49. Donkey dander

Can it be?  I’m allergic to Gus??

Pollen washed ashore in a rain puddle

Living in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, and even the southern tier of New York State, I never had hay fever.  But as soon as I moved up to Saratoga Springs, I joined the ranks of spring sufferers.  After a couple of sneezy, snotty Mays capped by Memorial Day bronchitis attacks, I realized that trees and grasses and other plants all share a very short growing season up here.  In my particular neighborhood some dunderhead had long ago squeezed a huge blue spruce tree between my garage and the next-door house, and every spring the pollen billowed from it by the bushelful.  I had the spruce removed, but plenty of other conifers still yellow the air (and sidewalks and windshields) with their pollen.

It was no surprise this spring that I developed itchy eyes and a drippy nose and a scratchy throat.  But come June, instead of fading, it all got worse.  And what else happened in June?  Gus started to shed his prolific winter coat.  I didn’t notice the coincidence until I went to Maine for a week:  the day before I left I spent extra time brushing Gus, the day we drove to Maine I was sniffling and glurking and achooing more than ever, in Maine my sinuses were surprisingly improved, the day after I got home I resumed my donkey-dehairing duties, and the day after that I couldn’t stop blowing my nose and clearing my throat, plus that night one ear spontaneously clogged up and I got dizzy.

This is my first spring and summer with Gus, and it’s also my first summer with such persistent and severe allergy symptoms.  I never had this problem with horses shedding, but Gus’s dander is probably as different from a horse’s as are his personality and physique.

Well.  Hmmm.  I’m still half-deaf and reeling like a drunken sailor, but I’m certainly not going to drop Gus from my dance card.  So what will I do?  Plan A is to dose up on stinging-nettle extract (a fairly effective natural antihistamine for me) before each trip to the barn and also to wear a dust mask when I groom him.  If his allergens prove too virulent for such home remedies, I’ll reluctantly and cautiously try Plan B: pharmaceuticals.  In another few weeks he should be finished shedding, and I hope that will end the matter.  Until next spring . . .