Martha - - - the Silent Killer

With Allison's perpetual runny nose/cough and her most recent visit to the ER and then a 24 stay at Children's Hospital I decided it was time to see an allergist.

Our appointment was at 8:50 Monday morning. They asked some questions, did some initial evaluations and then .... the dreaded "scratch test". Allison did really well with it, I was impressed. She did keep trying to scratch her back afterwards and it was hard keeping her from doing that, but all in all, she handled it well.

It was a Good News/Bad News day:

Good news - no food allergies, YEA!

Good news - the doc was a UT Alum!
Good news - we know what she is allergic to.

Bad news - she is highly allergic to both cats and dogs.

Poor baby has been living with cats since the day she was born. When she was born we had two. Jake died shortly after we moved here so for the most part it has just been Martha, but still ... Look at her!! Martha is roughly the size of two small cats these days!!! Martha who used to be mostly an outdoor cat decided to become an indoor cat when we moved here. I don't get it. She lived outdoors in all the TX heat and humidity and won't set foot outside here where the city goes into a tizzy when the mercury gets near 90. I totally understand not wanting to go out in the winter but .......

So where do we go from here?

Martha is 14 years old - I can't see putting her up for adoption. We basically are going to just wait it out and after she passes on, no more kitties for us. And no pet dog that I was so so so so hoping for. We already have almost all hardwood floors downstairs so that is good. I just need to get better about keeping the cat hair swiffered and vacumed. And we had said we would replace the carpeting in the office and upstairs next year anyway - now we just need to make sure we follow through and do it. We're also going to try and brush Martha more and "bathe" her with pet wipes when we can. I am going to look at possibly getting her groomed and maybe see if I can't get my hands on a "shed ender" to use at home or find a groomer who uses the "furminator". We'll also shop for an air filter for Allison's room and try to limit her contact with the cat. And I'm also hoping to convince David we need those slip covers for the sofa and chair now. My argument will be that I can wash the cat hair/dander off of them on a regular basis. Sounds perfectly logical to me. AND his mom emailed to say she was coming for a visit in late July or early August so I'm going to throw that in there too ....