I think I was just given the runaround by someone who didn't want to make any extra effort, but I'm unsure now how to handle this in future.
I've been thinking about getting a cat, I've got a fairly perfect setup I think - I live on my own (mostly, my father sometimes stays with me when he needs help) in a house that I own (so no risk of abandoning kitty at end of lease type problems). I work from home, and am not required to spend overnights away from home or anything similar. No kids, and I prefer to spend my holiday time quietly at home.
I saw a cat that I liked up for adoption (a rescue cat) and rang and asked, and they said to come in and see how he and I got on (he was staying at a local pet store). When I got there, I admitted that I had been very allergic as a child (we owned a cat, but I was fine with anti-histamines), but I didn't think I had problems any more. Before I could say more, they said they wouldn't even consider me. I tried to explain that I'd been working with someone who had 2 longhaired persians without problems. We work from home, so whenever we had meetings it was at his place, so I had spent weeks at the start of our current project with 10-12 hour days there while we worked up the design. And I spent plenty of time playing with and brushing the kitties. It seemed reasonable to me that I'd grown out of the allergy (which I understand is somewhat normal), so all I wanted was to spend some time with my potential kitty to check that I was fine with him. And they told me that persians were different, low allergy, so it didn't matter - I was allergic so wouldn't be considered. I decided to leave when they reiterated they wouldn't even let me handle the cat. rather than continue arguing with someone who wasn't interested.
The persians are low allergy statement sounded very wrong to me, so when I got home, I googled it, and it seems I was right - they are well known for being bad for people with allergies. So apparently the person was simply not interested in considering anyone who might not be 'perfect'.
Going forward - what should I do? I still want to get a cat of my own (preferably an older cat which I can know will be happy as a solitary indoor cat). My co-worker told me to just lie if asked - but I don't really feel comfortable doing that. Can anyone help me here? Was this just an instance of the person thinking I'm a typical SC and not wanting to bother. I can understand a legitimate concern about the animal needing a permanent home. But if I'm approaching this with a willingness to go back onto the antihistamines if over time the allergy reemerges, doesn't that make me a good potential adopter?
What should I say/do in future when talking with a salesperson/rescue person about adopting?
Thanks for any suggestions.
I've been thinking about getting a cat, I've got a fairly perfect setup I think - I live on my own (mostly, my father sometimes stays with me when he needs help) in a house that I own (so no risk of abandoning kitty at end of lease type problems). I work from home, and am not required to spend overnights away from home or anything similar. No kids, and I prefer to spend my holiday time quietly at home.
I saw a cat that I liked up for adoption (a rescue cat) and rang and asked, and they said to come in and see how he and I got on (he was staying at a local pet store). When I got there, I admitted that I had been very allergic as a child (we owned a cat, but I was fine with anti-histamines), but I didn't think I had problems any more. Before I could say more, they said they wouldn't even consider me. I tried to explain that I'd been working with someone who had 2 longhaired persians without problems. We work from home, so whenever we had meetings it was at his place, so I had spent weeks at the start of our current project with 10-12 hour days there while we worked up the design. And I spent plenty of time playing with and brushing the kitties. It seemed reasonable to me that I'd grown out of the allergy (which I understand is somewhat normal), so all I wanted was to spend some time with my potential kitty to check that I was fine with him. And they told me that persians were different, low allergy, so it didn't matter - I was allergic so wouldn't be considered. I decided to leave when they reiterated they wouldn't even let me handle the cat. rather than continue arguing with someone who wasn't interested.
The persians are low allergy statement sounded very wrong to me, so when I got home, I googled it, and it seems I was right - they are well known for being bad for people with allergies. So apparently the person was simply not interested in considering anyone who might not be 'perfect'.
Going forward - what should I do? I still want to get a cat of my own (preferably an older cat which I can know will be happy as a solitary indoor cat). My co-worker told me to just lie if asked - but I don't really feel comfortable doing that. Can anyone help me here? Was this just an instance of the person thinking I'm a typical SC and not wanting to bother. I can understand a legitimate concern about the animal needing a permanent home. But if I'm approaching this with a willingness to go back onto the antihistamines if over time the allergy reemerges, doesn't that make me a good potential adopter?
What should I say/do in future when talking with a salesperson/rescue person about adopting?
Thanks for any suggestions.
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