I *think* he's a boy, but strangely :-) he doesn't like me fiddling about
back there.

No, Shmogg is a grey "ticked" tabby. IBKFergus isn't *quite* all black,
there's a sprinkle of white hairs on his ears, his front paws, and a more
conentrated sprinkling on a small patch on his belly - but it isn't a
*white* patch, so much as "salt and pepper". And I can see tabby stripes on
his head. I'm wondering whether he is actually black, or just a very dark
brown.

Yowie

Of course you are right.  It's certainly something to be considered, just as
it is possible that Eric could develop severe health problems and need care,
or that I could develop severe health problems and need Eric to care for me
*and* Oscar.

If one of my loved ones needs better care, I will have to adjust my life
accordingly.  That's reality.  And, at least currently, Eric works close to
home and could cover some of the care duties if need be.  But I see a
distinction here.  It's one thing to accept the risk that a loved one may need
extensive care; it's another to volunteer to provide that extensive care on a
routine basis for a series of foster babies.  They are equally deserving, but
I have to draw the line somewhere.  And while I could ask Eric to help me care
for Oscar if she becomes ill, it's another matter for me to volunteer him as a
foster caretaker.

Eric is compassionate with animals, but it's not clear to me that he has the
visceral reaction that I do.  I know that he has consciously chosen to reduce
his own stress level because the formula of Eric plus stress tends to equal
health problems, so he has learned to react in a more stoic manner.  I, on the
other hand, am one of those people who feels the highs are worth the lows, and
I seem to live this philosophy pretty regularly.

Sorry for the late response ...

Yup.  That's true.  The shelter would not let me take home "desirable" cats
like this.  The idea was to try an older cat who wasn't getting any nibbles at
the shelter, anyway.  A break and some human-time might get the cat to eat
better, be more alert and generally start looking more adoptable.

I really botched the job when introducing Eros to our house.  I kind of
plopped him on the floor and hoped they'd work it out.  Well, Eros made
himself right at home after a day of hiding in the basement; the problem, as
we know, was Oscar.  I think it is possible, although not certain, that if I
actually followed the commonly-discussed cat introduction rules, Oscar might
be a lot more receptive.  I felt so bad for Eros having to leave his previous
home that I wasn't willing to do the right thing for the first few weeks, and
we all paid for it.

Honestly, though, I think Eric had the right idea in waiting a month before
making any decisions.  I'm already starting to think, gee, Oscar's so happy
now, do I really want to rock the boat?  In an ideal world, though, I'd love
to have more than one furry pet, and it would be especially great if the other
pet provided Oscar with some companionship and also if we could home a cat
with few other prospects.  It seemed to me that Oscar mourned Puma's loss; if
she could get along with a sedate older dog, why not a sedate older cat?   I
know it's a different matter, but it seems possible.

My two thoughts here are:

1) I don't know how much time it would take to trigger the allergy

2) With 40-60 cats in the cat area, and a meeting room used by everyone, there
will be so much cat "stuff" in the air that I'd be surprised if he *didn't*
get an allergic reaction.

Still, something to consider.  As I've said, he's asked me to wait a month and
see if my feelings are still strong.  The rational part of me actually agrees
that this is a smart way to try to separate "guilt about giving up Eros" from
"wanting another cat."

Here you go.  It looks like color is more of an issue than gender; at least,
as far as gender goes, I can only find reference to the fact that neutered
males are less allergenic than "whole" males.

I will grant you that it looks like the articles on color may all stem from
the same survey; it's not clear to me that there's been independent
verification.

I found these by searching google for "cat allergies color" and "cat allergies
male".

Color:

http://www.infopet.co.uk/pages/5021c.htm

[quote]
Dark-haired cats more likely to cause allergies in humans

source: Roger Dobson
Independent May 1 2000 p1

Allergy specialists have discovered that owners of dark-haired
cats have a six-fold possibility of suffering an allergy compared
to owners of light-coloured cats. Owners with and without
allergies were questioned on whether their cats were permitted to
go into their bedrooms, and on the colour and gender of their
cats. Gender and being allowed into the bedroom do not appear to
be linked to allergies, whereas there does appear to be a link
between colour and allergies, perhaps due to the composition or
thickness of cat hairs.
CA,HH
[/quote]

http://www.drgreene.com/21_305.html

[quote]
At the year 2000 annual meeting of the American College of Asthma, Allergy,
and Immunology in Seattle an interesting cat-hair study was presented. People
with dark-colored cats were 2 to 4 times more likely to experience moderate or
severe allergic symptoms than people with no cats or with light-colored cats.
There was no statistical difference in these symptoms between those with
light-hair cats and those with no cats! I would guess that these results are a
reflection of the concentration of cat antigens in the different hair colors:
dyeing your cat.s hair won't help!

[/quote]

http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-1-51-288-756-1,00.html

[quote]

Cats with dark coats may provoke more sneezing, congestion, and itchier eyes
and throats than lighter-hued felines (The Jour. of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology, Jan 2000).

Researchers at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn studied 60 cat
owners: 29 with moderate allergy symptoms, 14 with mild symptoms, and 17 who
had no symptoms at all. Those with moderate symptoms were more likely to own
dark-colored cats than those with mild or no symptoms. In fact, the odds of
having moderate symptoms were six times higher with a dark kitty.
[snip]       
[/quote]

Gender:

http://www.felinerescue.net/allergic_to_cats.htm

[quote]

Researchers studying ways to reduce cat allergenicity found some cats
consistently shed lower levels of allergen. Unfortunately, there's no
practical way to identify these "hypoallergenic" cats in advance. But an even
more important allergy predictor is hormones. It turns out male cats shed
substantially greater amounts of allergen than females. A neutered male, on
the other hand, sheds significantly less.

[/quote]

http://www.allergyescape.com/cat-allergy.html

[quote]

If you have a male cat that is not neutered, consider getting him neutered.
This reduces the amount of allergen.

[/quote]

I often wonder about hair texture. Most cats do not bother me at all, but
some can make my eyes itch. Cats with a rougher or thicker texture hair make
my eyes itch if I pet them a while. I wonder if certain hair texture hangs
on to the saliva more.

The only difference I have noticed is, I am more allergic to orientals.
One time I had a siamese on my lap for half an hour, my eyelids swelled
so much I could hardley see. The cat was perfectly happy though, so I
could move him. :-)

This makes sense.  Rather than the "throw two cats in a room together and see
what happens" approach, if I did this, I would keep the new cat in a separate
room for a week, first, before any contact would occur.  I'd follow all the
suggestions about wiping both cats' scents on commonly used items, and if all
of that seemed okay, putting Oscar in the room while the other cat roamed.
Only after all of that would I let them see each other.  I would also read up
on cat-introduction techniques and follow suggestions very carefully.

As I see it, this would give the shelter cat at least a week of having a big
room (the guest room) to itself, and the smell of only one cat, rather than a
small cage and the smell of dozens of cats.

Even with all of these precautions, would you still consider this to be a bad
idea?

Showing from a house is a great idea.  I noticed that Eros "showed" much
better when I visited him in his condo than when I took him to a meeting
room.  The meeting place had so many interesting smells that he had very
little interest in any human who might be in the room.  The condo was
familiar, so he was much more relaxed, ready to play and cuddle.

Yeah, that's why I quit even lurking at H+B - there was more flaming there
than helpful advice.

Hugs,

CatNipped