Kitty Care Might Kill Me Yet

I'm dropping into Chickie's place every morning to feed and water her cats and clean their litter boxes. It's also fall, and Chickie is a horrible housekeeper. Those things, combined with the fact that I'm allergic to cat dander, is really hitting me hard. The fact that we're in autumn and the leaves are turning and starting to fall is like icing on my allergy cake. Completely horrid!

The calico on the left is Roxie - a mischief maker who's constantly on the go.
She's fairly petite and often gives in to her larger sister on
the right, Tilde. 

The cats are adorable, of course. It's not their fault that they have dander. But my already borderline weepy eyes and frequent trips to the tissue box to blow my drippy nose are pushed WAY out of any comfort zone when they are brought into daily contact with the cats.

Tilde is a big cat, curious and always following to see what
I'm up to. She's a bit more affectionate because she'll
actually come up for a caress. Roxie, on the other hand,
would come up to me, but only to try and find a way to escape
the apartment and explore the land of birds and
squirrels beyond the windows. 

I posted the photo of my trash bin with the tissues from the morning's allergy attacks on Facebook yesterday. Several friends offered to take the last three days, which was very sweet of them. I even had a few long-time customers in the store who volunteered, when they saw how affected I was by my allergies to cats. I'm extremely frustrated because I'm still trying to help customers despite having to break off every couple of minutes to blow or wipe my nose. Generally it works out of my system by mid-afternoon, but I can't emphasize enough how relieved I will be to say good-bye to the cats on Monday morning. I am telling myself "Three more days - you can do it!", but this time it's been extremely hard. I might have to turn down future cat tending and that would be a shame.

Chickie left on Sunday and I started taking care of the cats on Monday
morning. In that time, I've almost gone through an entire box of
tissues. This is the lot from less than an hour in the early morning
at the shop. My allergies are horrid this time, and it's making me sick!
Three more days ... I keep telling myself, only three more days. 

Here's me - grateful that it's Friday and wishing it was Saturday or even better, Monday. Chickie is having a wonderful time on her vacation in Spain, but I can't wait to get my life, and my allergies - back under control. Have a wonderful day!