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[William Grimsley]

Hi kitizens,

I thought I'd let you know that I am actually allergic to cats and have been since I was little. Is there anything I can use to stop this? Every kitizen will dislike me now!

[burakkucat]

Perhaps you should move to Tashirojima Island in Japan . . . 
 

[William Grimsley]

Perhaps you should move to Tashirojima Island in Japan . . . 
 

Funny... 

[Chunkers]

I am also very allergic to cats, just being in a room where cats have been makes me break out in a rash and start sneezing / eyes and nose running.  I usually know whether someone has a cat before I even see the cat

I believe its actually proteins in cat saliva, urine and skin that most people are allergic to, so definitely no french kissing a cat.  From experience, the more allergic you are to cats ... the more cats will love you and want to be your friend.

Your best strategy is just not to go anywhere near a cat but you can also take antihistamines, I politely declined a suggestion from my wife to go on a course of regular injections so she could have a cat ......

Incidentally I have a dog and am not allergic to him at all and, as everyone knows, dogs are superior in every way to cats. 

The other advantage of having a dog is that we see no cats at all in our garden!

BTW : I don't really hate cats, just having a bit of semi-troll fun at the expense of the army of cat lovers reading this 

Chunks

[Weaver]

I'm a 50-50 cat- and dog-lover. Orange, my old Tom cat, is on my knee as I write this, purring away. He celebrates his eighteenth birthday in a few weeks time.

[kitz]

btw did you know that some breeds of cats are worse than others when it comes to allergies? Surprisingly its not necessarily long haired cats that trigger allergies, because its not actually their fur that humans are allergic to.

Some cat breeds are classed as hypoallergenic as they produce less allergens.
The most common allergens are 1) Dander 2) Fel d1 which is in their saliva.

For example Siberians are long haired but considered hypoallergenic because it has less Fel d1 protein.
Many of the oriental type cats such as Siamese, Burmese and Birman (despite the latter being long haired) dont have an undercoat and therefore have very little dander.

I have 2 friends who are allergic to cats.  One of them will on occasion stay overnight in the guest room and its not unusual for Zigs to creep in and sleep with them.  At first I used to suggest keeping the door closed, but she found that she's not bothered by my 2 Birmans, so actually encouraged it. 
The other friend is severely allergic to most animals - cant even go to a horse show - yet he can spend a few hours in my living room with the cats without symptoms.   Hes even been able to pet them.   

A couple of years ago, an Openreach engineer who had been here a couple of hours trying to track down my HR fault suddenly came out with the comment "Your house must be very clean". 
I asked why he said that - his reply was "I'm allergic to cats and normally within an hour or so of being in any house that has a cat Im wheezing and my eyes are streaming.  Yet you have 2 long haired cats and they havent bothered me, despite that one (points to Ziggy) being sat there watching me all of the time."

[kitz]

BTW : I don't really hate cats, just having a bit of semi-troll fun at the expense of the army of cat lovers reading this 

Chunks

The saying "Dogs have owners.  Cats have staff" is so true.   

I was trying to find an image that makes me laugh and about sums up my life - ie me with a numb-bum perched on about 2 inches of desk chair, but cant find it now.. so this will have to suffice.



I have had dogs... but its only more recently I got the 'crazy cat lady' tag after getting a Birman.   Im afraid I am well and truly hooked on the Birman breed.  They are trainable to an extent too.   Mine understand the 'come' command, 'walkies' and also the signal when I slap my thigh its walk to heel (Zoe is brilliant at this one).  They can be trained to fetch - unfortunately Zigs isnt very good at that.   He will "go get it", but as soon as I say "Bring it back" every time without fail he will immediately drop the item and come racing back to heel. 

[Weaver]

My two Siamese are semi-trainable. If I pat my knee, Caoimhe will come and sit on if she's in the mood and and if the knee looks cosy enough, basically I have to make an inviting-looking depression in something. Caoimhe will climb onto Janet's shoulder for cuddles and will rub her chin on her.

The other three, moggies, do what they want.

[kitz]

My two Siamese are semi-trainable.

I believe its the oriental type breeds that are easier to train, due to the fact they love and thrive on human interaction more.   They tend to be more domesticated than some other breeds.   

Birmans and Ragdolls are known for it.   Birmans have some Siamese in their genes.   Ragdolls are a direct descendent of Birmans.

