Regretfully, this year my usual arsenal of weapons doesn’t seem to have made much of a dent in my hay fever, despite me preparing myself early. The start of the season was delayed, but I feel that it was the same for everyone. And it is now in full swing.
If you suffer from hay fever and have outdoor cats, it may help to wipe them down. The best way of doing this is with a damp towel, but Louis Catorze isn’t a fan of this. So, instead, a good old brush every evening gets rid of cruddy, gross fur and means that he scatters much less pollen onto our furniture and bedding. Brushing regularly also has the added benefit of improving the soreness around his eyes (we have no idea how, but it does).
Cat Daddy thinks that keeping Catorze off our beds would be much more effective, and he probably has a point, but I would rather know where Catorze is at night than wonder if he’s scrapping with Donnie, goading foxes, harassing neighbours or, most likely. doing a bit of each.
Here is Sa Maj, about to be brushed by Cat Daddy. Unlike his previous grooming devices, including the FURminator, he absolutely loves this brush, which Oscar the dog gave him for his 10th birthday. Because he has the short-term memory of a swatted gnat and doesn’t remember what the brush is for, he runs when he sees it coming … but, once the brushing starts, he flops onto his back and purrs like a revving motorbike.
jesuisleroisoleil 
Maybe it helps his eyes because it removes some of the same stuff that is irritating you.
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I hadn’t thought of that! Could be true!
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I used to have hay fever but not anymore. My doctor recommended years ago that I take a teaspoon of local wildflower honey every day. It is supposed to be like an allergy shot. I can’t say that is the reason I no longer have allergies but it certainly didn’t hurt.
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I take local honey, too, and a supplement called AA Formula, but somehow it doesn’t seem to have been as effective this year as usual. 😐 Do you take the honey all year round or just during hay fever season?
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I stopped taking it for my allergies a long time ago. Now I put a half a teaspoon in my second cup of coffee. I think honey is beneficial in other ways so I want to have a little bit every day but I don’t want to have too much because of the sugar. I put it in the second cup because I don’t want to raise my blood sugar first thing in the morning.
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I also suffered from terrible hay fever this year, way worse than before. Maybe it’s because we’ve stayed indoors so much during the pandemic that we are no longer used to outdoors stuff. Glad Sa Maj loves the brush. Miss Penny also loves it except when I try to get to her legs and back, which is where she needs it the most, but where it also probably hurts her, so she runs away every time!
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I hadn’t thought of that. You could be right. My symptoms started a couple of weeks later than usual so I thought I’d got away with it, but I had one day in particular so ferociously bad that it was as if I hadn’t taken any precautionary measures at all! People say “Can’t you take antihistamines?” Yes, I can and I do, but I would rather just avoid places that are obviously troublesome!
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Are the bristles soft?
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Not really. They’re kind of rubbery and pliable. But he loves that. Must be like a nice firm massage! He loves firm stroking in general. Kids are always told by their parents to be gentle with him, but he seems to find light strokes annoying and tickly.
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I don’t often suffer from seasonal allergies but I’ve had them this year too. Mine manifest in the eyes. I have eye drops to use and I’ve used them more than ever. I’ve been blaming my new house which has a lot of wooded areas surrounding it. Who knows! It’s been a strange year for sure.
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I’ve found it helps a little bit to tie up my hair, so that the pesky pollen isn’t wafting around as much. And I’m brushing our mutual friend daily. Sometimes I think if I kept brushing and didn’t stop, he’d just disappear. 🤣🤣🤣
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I brushed two of mine this week and almost needed a large size truck to take away the fur. I am sure they are naked.
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Haha, I know the feeling! Somehow a 3kg cat has produced 873kg of loose fur. How is that?
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Take heart. Suffering from hay fever can be really disabling.
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It’s dreadful, isn’t it? And people are quite dismissive about it: “Just take antihistamines!” It’s not always that simple.
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Also, we’ve been disinfecting everything non-stop for a year so we must be more sensitive to stuff now. Plus the masks, which protected us from a lot of the “usual” stuff in the air.
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Very true. 😊
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