Personal Struggle

Tonight, I am at a crossroads.

I have no idea what to do.  In case you didn't know, we have 2 cats.

There they are.  The fat gray one is Pepper, and the small calico is Simone.  She's my baby.  I've had her in my life longer than Willie and Addison.  Heck.  I've had her in my life longer than both of them put together!  Pepper, well, he's a "rescue" but still a major part of our family. In fact, he's our "family" cat, playing with Addison, giving her love, sneaking into her room (but still acting like a tough guy). Simone, well, she just hides a lot and runs away when Addie comes into a room.  She shows up for love usually around now when the house is quiet and peaceful and nobody is awake but me.

I love them.  Honestly, though, I'm tired of them.  Pepper has bladder issues that have cost us over $1,000 since November.  He's now on prescription food for urinary crystals and has developed a nasty habit of peeing on the floor.  We were doing really well in the new place for such a long time, but when we went on our trip, he took it back up and now we can't get him to stop.

Simone is just... a bitch.  I'm sorry.  I love her to death and she's my "baby girl" but she's mean to Addie and ever since Addie was born she has also had a problem with the litter box.  I think it's retaliatory.  I've done everything I can think to do.  Addie has never intentionally been mean to her and has rarely even had a chance to be accidentally mean to her.  She can't get a chance to learn how to be nice to Simone.

These issues alone were not enough to make me question keeping my beloved cats.

Addie's allergy test results showed that she was highly allergic to cats.  At the time, we hadn't noticed any major symptoms that we could for sure blame on the cats so the allergist told us to just watch her and see because she may grow out of it. 

Weeks later, Addie is doing amazingly well.  Almost no rash. We cut out peanuts completely and we're limiting eggs and soy, watching her closely after each serving.  She's been fine.  She even had scrambled eggs, and while her mouth got a little red during breakfast, it didn't cause a rash.

Here's the crappy part.  Yesterday afternoon, Addie was hanging out in the house in her diaper (what?! It was 83 degrees in here!) and suddenly broke out in an awful, swollen, itchy rash.  It was so sad.  She kept saying "Itchy, mamma!" and scratching.  No eggs. No peanuts. No food in general other than pita chips which are totally safe for her.  Only explanation? Yep. The cats.

What now?! Sure.  They are a P.I.T.A. most days lately, but do I really want to give them away? Is it even an option at this point? Now I'm fairly certain they have been the problem all along. I'm not sure how willing I am to continue putting Addie through these rashes knowing what is causing it.

This is such a struggle for me.  On the one hand, I will feel like I am abandoning my pets if I give them away (and yeah, right, like Simone will adapt well to that).  On the other hand, am I betraying my daughter and affecting her well being by keeping animals around that I know she's allergic to?!