Welcome to Catstar’s Wednesday Cat! Every week we share stories from one of the cat-loving cat stars. This week we’re about Wes and his fiercely cute Russian blue, Raphael.
There were bright red letters there. They were not ashamed to tell me I was allergic to Raphael.
In many ways, it was something I should have known already. Getting him was one of the best things I’ve ever done, but that came with the challenge. Recently, why did I appear to have a blocked nose? Why was I crying when there were no romantic comedies today? These were the questions I asked myself when I worked through a tissue box or box.
But I couldn’t admit the truth to myself or anyone else. “Maybe you’re allergic to it?” “I can’t,” I retorted, with bloody eyes and nose being the usual size twice as large.
But two things started to make me feel like I needed an answer. First, whenever I leave and Raphael was at home, my problematic nose suddenly… not. Secondly, I was diagnosed with asthma last year (perhaps as a result of some unfortunate Covid collections). My doctor informed me that if I was allergic and didn’t know about it, it could be aggravating the symptoms I might be struggling with.
That’s all. I needed to know. Even if it’s me I knew. I had to know.
And now I know.
A vial of blood, a few pages of paper, and a phone call were all necessary to turn someone’s cat world upside down.
They informed me that I shouldn’t because it was serious enough:
- “Raphael hugging me”
- “Kiss Raphael”
- “flat approach Cats you don’t know
This was worse than when the dentist said that sparkling water was bad for your teeth (“Now, are they even trying to steal water from me?! What’s left? !). Were they trying to kill me? To tear my heart? Apparently they weren’t trying to kill me, but my cat might be.
I could hold back the unknown cats in words that were uncertain to them, but I simply snuggle, hug, hold, kiss, touch, and generally my little boy, Raphael He said he couldn’t resist making it annoyed. Otherwise, what is life for?
Despite the heartache I felt, I have no regrets completing the test. It’s always better to know than a questionable life, and it helped me make some important changes to ease the burden.
Perhaps most importantly, I am taking antihistamines every day (or every other day) right now. As for my level of allergies, I found this to be extremely effective in reducing the problems I face.
I’m trying to clean the floors more than I do. Previously, I would look them up a few days a week and mop them once a week. To lift the san, we open the window and try to show it to the floor once a day. Honestly, it’s hard to tell how different this made. But perhaps exactly in itself makes my brain feel better.
Finally, I now hold Raphael only once a day and kiss him every other day…
Ok, you caught me on it, obviously not. I kiss him as often as he can and hold him as close as he can tolerate me. If anything, sometimes he seems to be more allergic to me than me!
I don’t think it’s a privilege and not a right to have a pet. Life changes, throws things at you, and you have to roll with it. I never judge anyone by making decisions they felt they needed to make, but my relationship with Raffy is merely because he knows he will make me sick And it won’t change a little. I won’t allow that. It’s not his fault, but because he wouldn’t do it if he could help it. Hopefully somewhere in his lovely brain, he knows how much he means to us and that we can’t stop us from loving him.
Now I want to know, has something unexpected happened after getting a cat that tried to get in the way of your love? Have you discovered a troublesome allergy or was it the culprit?
PS If you’re reading this after reading the announcement on the website that I’ve passed away from anaphylactic shock, get a small pair of handcuffs and arrest that criminal cat!
This article features Wes and Raphael in Wednesday’s Cat of Cat Star series.
