We're having a family crisis right now. As we speak.
It seems that Alex is allergic to cats.
We have a cat. What the heck are we supposed to do? It seems easy doesn't it? Get rid of the cat. It's just not that easy.
We've suspected Alex was allergic only recently. He's had skin problems pretty much since birth and we've tried eliminating different foods, trying a kazillion topical skin creams and came up with nothing.
The doctor confirmed he doesn't have a food allergy. The dermatologist thinks it's from the severly dry climate here. And my friend who's son has several allergies is the one that put all of his symptoms(constant rash, sneezing, itchy eyes, phlegm, post nasal drip...) together and suggested cat allergy.
So when Alex was on a hiatus at Nannie's house we cleaned his room thoroughly and seen a huge difference. A lot of the common symptoms like the sneezing and phlegm seemed to disappear and the redness of his rash.
And today when he was hanging out downstairs in cat-territory he developed some wheeziness.
Then we went to the dentist and he asked in the first 10 seconds of meeting Alex what he's allergic to. I said we're pretty sure it's the cat and he said flat out 'get rid of the cat'. Well, that went over well. I was crying and Alex wasn't sure why we'd get rid of the cat or why I was upset.
Apparently his allergy has caused a massive tongue thrust which has affected his speech and given him an overbite and now we're looking at orthodontics.
I left the office thinking we're finding Romy a new home tonight. But in reality, no one wants to adopt a 13 year old cat who's part Siamese and a bit tempermental and really likes to just be left alone to do her own thing.
I've done some online research and a lot of crying tonight.
We adopted Romy and took on that commitment and love her and she's a part of our family but how can we compromise Alex's health?
Any suggestions?