Yes, a drag. I've had numerous cat lovers explain to me over the years that it's probably a reaction to their dander.
This allergy of mine has caused my throat to close up on me making breathing almost impossible. All of my advice seemed to indicate that my problems came from just touching furniture or something that a cat had been around. I suppose it's natural for us to touch our faces more than we realize. I guess I do that without even thinking about it. Maybe adjusting my glasses or something. All I know is that it doesn't take much...a cat. That is the one common thing to my difficulties.
Crazy as it sounds, I've always been intrigued by cats. I like the primal way they move. Like only one or two clicks from a lion or leopard. But I've always enjoyed them from afar. Curious but at the same time aloof and distant.
The picture you see up there is El Gato. That's Mexican for "The Cat".
El Gato is not my cat. I'm not naive enough to believe for even an instant that El Gato thinks that I "own" him. It's more like we get to hang around together.
I get up in the morning and my first job is to go out and see if he is there outside the kitchen door waiting for me. Sometimes he is looking into the kitchen window with his claws in the screen. Sometimes our little house dogs will be at the kitchen door with their nose down to the threshold, sniffing. That's the signal that my little pal is out there waiting on me.
El Gato is an outside cat. Oh but he wants to come indoors. He does come into my little office building to hang around until he tires of it.
El Gato just showed up one morning while we were enjoying our morning coffee. He comes over to me....me, not my wife who loves cats, me. He starts turning on the charm and the whole time I'm thinking that maybe....just maybe.
At first I was very cautious about washing my hands before touching my face. That lasted a couple of days. I got more bold as El Gato grew more affectionate with me....me, not my wife. I'm not believing this. At this stage of my life I'm sent a cat. Now he is laying on my lap, head butting me and purring like nothing I've ever heard.
If you have a cat you are probably smiling and nodding.
If you don't have a cat, you would never understand. Trust me, I know this.
