Child allergic to my ex-wife's cats

[zoneman]

What is the name of your state? New York

I have joint custody of my two kids. I get them 3 days one week and 4 days the other week. So exactly 50 % of the time they are with me and 50% of the time they are with my Ex-wife. My ex-wife has 3 cats in her small apartment. We just found out that our oldest daughter is allergic to Cats. She has an allergic number of 5 on a scale of 0-6 and 6 being the worst. She has now been congested for several months and it has finally taken a toll on her breathing properly. She now is on 3 kinds of medicine and taking an inhaler every four hours to help her breath without weasing. I have explained to my ex-wife that she needs to find I new home for the 3 cats. She has strongly disagreed and will not remove the cats from their apartment. Myself and the doctors feel that our Childs condition will only get worse if she continues to live in the house that has cats...Since my ex-wife has refused to take care of this matter I feel my only response is to take her to Family court. I ask will a court side with my feelings and have my ex-wife remove the cats. Please help with any information that I can work with to help my little one be healthy again..

 

[rmet4nzkx]

You just found out, has there been any time to adjust to the situation yet? Has mom talked to the doctor or is it only you giving the ultimatum. How does your child feel about the cat? Are there other things besides getting rid of the cat? Are there any issues about cats that may contribute to this? While you have 50/50 custody now, has this been working or have you been looking for a reason to try to take custody or make mom feel that you are trying to do that?

 

[zoneman]

I have told her in the past that our child is probably allergic to the cats..Finally last week she was so congested and weasing that the mother made a doctors appointment for her and the doctor had told her that our child has asthma and suggested that we get an allergy test done as well to determine if there are other problem effecting her breathing. The tests came back and I told the mother tonight and she absolutely refuses to remove the cats from her apartment. My child is sad but understands and accepts what should be done. She is going on 10 years old. The mother also said and I quote " Then fine Nancy can stay with you all the time, I'm not getting rid of my cats". Now our child does love both myself and her mom so I certainly don't want to forcefully have to remove her form her mom place and limit the amount of time she spends with her...But I also cannot be happy or content with her still living in the same unsafe enviormentent that she is in now with her mom's house and the cats..When she's with me she has absolutely no breathing issues at all.

 

[zoneman]

And as for everything else we see mostly eye to eye on....We have had a good relationship with sharing and working with the kids for over 5 years now..

 

[LdiJ]

And as for everything else we see mostly eye to eye on....We have had a good relationship with sharing and working with the kids for over 5 years now..

You need to talk with the doctor more. I know for a fact that there are allergy medicines/shots available that would make it possible for your child to still keep her pets. Yes of course it would be easier/logical to get rid of the cats...but to the mom and kids they are members of the family....and there are ways to resolve it without getting rid of them...been there...done that.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

If your child has asthma there are other things that she may be hypersensitive to besides the cats, getting rid of the cats may not do anything. All children with asthma should also be tested for Alpha-1-Antitrypsin deficiency see http://www.Alphaone.org for free and confidential testing.