CATS AND ALLERGIES

Well.... cats and allergies seem to go hand in hand for a large portion of the population. But who would have thought that the cat can be the allergic one? Turns out BB, my almost 14 year old Manx, has spring allergies. This time last year, he came down with a horribly snotty nose, nasal congestion and tons of sneezing. Took weeks of antibiotics (tried three kinds as the first two made him puke) to clear it up. We just put it down to a case of sinusitis.

Well, over the course of this past couple of weeks, he's started sneezing lots and guess what? Yellow snot everywhere! Eeeewwww! Who knew such a tiny nose could produce such vast quantities of yellow boogers! I would come home from work and find him with stringers across his face, hanging from his whiskers and dried in his nice white ruff.

So it was off to the vet's today to get more antibiotics. Turns out allergies in cats are quite common - probably almost as common as allergies TO cats. The usual culprit is the dust from cat litter. I use the clumping kind that says 99% dust free, but when you're nose to the dirt, digging a hole to poop in, I am sure there must be some.

Given the timing of this second onset of the snotty nose syndrome, though, we figure it must be seasonal allergies. Spring is finally here and all the trees are budding, there is pollen in the air and the grass is greening up. Despite being a house cat his whole life, BB still sits in front of open windows and is at the door when it opens, so he gets to inhale all those lovely allergens.

My next challenge is to give him liquid antibiotics for the next two weeks, and to start him on steroids in about 5 days to combat the inflammation of the allergies. Should be fun! (NOT!) He will run whenever he sees me with that little dropper of yucky tasting stuff. Can't mix it in his food, because then he won't eat.

Hopefully the steroids will keep things at bay long enough to let the spring season pass. Then we can wean him down to only every other day for the 'roids, just for maintenance. Poor snuffly little guy - although it is funny when each meow is punctuacted with a 'mmmffftttt' at the end as he tries to get some air out through that nose.

All I can say is, thank god it's not my 100 lb. dog! I can't imagine what would come out of her nose in the same situation!!! Eek!