I have had this allergic condition for over 20 years. I have been on just about every medication from nasal sprays to flownase to Beconase (steroid nasal spray). Beconase being the worst with the exception of a nasal spray (can't remember the name) I was on about 15 years ago which I believe caused me to have a ministroke, I was on absolutely no other medication at the time and while driving a car my eye began to twitch for 15 minutes and then my hands went numb and as I spoke to my friend who was in the passenger seat my words began to slur so I stopped the car, found a water hose and rinsed out my sinuses and walked about 10 blocks until I started to feel better. Back to the subject. As I have stated, for over 20 years I believe what I have is a cat allergy. Whenever I'm around cats my face turns red, my throat begins to swell, the glands in my neck enlarge, my ears itch, my body feels as if it is overheating, and this will continue sometimes for hours until I cough up not dander but an actual strand or multiple strands of whatever type of fur happens to come off of said cat. Once I have cleared the fur from my throat all of the allergic reactions seem to rapidly dissipate. All of the articles I have read about cat allergies state that it is not the fur, it is the dander that is supposed to be causing this reaction. I have never coughed up a ball of dander. As I have stated before these allergic reactions continue until I cough up the fur and then rapidly dissipate. I have a few questions. First, am I crazy? Second, does dander ever naturally separate from the fur or is it fully integrated with it for life? Third, if it is the dander and not the fur itself why does my allergic continue until I actually cough up fur and then my allergies rapidly dissipate (within a minute)? I am 40 years old, can ride a mountain bike up to 100 miles within a days time, do pushups on my thumb tips, and I'm extremely fiscally fit for my age at 5' 10" and 165 pounds. Please post if you can scientifically explain the relationship between fur and dander. Oh, and as for medication, I gave up on that a long time ago. The best thing I have found for when my allergic reaction is at it's worst to this cat dander/fur is either a pure saline solution (warm salt water) or just sniffing salt by itself.

Yes, cats and dogs get allergies. As long as she doesn't rub her eyes or squint, the discharge is clear, and there is no redness, it isn't a problem and wiping out the excess tears is fine.

One of our cats is very attached to my DH. When we'd returned from a family visit out-of-state, we noticed that she had missing patches of fur (about an inch long) on the undersides of both front legs. When a biopsy showed nothing, and cortisone injections really didn't help, and it got worse (tops of front paws, back legs, more missing fur from front legs), we pretty much felt that it was likely OCD behavior/separation anxiety. We took her to a dermatology vet who agreed that our theory was pretty likely and started her on Elavil (amitriptyline). It's an antidepressant (for the OCD/sep anxiety) that also tends to have anti-itch properties, is generally well-tolerated by cats, with no side-effects (that we can tell), and the derm vet feels that there are no contraindications for long-term/lifetime usage. It helped eliminate the "overgrooming," and our cat will likely need to remain on it for life (attempts to reduce her dosing schedule down to every 3rd day weren't successful, so we bumped her back up to daily dosing, and will go back to every other day in a week or so and see if she's ok on that). We use a transdermal gel, and rub it inside her ear. Two hints if that's what they try on your cat next: we had the compounding pharmacy (Belvidere Pharmacy in NJ) compound it in a more concentrated formula so we can use less cream for the same medicine dosage (it's thicker and it takes less time to rub it in than the more watery and larger am't of the "regular" concentration). Also, I try not to go too many days before wiping out her ears with a wet piece of paper towel or gauze (the cream builds/cakes up over time). She actually likes when I do that--maybe she thinks I'm grooming her! Good luck!

The only symptom she has is a high ammonia smell in the litter box. Her urine never smelled so potent before. She hasn't been tinkling in the house or exhibited any unusual behaviors. But then I noticed she was going outside (in her pen) so just wanted peace of mind that she was healthy and not peeing too frequently. Other than that, the Health Meter cat litter turned green, too (should stay yellow). The package doesn't say what green means... I can't believe the first vet gave me all of that incorrect information and was trying to put my cat through dietary changes that weren't in her best interest. I don't believe her second opinion vet thinks she's going to have problems. The only thing that stood out for him was the USG levels. He said that there was an at-home treatment for hydrating a cat but didn't even feel it was necessary at this point. He said she was okay to stay on the Prairie food (I don't really have any easy options) but canned would get more fluids in her system. That is all that we are doing right now. I was going to fill up her pool this weekend to see if she'll play in it and drink some extra water, too. I would like to do some more research on food and see if she can eat something even better than the Prairie. The foods cause immediate diarrhea so I need to wait on that. Right now she appears to be battling the darn herpes virus again from the stress of going to the vets. So, I'm really trying to get as much canned in her as possible because that's how I can get the Lysine into her. It took me months to get her respiratory problems resolved, I thought she was home free.