This morning was such a blo
ody mess. Well, there wasn’t blood. Thank god. But I was close. To bleeding, I mean.
All my life I have been afflicted with a highly sensitive allergy to dog hair. Animal hair, really. Cat hair, horse hair, guinea pig hair, chinchilla, goat hair, cow hair, giraffe hair, bison hair, badger hair you name it, I’m allergic to it. In my everyday life, I am careful not to let this affect me to serious extent. I do not have pets that have hair, which logically excludes my many tropical fish, and do not allow animals into my house.
Last week, when I went to my regular medical check up with my doctor, he informed that I have what he rudely termed an ‘obesity’ problem. In his words, I need to take up a healthier lifestyle regime, or there will be serious long term health consequences. Logically, therefore, this morning I went for a run. I walked to my local park and commenced my run, only to discover a dog walker from Melbourne was in my park. I had only run for what I have calculated to be about two minutes, when my allergies began to kick in. My throat became dry, I couldn’t breathe. I stopped running immediately and began to wish I had brought my asthma pump with me.
What I find astounding is how people such as myself, allergy suffers, are supposed to coexist with fur covered animals. How am I supposed to deal with a creature that causes me physical pain? Frankly, I am amazed there are no laws against the times dog walkers in Melbourne can take the dogs into parks. Is my suffering considered insignificant? What if I were allergic to an anaphylactic extent? How would the law react to my episode then? I feel that everyone’s love those “cute” animals clouds their judgement when lives are potentially at stake.