What’s New, Pussycat?

Last Tuesday, I woke up coughing. “Are you OK?” called Keeper from the bathroom.

“Just coughing up a hairball,” I answered. Hack, hack.

It was 6 a.m. and Mr. Bobo the Wonder Cat had just licked himself clean on my pillow. Normally, I am not particularly sensitive to cat dander. Encountering a perfume sample in a magazine can send my lungs into a near-fatal spasm, but I don’t mind pet hair.

That morning, however, Mr. Bobo’s ablutions sent me running to the kitchen for a dose of Claritin. As I was waiting for my eyes to stop watering, I wondered if this was a one-time thing or if my pets would forever after cause me to cough up a lung every time I got near them.

How do people cope with pet allergies? Some simply deprive themselves of the pleasure of owning something furry and affectionate. Some opt for hypoallergenic dogs or freaky-looking hairless…(Read more)