Cats: allergies, automatic litter box, etc

[zixxer]

Growing up I was very allergic to cats - the s/o has two long haired cats.. supposedly she can get them shaved and it will eliminate a lot of the allergy problems - anyone know if this works, or another way?


Also, has anyone used one of those automatic litter boxes?

EDIT:

okay, both of the kitties are here. I'm fairly allergic - I've been sneezing off and on since they got here, and after playing with one of them I actually got a little splotchy..

She's going to buy one of these: http://www.catgenie.com/ which looks pretty awesome... They were shaved about two months ago (lion cut or whatever) and I think I'm going to try going to an allergist... we'll see..


EDIT2:

Wow - deja vu bigtime from growing up around a cat.. Sneezing fits every 10-15 minutes, stuffed up nose, eyes too dry to even wear my contacts... grrrr

 

[Runes911]

Originally posted by: zixxer
Growing up I was very allergic to cats - the s/o has two long haired cats.. supposedly she can get them shaved and it will eliminate a lot of the allergy problems - anyone know if this works, or another way?


Also, has anyone used one of those automatic litter boxes?

Must...refrain...from commenting...


ps. I want an automatic litterbox for our cats. Doubt that will help your allergies.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

2. Automatic litter boxes are more trouble than they're worth, IMHO. That, and some cats get so frightened at the automated movement that they'll refuse to go in there after it kicks on the first time.

- M4H

 

[AMDZen]

WoW. She is willing to get her cats shaved for you. Man, have you found a keeper. Good luck with her in the future man, this is a rare thing indeed.

 

[zixxer]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

2. Automatic litter boxes are more trouble than they're worth, IMHO. That, and some cats get so frightened at the automated movement that they'll refuse to go in there after it kicks on the first time.

- M4H

how about bathing them? I've helped her wash them a time or two, not too difficult.. (kitty shampoo in toilet, throw the cat in and quickly shut the lid... wait 45-60 seconds and voila - clean kitty and clean toilet..)

in all reality, she does wash them every now and then

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

This isn't true. You can be allergic to their hair or their skin cells, or both. Depends

 

[leftyman]

just lose them.

 

[xchangx]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

This isn't true. You can be allergic to their hair or their skin cells, or both. Depends

I thought it was the saliva that people were allergic to. Either way, giving cats a bath all the time could be bad for them, dry their skin, etc...

We have an automatic litter box and it works great. The cats are more interested in it than scared.

 

[zixxer]

Originally posted by: xchangx

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

This isn't true. You can be allergic to their hair or their skin cells, or both. Depends

I thought it was the saliva that people were allergic to. Either way, giving cats a bath all the time could be bad for them, dry their skin, etc...

We have an automatic litter box and it works great. The cats are more interested in it than scared.

Which brand?

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

This isn't true. You can be allergic to their hair or their skin cells, or both. Depends

But the laughs alone might be worth it...

to the OP: there are a lot of things you can do to help alleviate the problem, basically anything that reduces the amount hair and/or other stuff they leave around should help - shaving, regular baths, frequent vacuuming (cats love vacuums ), some air filtration.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: xchangx

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1. It's the skin cells that will trigger your allergies, so shaving Kittah will get you nothing other than a few cruel laughs.

This isn't true. You can be allergic to their hair or their skin cells, or both. Depends

I thought it was the saliva that people were allergic to. Either way, giving cats a bath all the time could be bad for them, dry their skin, etc...

We have an automatic litter box and it works great. The cats are more interested in it than scared.

Mostly the dander is what causes allergies. Interestingly, some breeds of cats have worse dander than others. Black short-hair cat dander is supposed to be the worse from what I remember reading about it.

Best thing to do is to vacum frequently, invest in some high quality air filters for the HVAC, and find some good allergy medicine. Other than that...get rid of the cats if the allergies are really that bad.

We had to adopt away our three cats because they were causing too many problems for my son. It really sucked but his health comes first.

 

[Fiat1]

A freshly shaved pussy cat is the best
And the auto cat boxes work like a charm. Just empty the holding container 2 times a week.

 

[Shortcut]

One freshly shaved cat, coming up!

 

[AmerDoux]

I have two cats and they both use an electric litter box without any problems. Littermaid brand. I bought it at Target. Follow the litter level guidelines. If you overfill it will be too heavy and wont rake thru.

The first week after I bought it, whenever the electric litter box turned on both cats would run to watch it. They were fascinated. Now they both look up but dont run to it anymore when it switches on.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: AmerDoux
I have two cats and they both use an electric litter box without any problems. Littermaid brand. I bought it at Target. Follow the litter level guidelines. If you overfill it will be too heavy and wont rake thru.

The first week after I bought it, whenever the electric litter box turned on both cats would run to watch it. They were fascinated. Now they both look up but dont run to it anymore when it switches on.

We bought one of those not long after we moved into the first house. Unfortunately, one of our three cats was too stupid to realize her rear-end was hanging over the edge and she kept peeing outside of the box. Had to take that back and stick with the litter boxes.

For the short time we had it, I thought it was great though....minus the one cat's stupidity.

 

[jonny13]

I have one of the automatic litter boxes and I would never go back. Neither of my cats even care about it and will sometimes stand on the side of it and watch it clean the litter. I have 2 three year old cats and I only clean it about every 5 days. It's great.

 

[torpid]

Automatic litterboxes are ok if your cats can tolerate them. Just be sure to buy them somewhere you can return them if your cats don't. And keep the other litterbox around too for a while since if the cat doesn't like it he/she will find another place to go. Also, don't use them as an excuse to not keep the litterbox in good condition or that can make things worse because some cats will go elsewhere if they are really dissatisfied with the state of the litterbox.

Don't think shaving will help. Long hairs are only marginally worse. Bathing might. Vacuuming, air filters, and regular laundering of sheets will help.

 

[Kelemvor]

I've used a Littermaid thing in the past and it worked fine. But don't use those plastic things they give you to pop the top on and throw away every time. When it fills up, just take out the container, dump it out, and put it back in. Otherwise you go through them real fast.

Only problems were if the litter didn't clump in time and it tried to scoop it it didn't work well. Or if it got stuck to the bottom or something. Overall it worked fine. I even rigged up a thing one time where I put the box up on a stand and just had a bucket with a bag in it under where the plastic container was supposed to go so I didn't have to empty it as often.

As for the shaving, you could try asking a vet about the specific breed she has to see what they think.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
2. Automatic litter boxes are more trouble than they're worth, IMHO. That, and some cats get so frightened at the automated movement that they'll refuse to go in there after it kicks on the first time.

- M4H

Very true. I had a few electrical toys, including a mouse that automatically kept itself close to walls by way of a wire-feeler-activated switch, and the other was a ball with a weighted motor inside it. These things freaked out the cats. Some other animals might like to play, even some other cats, but ours are just scared of anything. They go running if the doorbell rings, and stay hidden for around an hour, even if no one comes in. They would serve as great guard cats in the late evening - if one would slink into a bedroom with its tail down, we'd know something weird was happening outside. That has happened too that they'll let us know that someone's coming down the driveway - calm day, cats sitting in the windowsill, and suddenly they both go nuts and start looking for places to hide. "Oh look, we've got company."

I think if they'd see parts of the litterbox moving around, 1) they'd crap themselves right there and then, and 2) they would never go into the same room again. "HELP! My toilet has come to life!!!!"

 

[zixxer]

up for edit