Giving up cats

[Miserablehome]

I have come to the end of my tether with cats and I need to rehome them. I have asthma which never was a problem before in the past but I've recently adopted these cats and it has triggered my asthma. I have another long term health condition as well as I am likely to need hospital care. I'm not coping.

DC will be devastated but I can't cope. AIBU for wanting to rehome the cats? How can I let DC know that this may be for the best. Currently can't sleep as I've been cleaning the litter trays and its brought on my asthma.

I mean you could take antihistamines, but it might not help much. It just doesn't seem worth making yourself and the cats miserable. You tried the adoption and it didn't work out.

First I would give it time for a preventative inhaler to work. Only damp dust. Keep cats out of your bedroom. I also take fexofenadine and some people use petal cleanse on the cats.
Honestly sounds like you just want to hand them back though.

DC are primary age.

The cats are on a schedule for neutering (delayed as I have been severely unwell) so atm need stay inside. Obviously things will ease up once they are allowed outside but I don't want them to further settle in their outside environment and then rehome them as that would be even more damaging to them. I'm considering building a garden studio for them, so I am thinking of all avenues!

Thanks for the practical tips from PPs.

I wouldn't say it was a spiky side - having a new asthma diagnosis is pretty relevant to he issue you're having I'd have thought

What do YOU want to do OP? Honestly just do what you feel is best for you and don't feel you need validation for it.
If you keep them you'll probably end up resenting them anyway so I'd say it's better to find them a new home.

Just give them back to the shelter and tell the children that the shelter has found them a new home because you are too unwell.

You can’t take any chances with asthma, it can KILL you. No questions, your health comes first.

Never get another pet.

DS1 is very allergic to cats and antihistamines are no use at all to people with severe allergies. I get so fed up with people who think that's all asthmatics have to so it pop a few pills. People die from asthma- two cousins and an uncle in my family.

Of course the cats have to go. Today.

We got one of our cats from someone who developed an allergy to him and was getting really sick through exposure to him. She was so upset to have to give him up. He took a while to settle with us (he's rather a complex personality) but he's been here seven years now and is really happy and bonded with us. They do grieve for a while, they love their humans, but they will adapt. You can't be made ill in your own home, it's just bad luck that this has happened.

Re-home them responsibly, talking to a rescue but ideally keeping them in your home till they have a new place to go to as they find being in rescues upsetting. Better to go directly from you to the new home if possible.

Did you get them from a proper rescue?

If so I would ask them to take them back, they’ll understand.

I wouldn’t suggest they were mainly outdoors with one indoor room as other posters have suggested as this is not what a proper rescue would have wanted for them.

You can’t force a cat to be mainly outdoors or indoors, they have personalities and decide for themselves. They might not always want to be around each other so each need safe spaces indoors. As they age, they both might want to be indoors more. If they get ill or have an operation, they’ll need to recover indoors with hands on care.

If you can’t give them full access to a loving home then I would take them back. Don’t rehome to just anyone.

Also if not neutered, are they both male or female? Kittens can get pregnant from 4 months.

Also I do feel sorry for you so no judgement, I’m sure you would keep them if you could.

You should hand them back to the rescue you got them from. People with asthma should not have animals with dander. My DB has asthma and thought he was fine as an adult, but then he adopted a dog and realised that he absolutely wasn't fine at all. Your health is non-negotiable, particularly the 'being able to breathe' part of it. There is no other option.

Rehome them. If they haven’t even been neutered yet then you either haven’t had them long or they are very young. Do it sooner rather than later for their sake.

The rescue were really stupid to have allowed @Miserablehome to have taken not just one, but TWO cats.

My guess is litter trays aren't much fun to clean out, and this is why they are looking to be returned to the rescue.

No one ''forgets'' asthma, these cats were probably bought on whim, and are now too hard to look after for whatever reason.

She didn’t forget she has asthma, she didn’t know she had it because she didn’t have it.

it’s a new diagnosis since getting the cats.

No, she was previously diagnosed as a child.

Please don't try everything. Put yourself and your health first. Rehome them.

You have to explain to your children that you did not know this when you got the cats but unfortunately you have an underlying illness that is triggered by the cats and could be very dangerous indeed. Tell them you love the cats and wish you could keep them but it is just too dangerous (which it is).

Lynx body spray triggers my asthma. DSs used to use it in their teens until I banned it from the house, and explained it could kill me. One morning I was in the kitchen and got an attack. DS was upstairs in his bedroom and had sprayed on Lynx. I was so scared and so upset he'd ignored how serious it was for me. You cannot risk this. You never know when two factors could combine (eg sudden high pollen count plus cleaning litter tray) to make the attack really dangerous.

Rehome the cats. This is not your fault.

Childhood asthma is a thing which may never reoccur as an adult.

It's an unfortunate situation but you have to be healthy to look after your children. You need to sit them down and explain why you can't continue to care for the cats. Even if they are upset about it, they will want you to be healthy. I would probably try to get them involved in finding a good home for the cats, so you are taking their feelings into account and they will at least know that they are going to be cared for properly.

It's a tough situation but unavoidable. You weren't to know that you were going to develop asthma. People have to give up pets due to sudden changes in circumstances and it's upsetting but not their fault.

I used to work in a rescue and I adore cats but your post like you said is a “guess” so keep your guesses to yourself cause it makes you look like a snide bully.

But you don't necessarily expect cats to trigger it. I have bad asthma from traffic fumes, aerosol deodorants and tree pollen. But I can bury my face in a cat's fur with no problem. If cats hadn't triggered it before, OP wouldn't know.

And so? She presumably didn't know she was allergic to cats and she didn't know her asthma would come back. Shit happens, even to cats.

Animals aren't objects to be bought on whim, and discarded.

Exactly but not 100% of animals that are surrendered to a rescue are discarded on a whim and even rescues know that.

I assume you've tried anti histamine? We use Purina LiveClear food for our Dcats which also helps reduce allergic reactions