This is in response to Kristen Thelander's posting about allergies. I too am very allergic to cats and most dogs. I'm only slightly allergic to our three ferrets. Their cage is in our daughter's room, so I'm not sleeping in the same room with them. I have no problems with them up to two or three days after their baths. If they go longer than a week between baths my eyes start itching and watering. However, my chest has never tightened up around them. With cats, I have an asthma attack within an hour or so of contact with them. We've had Snoopy for a year, Frederick Von Ferret for nine months, and Caesar for one and a half months. Hopefully I won't develop cat-type allergies to them. As to an explanation, I too would like to know if there's any rhyme or reason to these allergies. My husband says I'm allergic to cat saliva, but that does not explain my dog allergy. We had a poodle when I was growing up that I wasn't allergic to. He was bathed about once a month. We had a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier for seven years (he died of kidney disease a few weeks back). He only caused me problems if I had to brush him before a bath. I stayed at people's homes with collies and dalmatians and had nasty allergic reactions.... So..... maybe my animal allergies are caused by a combination of cat saliva and dust. I guess I could experiment with my three guys by not bathing them for a while, but I'm sure that my sense of smell would develop nasty allergies.... Any explanations would be appreciated. Karen Poole (Also a satisfied Modern Ferret subscriber) [Posted in FML issue 1399]