I'm so conflicted: I want to try keeping the cats but scared about my health which honestly, the fear has been exacerbated due to everything that happened this past year. idk if I'm even being rational at this point and need some third party advice/clarity on this.
I just adopted two kittens exactly a week ago. I didn't think I was allergic to cats. Never lived with them but I *thought* I could pet them just fine. My mom is really allergic and would break out in hives whenever she touches them but that was never my experience.
Since bringing them home, I had some mild allergies like itchy eyes/throat and sneezing and runny nose, but it got worse over the week and breathing became really difficult. I had an asthma attack (and accompanying panic attack) and was sure I had covid. Went to the urgent care and they took a covid test and allergy test. Allergy test said I'm allergic to cat saliva and dandruff and covid test came back negative (thankfully).
I'm conflicted because these are such great cats but I can't pet them, have to lock them out of my room, can't play with them for too long, etc. I was taking benadryl every night but doctor told me to stop and take reactine and flonase, which has helped congestion but I still have trouble breathing, feel like a have a permanent head cold, and sleeping at night is tough. I WFH so it's really tough to focus, to the extent that I asked to go back to the office this week for some "fresh air". BUT the whole point of me taking in these kitties is to be with them, which I can't do if I'm away 8-10 hours a day. Doctor recommended I rehome the cats since I could still get covid and covid + asthma wouldn't be good. He also said to try immunotherapy but this takes a while to work so for months or maybe a year I would have to keep my kitties far from me....which is hard in a not-so well-ventilated 600 sqft apartment.
I feel guilty for not taking an allergy test before getting my cats. They're rescues so I wouldn't take them back to a shelter. I feel like I have one option: foster the cats until they get adopted by another family, then start immunotherapy. After a year or two, I'll try fostering before adopting another cat to ensure I can live with a cat. I also feel guilty because I haven't told the rescue this yet....selfishly I'm hoping my allergies will get better in a few weeks so I can keep them, but they're just getting older and it will get harder to find them adopters when they're not kittens if I find the allergies just get worse.
Anyone got better with allergies over time?? I've heard that some people can improve but it can take YEARS and I can't avoid my cats for that long, even avoiding them for a few months seems cruel. I've also heard that some allergies can get worse which is more common with allergic asthma and I'm scared of that.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/orzfce/new_cat_owner_with_allergies_and_im_thinking_of/
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