Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Tue, 04 Sep 2007
The Electric Kool-Aid Kitty Test
Ok, this really has nothing to do with Ken Kesey or anything, I just liked the title.
Kristin has been eyeing Siberian cats as being one resolution to the conflict of my raging cat allergies and her primal desire for something cute and fluffy in her life (I'm told that although cute and arguably fluffy, I don't count).
We finally arranged everything for me to go have an allergy test yesterday. That is to say, we went and hung out at a house in Des Moines, near the airport, and had reluctant cats draped over me. I spent about an hour petting four different Siberian cats, being shed upon, and generally living the cat-life. With normal cats, this would have most likely provoked sniffles and some lung constriction.
The results, however, were inconclusive. We had just spent the weekend at Kristin's parents' house, where they have a Siamese cat. I am normally quite allergic to Siamese, although their cat isn't as allergenic as I normally find Siamese to be. So, I started out with a relatively high background allergy level, and I'm not sure which allergic symptoms were caused by the Siamese, and which were from the four Siberians.
I continued to be stuffed up the rest of the day, although my lungs didn't close up at all. I also sneezed considerably more than I usually do, but again, I don't know the source of that sneezing. It could have been the Siberians, or it could have been left over from the Siamese.
So, overall, not a very conclusive test.
The practical outcome of all this? I think we're getting a fluffy Siberian kitty. I didn't have a strong reaction to them, if I reacted at all. It seems like a worthy experiment. The place we visited will take a cat back if it doesn't work (for a reduced refund, of course). The only question is, how will Kristin take it if I end up being miserable after living with this cute little ball of fluff for a month?
Posted at 15:08 permanent link category: /misc
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater