(X-posted in Pets)
We just adopted a 3 month old kitten about 2 weeks ago. He's really nice and sweet and he just loves it here. He's especially attached to me. I'm starting to suspect that I'm his surrogate mother; his mother was feral and a pet adoption service took in him and his siblings. At first, Scout (the kitten) would just run away from J, but now that Scout has gotten used to J, he lets him pet him, which is how we found out that J is allergic to cats.
On Sunday, he played with Scout more than usual and I noticed about an hour or two later that his face looked really blotchy. I took him into DH and asked him if his face looked blotchy to him and he said yes. I looked on his back and it turned out that he had red blotches all over it. I mistakenly gave him a bath and it spread all over: more on his face and back, the back of his neck, shoulders, chest and stomach, and even around his diaper area, but none on his arms, legs, hands or feet. I could see little dots where the red blotches were, and after awhile, the dots (I guess they were hives?) got a bit bigger. After awhile, the redness went away, then we went to sleep and he was back to normal. I watched him to make sure he could breathe okay, because I read that people who get hives sometimes have difficulty breathing, and he coughed a little and occasionally rubbed his nose, but his breathing was fine. He didn't seem itchy at all or anything.
I have a few concerns. Is there any chance that if he touches the cat again that he could go into anaphylactic shock? DH gets these little hives when he touches the cat, too, and he's fine with it; he just washes his hands and it doesn't spread. Is that what I should do, too? I was going to get J tested anyway because he has sensitivities to milk, so I'll get him tested for cats, too, and ask the allergist what to do about the situation. I'm not sure if he could be put on anti-histamines. Do they make those for 10 month olds? I've seen them for kids around 2 years old but none for younger toddlers.
Do we need to get rid of the cat? I don't really want to, because it's not fair to the cat, but then I also need to keep my son healthy, you know? He doesn't have any reactions unless he physically touches the cat. We keep the cat out of the bedroom and stuff, so there isn't a problem there. I'm kind of worried that if we send Scout back, he might not get adopted or he might develop some type of complex and he's just so attached to me already, but I also feel like Scout deserves to live in a home where all of the family members can play with him and he can get more attention than I can give him. I sometimes will put him in another room and shut the door because Jamie wants to crawl on the floor and I don't want him touching the cat and I feel guilty about that. Anyone have any advice on what to do?
We just adopted a 3 month old kitten about 2 weeks ago. He's really nice and sweet and he just loves it here. He's especially attached to me. I'm starting to suspect that I'm his surrogate mother; his mother was feral and a pet adoption service took in him and his siblings. At first, Scout (the kitten) would just run away from J, but now that Scout has gotten used to J, he lets him pet him, which is how we found out that J is allergic to cats.
On Sunday, he played with Scout more than usual and I noticed about an hour or two later that his face looked really blotchy. I took him into DH and asked him if his face looked blotchy to him and he said yes. I looked on his back and it turned out that he had red blotches all over it. I mistakenly gave him a bath and it spread all over: more on his face and back, the back of his neck, shoulders, chest and stomach, and even around his diaper area, but none on his arms, legs, hands or feet. I could see little dots where the red blotches were, and after awhile, the dots (I guess they were hives?) got a bit bigger. After awhile, the redness went away, then we went to sleep and he was back to normal. I watched him to make sure he could breathe okay, because I read that people who get hives sometimes have difficulty breathing, and he coughed a little and occasionally rubbed his nose, but his breathing was fine. He didn't seem itchy at all or anything.
I have a few concerns. Is there any chance that if he touches the cat again that he could go into anaphylactic shock? DH gets these little hives when he touches the cat, too, and he's fine with it; he just washes his hands and it doesn't spread. Is that what I should do, too? I was going to get J tested anyway because he has sensitivities to milk, so I'll get him tested for cats, too, and ask the allergist what to do about the situation. I'm not sure if he could be put on anti-histamines. Do they make those for 10 month olds? I've seen them for kids around 2 years old but none for younger toddlers.
Do we need to get rid of the cat? I don't really want to, because it's not fair to the cat, but then I also need to keep my son healthy, you know? He doesn't have any reactions unless he physically touches the cat. We keep the cat out of the bedroom and stuff, so there isn't a problem there. I'm kind of worried that if we send Scout back, he might not get adopted or he might develop some type of complex and he's just so attached to me already, but I also feel like Scout deserves to live in a home where all of the family members can play with him and he can get more attention than I can give him. I sometimes will put him in another room and shut the door because Jamie wants to crawl on the floor and I don't want him touching the cat and I feel guilty about that. Anyone have any advice on what to do?
