Mitch. Ever heard of allergy medicine? I have two cats, am allergic to
cats, and take Claritin (over-the-counter) and am just fine.

Either you want the cat or you don't. I'm really getting sick of this
crap.

Mitch,  I don't know how severe your symptoms are but we also have
allergies/asthma in our family.  While my daughter does have some allergy to
cats she has much worse allergies to pollen.  What's the pollen count right
now in your area?  (Go to www.pollen.com and you can sign up for this as an
email alert.)  Also, it's winter and the wood smoke in our city from
fireplaces is a definite problem, so bad, in fact, that the city has
allocated "burn and no-burn" days.  In other words, you could have several
factors here.  Also, living in Albuquerque, we have a major dust here and
that also is a factor.

What really has helped our family a lot is to get HEPA air cleaners for the
bedrooms and we also got one for our den area. Initially our allergist
recommended them; HEPA filters remove something like 98% of all airborn
pollutants from the air.  You can get them at Target plus their replacement
filters (We have the Holmes and Environcaire brands).  They do cost but are
extremely worth it and would be beneficial for your allergies in any case.
In the past, our insurance company paid for one for my son when the doctor
said he needed to have one in his bedroom; don't know if that would work for
you.

After all you've gone through to help this poor kitty, try and see if any of
these suggestions may help you. Worst case and you have to find a home for
her, do the right thing and find her someone who is patient, kind, will not
declaw -- you know what to do...

In any case, lots of encouragement and purrs from our family for you to be
able to work this situation out .
hope this helps,
Christine Burel

I have severe allergies to my three cats. I went to the allergist and he
recommended Clarinex, a steroidal nasal spray like Flonase, an air filter
with a hepa filter, and encasing of my mattress and pillows. When I did all
these things, ALL my symptoms disappeared! Hope you can give it a try and
not give your cat to that inhuman neighbor. Good luck
Judy F

Please don't give the cat to your neighbor if they're going to digit amputate
her.  As to your allergies, if you're game to try a natural remedy, this has
worked wonders on my husband's allergies to cats  He uses the animal dander
one.  You can buy this at most any health food store or a Whole Foods:

http://www.bioallers.com/

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

try the tablets suggested in the other posts, also bath the cat on a regular
basis helps too, well it worked for a friend of mine anyway.

don't let the neighbour have her and declaw her!! why would she want to do
that?

Mitch,
Regarding allergies, I hope that you will not give up until you try the
suggestions made elsewhere on this post.  Meanwhile, please print out the
declaw information you saw earlier and show it to your neighbor so that she
will understand what the procedure is and why it is not only cruel, but is
also unnecessary.
Annie

Mitch, it's clear you're not a cat-lover. If you're truly a cat-lover,
you wouldn't complain about a trivial thing such as severe allergies.
Suck it up. Get good HEPA air filter and air purifiers (prepare to
initally spend about $500 for the really good ones plus about $70 for
filter changes every 6 months or so).

circa Sat, 06 Dec 2003 13:58:37 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Mitch@hotmail.com (Mitch@hotmail.com) said,

Then change the environment, and not by ditching the cat. Try
different medications. Vacuum frequently. Get rid of carpeting. Get
HEPA filters. Seal the mattress and pillows you sleep on with anti-
allergen coverings. Wipe the kitty down with a damp washcloth weekly,
or even daily.

I am severely allergic to cats, and I've still managed to live my
whole life having them. The benefits I receive from my cats FAR
outweigh the work of managing my allergies.

I think I'm going to go take a nap with my cats now.

Laura