DCML Explained - Part 12: Here Kitty, Kitty... No?

Meow. Purr. Yay. Kittens are cute. Cats are fun. But boy, am I allergic to them.

You must live with cats

This seems self-explanatory. Why live with an animal if you're allergic to it? The story does get a bit deeper than that, however. Martin and I dated approximately 5 months. He lived in his own apartment approximately 5 minutes driving distance from mine. We both lived alone and we were both graduate students at the time. Therefore, we were busy people.

Given our love for animals we both had pets. I had 2 chinchillas, 1 rabbit, 1 hedgehog, 2 turtle doves and a partridge an a pear tree. Alright, spare the birds and the tree, but the other four apply. Martin had an obese cat and then acquired a cute smaller kitten. Martin did know I was allergic to cats before he acquired another, but my intentions were not to discourage them.

Approximately two months into the relationship Martin felt that his cat situation was quite an inconvenience to our relationship. I couldn't spend a prolonged period of time over his apartment due to my allergies and he hated being away from his cats. As a compromise he decided to close the bedroom off from the cats, but then that didn't last long. His apartment was approximately 900 square feet and he felt it was a punishment to the cats not to allow them to sleep with him when he was over there.

As a result, Martin had to come over to my place more often. He despised this resolution too as it meant he couldn't spend quality kitty time. Martin tried to get me on prescription medications in addition to my regular allergy medication, as well as get my allergy tested. I did do the blood test but put my foot down when it came to the test involving being stuck with tons of needles.

Martin then announced he was having allergic reactions to my animals. He said he had breathing difficult at my place despite me having $500+ air purifiers throughout my small abode. Martin had an allergy test as well to reveal he was allergic to.... yes... cats, and only cats.

In summary the feline situation really caused a barrier in our relationship. It was not ultimately the reason of our separation, but certainly contributed to anxiety and stress on top of what we already shared. By the time we separated we had enough of each other.

Meow.