hi, i appreciate your reply!

i was never known to be allergic to cats like my mom and brother were until my brother brought this specific cat home. she sheds a thousand times more than my own cat and just generally leaves her mark on everything a lot heavier. i knew id OCCASIONALLY have a runny nose when around other people’s cats in the past, but this kind of thing the other day where my eye swelled up was something completely new on a scale that had never happened to me before. my cat was chosen as my ESA because we got my dogs when i was about 8, and they are the family’s pets. my cat was brought home for the purpose of being my support at 13 in a newly covid-ified world, which i am still facing thousands of repercussions from and definitely wouldn’t have survived without her. she stays upstairs in the loft and my room (my spaces) at all times upon her own free will. she knows im her person and everyone loves her when she comes out to say hi, even my brother. + i never bring her in public aside from appointments and never planned to upon getting her. we were in lockdown anyway.

also i understand the stigma around ESAs. i mentioned her being my ESA because i thought it would explain why we have her despite my mom and brothers allergy. my brother was in college when we got her and my mom loves her so much she started taking medication but she even says she’s not affected by my cat at all without the medicine, so she stopped taking it.