Here's a short vid of Zac playing fetch.  Theres a longer one somewhere showing him doing a more difficult retreival.. but I include this one specifically because it has sound and you can tell he responds to my voice.   
Note no food rewards -  I use a 'click, click' as praise when they do something right.   All of my 3 Birmans that I've had respond to praise from owner rather than food as a reward.  The "click, click" is made with my tongue/mouth and is used only as utmost praise that they have carried out the command. 




Both of mine respond quite well to 'come' and its the reason I'm confident to walk them without a leash.
Come is issued as 'come come' and a hand signal.  The hand signal has slightly evolved to being a 2 handed signal...  each will run up to one hand so that the hand they touch then gives a tickle under the chin as reward... meaning both can be rewarded at the same time as they (usually) both arrive at same time.   

[broadstairs]

This thread is interesting for two reasons.

First my wife is allergic to cats but she absolutely adores them and she had two as a child, and we had one for 17 years as a family pet. Unless you have really serious allergy issues (like anaphylaxis) then I firmly believe that you can overcome such problems by careful exposure to the source and hygiene. My wife was fine with our own cat but if she goes near any other cat then scrupulous hand-washing and never ever touching the face prior to such cleaning is the order of the day.

Secondly all this training of cats would be an anathema to my wife, what she loves about cats is their independence, she adores their aloof behaviour and completely understands why they need that, that is exactly why she loves them. To her training a cat is wrong on so many levels.

Stuart 

[kitz]

Secondly all this training of cats would be an anathema to my wife, what she loves about cats is their independence,

lol - let me tell you that if my cats didnt want to do something, then they wont. 
 
You ought to see some of the battles I have to get Zigs into his crate to go to the vets.   He is extremely inventive.  He always seems to know about half an hour before appt that its time to go hide.   Several times he's pulled the kick boards off the bottom of the kitchen units and goes hide under there in the back corner where I literally don't have a cats in hell chance of getting him out.

However - Im not joking when I say they love doing things that would be classed as training.   Birmans and Ragdolls are known for it - its in their breed.   
You can see from my vid that Zac was only 16wks and he actually mostly taught himself to do it.   He would bring me a toy and want me to throw -  its a big game for them.   Same when they go walkies - they love it and walk to heel with tail held high.   You can tell the difference between a cat who is doing something of their own free will and one who isnt.       

I certainly don't berate Ziggy when I say 'bring it back' and he drops the toy and comes running - I just assume he associates 'bring it back' with "drop it" and come for a head bump.   They see it as play and always enjoy it -  I wouldn't do so if I thought they didn't.   

Zoe is so strong willed and also inventive..   try closing a door on her and she will figure out a way to open it.   I have to barricade the back door each night or she will bust through the cat flap.   She can move a 24x18 piece of wood, that is barricaded by a kitchen chair.   Then she will flip the locked cat flap.  She finds the barricade and locked cat flap so easy now so I have to weight the chair so that its too heavy to slide.   Even then there's been times when shes somehow slid the wood out of the way, crept under the chair and then hooked the cat flap (or bust through it).
Seriously they are smart cats who generally figure things out and they do fully understand lots of words.    Whether or not they obey is up to them...  but usually they do, because they love to please their owner..  you treat it as a game and they love to play.   

I think I said earlier in the thread I became hooked on Birmans after getting my first...  you have to own one to appreciate that they do my nature have a different temperament.   My mother doesnt like cats..  but even she loves my two - not because they are mine - but because they won her over in a way that none of my others could.   

Birmans are people cats - they love company and IMHO it would be cruel to keep one and expect it to entertain itself all day -  They dont like it - they love to interact.    Every single report on their personality will state that they are extremely intelligent and love to play, love to figure out puzzles & love to be around humans... they follow me room to room, so walkies is just a natural progression for them.     
Its in their genes.   If I didnt interact with them like I do, then they wouldnt be such happy purry cats that they are. 


/end Birman promo 

[vic0239]

I have had cats of some description for most of my adult life and never considered I might be allergic to any of them. Quite a number of years ago now I developed an allergic reaction (redness the skin and itching mostly on my arms). I was convinced that I had succumbed to some form of radiation as this was at the time of the Chernobyl incident.  We were holidaying in the Lake District where it tends to rain a bit and there were reports in the news that in some areas there was an increase in background radiation. My friends quite rightly thought I was mad and it became a long-standing joke among them!  Some years later one of my cats, a red tabby Persian (named Tansy), died and to my surprise so did my allergy. I later read that an allergic reaction might not develop until several exposures to the allergen so I never suspected the cat. She was the only cat which affected me in this way.

[kitz]

Talking about training pets

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LMgkGesoVI[/youtube]

I was a bit amazed - apparently she says they were easier to train than her dog.