Kitten Adopters: I have one!
 

http://ubiquitone.com/pictures/webmaster_azriel.jpg

I've been sitting here writing and re-writing this post, trying to put into words the joy that Azriel has brought me the last four years.
When I first saw her, she literally fit in the palm of my hand, and was irresistably cute with a little cold, mewing all the way home while riding in the back of the Cream Puff.

She grew quickly, and became part of many a caper, from the brown bag scheme to the infamous three-floor fan-flight to the regular kitten sacrifices made before the gods, all the while being the most adorable and loving kitty in the world.

Darn my luck! Mandy (my fiance) is allergic to cats, not emergency-room-trip allergic, but allergic enough. And, for the record, I've chosen to marry Mandy, not Azriel.
Soooo...

Please help us find a happy home for our little friend. Apparantly there are many people looking to adopt a cat in the area, but we'd very much like it to be someone we know or someone that knows someone we know... Just so that we can meet them and see who Azriel will live with and make sure there aren't any plans to cook her or anything... Call us silly, but for some reason we care about Little Azriel. Won't you please help?

Feel free to forward this, yadda, yadda, and thanks :)

Fred and Mandy

We live in the DC area of anyone is interested... pass along to friends if you think they might be interested!

That cat's awful red. It doesn't have <a href="http://www.sluggy.com/">satanic homicidal tendencies</a>, does it?

--Sk

dern...
 

you've uncovered my evil plan! now i will have to choose an alternate blog community upon which to release my demon kitten... foiled again! [shuffles off to fark]

seriously, look at that poor littel azriel... that pic was taken when she was about 3 months old, and still recovering from a cold that hung on for a while, you can see the seepage around those cute eyes... don't you want to adopt her?

<sigh> i had a horrible thought earlier today about leaving her at the Humane Society... That makes me so sad, I could NEVER do that... but I have to find something for her by EOM... whatever will i do?

Have you looked into maybe desensetizing Mandy to cat dander?

Flonase works wonders on my allergies and Benedryl helps a lot too, as does Claritin. Have you at least tried medical therapy before getting rid of such an important thing in your life?

Brian (Dog person)

Benedryl is evil evil evil, knocks me out like a swift kick to the head. Claritin is good though, at least for my hay fever. I'm sure it would work well for pet allergies. Isn't it going to be over the couter soon??

It's already available.

wow...
 

is there a medical precedent for people that are allergic to things to become "desensitized" to them over time? don't you all think it's a little overboard to ask someone to take a pill every day just so that we can keep our cat?

fred

After enough exposure to an allergen you do build up a resistance of some kind.

I was slightly allergic to dogs, which is one reason we got a small pet, but after a year the allergy was gone.

I was allergic to cats when I was born, but after living with one for my childhood, the allergy went away. Now, after not living with a cat for 20 years, it has slightly come back.

Re: wow...
 

Well, it depends...while I'm sure you love your fiance to death, I bet you love this cat very much too.

Be careful with claritin though, If you start taking it, it's better to just keep taking it. I took it for 2 months during the summer and then stopped and when I tried to take it again and it did me no good. I don't know if my body built up a resistence or what but it sure seemed like it.

Desensitization
 

In my experience, the process does not involve taking a pill.

Check with your doctor or allergy specialist. When I did it, I had a series of shots over two years (paid for by my insurance) that exposed me to minute amounts of MY personal bane...grass pollen.

Note: The shots did not work very well and I have had MUCH better results with Flonase. That eliminated my hay fever this year. Totally! One squirt in each nostril twice a day did the trick. Try asking your doctor before you break up your beloved family. Mark my words, you'll always hold a resentment against your sweetie for it, no matter how well you hide it or claim it's not there. It *will* be there and can surface during an argument or some other such inappropriate time.

Brian

Exposure can also cause sensitization, where allergies get worse. This is why some people have hay fever much worse where they grew up than anywhere else -- they're extremely sensitive to those particular pollens.