Dear Kirsty.

im working in an allergy ambulance and your question made me curious.
so i looked up in the literature(www.pubmed.com)
,but little is known about cross reactivity between domestic cats
and their wilde relatives.
There is no indications for shots( a so called immuntherapy would last for
at least 2 yours,wouldn be usefull for a contact which lasts only a few
weeks)
There is a special "emergency" medication,normally used against anaphylactic
reactions in patients with severe allergy against honey bee and wasp bites.
(Which is normally much more severe confronted with the maximum of cat
allergy)
so from my point of view,this emergency medication should be(more than)
enough.
It consists of cortison tablets and antihistamine tablets.
also helpfull would be a  preventive premedication with antihistamines which
protects you from an allergic upset.
conclusion:i would take normal antihistamine tablets,expose myself to a cat
and see what happens.
otherwise i would take the emergeny medication.(but then again,its very
unlikely than cats cause the same exessive reaction like wasp bites,and
unlikely as well that a cat allergy is cross related with a tiger(nothing is
known).

Have fun in Bolivia

peter

Can you call a local zoo and ask to talk to someone who handles the
Big Cats like the vet  and ask if this question and if the people that
handle the cleaning of the cages, etc., and the vets that are allergic
to domestic cats have problems when having to be in the area of the
Big Cats cages, when cleaning, etc.?

I personally, cannot go to a stock show where horses, or cows are held
in their stalls, and if they have peed there on the straw on the
floors. I love these two animals, and when our city has the Stock Show
each year in the spring, can't attend. Even at circus' or rodeo's.
One year our city at this stock show had the Clydedale's famous horses
an I went with my husband and they had peed in the straw and oh!boy!
had to get out of there quick, the smell was so strong that it kicked
up my asthma.

Just my two cents worth.

Michelle