Sam’s son wanted a cat but she’s always been allergic to them. This must happen a lot: one member of the family being allergic to cats while another loves cats and is not allergic. Here is a novel solution which some cat owners may find attractive and suitable.
In my view, the success of this method of dealing with being allergic to cats depends on (a) the cat, who should be very comfortable with being an outside cat, and (b) the size of the grounds owned by the cat owner.
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Where the backyard is sufficiently large as is the case with Sam and her son, Cats Protection advised her to build an outside cat house for their new cat, Belle (it appears that a suitable building already existed, in fact).
This way Sam has some control over how often she interacts with Belle and her home is free of the allergen causing itching etc..The cat allergen is carried throughout the home on hair and flakes of skin (dander) to which the cat’s saliva has adhered. The Fel D1 protein (the allergen) is in the cat’s saliva which is deposited on the fur and skin when grooming.
Belle is very suited the scheme because she’s a bit nervous around people and she loves being outside and exploring.
The outbuilding for Belle is warm and dry and there is lots of land to explore says Sam. She clearly has a nice home with plenty of space.
Belle is allowed in the family home from time to time:
“She is allowed to venture into the house which she may do from time to time….”
I guess it is sufficiently infrequent to affect Sam’s allergy. Sam seems delighted because she was keen to find a way for her son to enjoy the company of a domestic cat. Until advised by Cats Protection she was stumped as to how to find a way around the problem.
Of course, it suits Cats Protection to find a solution too. They have 200,000 cats going through their foster homes annually. They need to find solutions and homes. This is nice bit of creative thinking for the right cat and client. Depending on how allergic a person is to cats I’d have thought that this method of cat ownership would suit some people who want to own a cat but are allergic to them. If you mainly interact with your cat outdoors it would allow the cat dander containing the allergen to disperse.
Story: Mirror newspaper. I don’t know who took the photos. Perhaps it was Cats Protection.
