Thoughts for Thursday – How to Entertain People With Cat Allergies

I don’t know about you, but I know way too many people with cat allergies. I’m related to some of them. Several of them adore cats, but can’t be around them for long. Since I have some of the family gatherings in my home (well, in normal times), and I have cats, I always consider my grandchildren and their spouses who have cat allergies. I do a deep clean, attempting to vacuum and wipe up as much dander as I can. I even wipe down all of the over-stuffed furniture, wash curtains…you know, that stuff I should be doing regularly, anyway. I remove cat beds and blankets from the area where we’ll be entertaining and there are usually no cats around because, as I wrote in Monday’s blog, most of my cats are not social beings.

I also text those I know to have cat allergies ahead of time and remind them to take their allergy medicine. If they forget, I always keep Claritin on hand.

But is there more that you can do for your guests who can’t tolerate cat dander? Here’s a good article to help you entertain even guests with cat allergies whether they’re coming over for dinner or spending the weekend. It’s a good article for understanding the allergens that typically bother people. While cat hair is certainly part of the equation, it’s not the fur itself that causes the problem, it’s what’s on the hair—a protein from the cat’s saliva, urine and dander. So cleaning away the cat hair is useful, of course, but you might also consider bathing your cat before guests arrive and really cleaning the litter boxes, which we should do often, anyway—I mean dump the litter, clean the box, start fresh. You should do that every two to three weeks, then soak the box with vinegar or bleach. (Yeah, I don’t do it that often either.) Here’s a site that might help your guests with cat allergies be much more comfortable when they visit your home next time. https://www.litter-robot.com/blog/2016/09/16/guests-allergic-to-cats-6-tips-for-a-more-comfortable-visit

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