- Messages
- 16
- Location
- Seattle, WA
I love my cats, but recently the smell of their box has been absolutely overpowering for me. Instant migraine trigger, overpowering smell (others do not smell it), nausea. This happened while using the litter we've been using for a long time (the thought-to-be-hypo-allergenic World's Best Cat Litter), still keeping the box clean (my husband does it) and not changing their food at all. The box was in a closet across from my bedroom. We switched them to crystal and then pine litter with no improvement in my symptoms. Now the box is in the living room near an often open window (we have an open kitchen / living room / dining room) and I still sometimes feel so sensitive to the odor that I can't go into the kitchen without symptoms (which is quite far from the litter box). I'm thinking that this is more hypersensitivity to odor than MCS, but it's making me live in roughly 300 square feet of my house and to wonder if this means I need to get rid of my wee beasties (which I feel like I could never do; they're family to me and sometimes the only comfort I have). It bears mention that these are awful migraines - I needed to go into the headache clinic for an infusion because one had been going on for three days today.
It's been really dialed up lately and I've gotten some of the first several day migraines I've gotten in years as a result of overwhelming cat box smells which are not apparent to anyone else. I've always hated fragrances -- perhaps it's an extension of that? I feel like it's photosensitivity except with my nose. But it has come on really quickly -- like over a month. Honestly, though, I live on a third floor condo that's only 688 square feet. Moving is not an option: it's great in every other way (ERMI'd, no noise, no central heating duct system, etc). I'm really looking for solutions to how to control this and keep my cats in this space. Would a motorized litter box help? Are there forms of cat litter I haven't tried (I think the waste is offending me as much as the litter, unfortunately -- which is why the litter experiments haven't helped)? Is there some way to make my nose calm down? Has anybody else ever started reacting to cat litter and its contents? I'm so glad I have somebody to change it for me, or I really don't think I could keep them right now.
Thanks.
It's been really dialed up lately and I've gotten some of the first several day migraines I've gotten in years as a result of overwhelming cat box smells which are not apparent to anyone else. I've always hated fragrances -- perhaps it's an extension of that? I feel like it's photosensitivity except with my nose. But it has come on really quickly -- like over a month. Honestly, though, I live on a third floor condo that's only 688 square feet. Moving is not an option: it's great in every other way (ERMI'd, no noise, no central heating duct system, etc). I'm really looking for solutions to how to control this and keep my cats in this space. Would a motorized litter box help? Are there forms of cat litter I haven't tried (I think the waste is offending me as much as the litter, unfortunately -- which is why the litter experiments haven't helped)? Is there some way to make my nose calm down? Has anybody else ever started reacting to cat litter and its contents? I'm so glad I have somebody to change it for me, or I really don't think I could keep them right now.
Thanks.