I appear to have developed an allergy to my cat

[TheOriginalFAB]

.

How and why??

She is 17 and I have had her since she was a tiny kitten.

i am in a similar position to you, but with my dog, he is 14 and i have had him since he was a year old. for the last two years i have developed and allergy to his hair!

It is very strange isn't it?

Sadly I think you can become allergic things that are an allergen (cats, dogs, bee stings, foodstuffs) just through over exposure to them.

Does it mean I can't have any more cats?

Not necessarily. Have you tried taking an antihistamine to see if it helps? The problem is caused by the dander on the fur rather than the hair itself, dander is to do with the dried saliva on the animal from where it washes itself. There are products you can use that minimise the dander, I think it's called Petal or Petalcleanse (can't link to it as on my phone).

I have put savlon on the itchy bit. It isn't unbearable, just annoying.

I get really sneezy, my eyes water and my chest gets tight and wheezy when I visit friends with cats if I don't take an antihistamine first. I used to have two cats but one of them sadly passed away in 2007 and since then I've also developed an allergy to them. I'm fine with my other cat if he's just around me in the house but If I stroked him and then touched my face/eyes they'd get itchy and puff up. Very strange!