull around in his mouth,we have a wand with sparkle balls on it and we used to be able to play for hours, I think because we did this every night with little variety he got bored of it. I just got DaBird today, he seems interested. 

I also wanted to know if any of the users here have problems with urine smell. As I said before, my mom has been in a hoarding situation and is very sensitive to the cat pee. Honestly I'm really good about cleaning out whenever he goes, multiple times a day. On the weekends I clean the entire litterbox out. Recently a friend came over and told my mom he smelled cat pee, even though he has NEVER peed outside the litterbox. My mom wants to put it in the basement now, which I really don't want to do, it's inconvenient and I'm afraid that he will end up peeing on the piles of clothes instead. Without insulting my mom, how can I explain this to her, she loves Rylee alot but is now determined, despite him using the litterbox very well, to move it.  

I love reading these threads and your kitty stories, I am a new kitty parent and I just want him to be happy. Thanks for any advice! 

 

[Alejandra Rico]

Wellcome to the forum!
You remind me of one of my friends, who is allergic to cats and has not one, but two!
Your Rylee is quite handsome, I can't wait to see more picks of him

 

[catmom marcia]

Me too!  Now I have 7, one adult foster and one foster momma and 2 babies.  As if that were not enough I also work part time at a cat hospital!  UGH!

 

[ryleeroo]

Me too!  Now I have 7, one adult foster and one foster momma and 2 babies.  As if that were not enough I also work part time at a cat hospital!  UGH!

Wow that's amazing, how do you do it? I got a special inhaler and nose spray and I feel so much better!

 

[foxxycat]

Maybe you can tell your mom that putting the litter box in the basement is similar to putting the human toilet 3 flight of stairs up and it would be cruel to us to make us do it. Sounds crazy to move it in the basement. Also you can always put one down there and keep the one up stairs. And see if he uses it. Sometimes you would be surprised. I have four cat boxes for my 2-I used to have 3 but one passed away last summer and I never got rid of the other catbox. They only use 2 out of the 4 but it's there if they need it. One cat only uses one in the hallway=I tried moving it into the office out of sight for visitors and that was a no go. she peed on the rug. So tell mom he may start peeing where it is supposed to be.

What litter do you use? I prefer those light weight clumping litters.

I am assuming he's neutered too. Unneutered male pee STINKS. You can sprinkle baking soda in the catbox too. I do this because one has stinky poo and it really helps.

I am allergic to cats too. I am not allergic to mine too much. If I go to a shelter with cats-I sneeze like crazy,

long haired cats bother me LESS than short hair.

I have two calicos. one is short hair=who I am allergic to- Pumpkin face. And a long hair Honeybee. Her fur never bothered me even from the start. Pumps has dander so it could be why. She has always had this problem and we tried to change to higher protein content food and she refused to eat it. She is my junk food kitty. She hates wet food and hates fancy dry food...but hey she's 14 now and we just feed her what she will eat.

Do you have more pictures of your baby?

 

[ryleeroo]

Well she always talks about our aunt who has her litterbox in the basement, but she has only one floor besides the basement! We have three!! I told her something along the lines but I never thought about getting another one, thank you! I'll try that.

Yep he's fixed and we use Okocat litter, it's all natural wood and absorbs very well. We also use the Arms and Hammer Brand of Deodorizer.  AND we open the door to air out the room. I think the thing is that it's in the kitchen and her room is right next to the kitchen. I honestly think she's more worried ever since that friend came over. It.... really isn't that bad! But then again I sleep upstairs.

I think as I was with him more I just got desensitized to allergies. I was really good and got air purifiers for my room and the living room and have a special inhaler. I feel fine now, from time to time I get itchy in my throat. 

Oh they sound lovely!! Rylee eats Sheba perfect portion twice a day with 1/8 of dry food during the day and 3/8 at night. He will eat anything, never has he denied food. But I try to get him to play and he is very finicky about his toys. He only loves the sparkle ball and Da Bird and 2 wands. No catnip mice, jingle balls or anything hard. My fav pics of him are http://www.thecatsite.com/g/a/330281/tabbies/

thank you for the advice, give your kitties a snuggle for me~~

 

[Kieka]

I have three cats and use an inhaler, nasal spray, allergy pill and did shots for 5 years. Plus we have no carpet, leather furniture and no cloth curtains. It took me about 9 months to a year with each cat to before I could stop using my rescue inhaler and adapt to them. Totally worth it, lol.

If he is okay with a covered litter box some have built in charcoal air filter inserts. It can help with the smell some too. You can also get a blacklight and just double check rooms to make sure there are no spots he has gone that you didn't notice. Honestly, any home with any pets has a smell unless you are cleaning the entire house daily.

 

[banbury]

Who's crazy enough to date a cat lover while being allergic to cats? My boyfriend!

He uses an inhaler, nasal spray, and allergery pills. Though, he also has seasonal allergies and I don't think our cats have necessarily made things worse for him. To be fair, he was involved in the decision to adopt both cats (adopted at separate times)... not so much with the rabbit I already had before we started dating.