It was something about cats that just didn't tickle Tina Nash's fancy, and she wondered if she would ever be able to honour her husband's wish of owning one.

Owning a cat was a big issue for the recently married couple as husband Mark expressed his desire to have one, having owned two with his family. And while Tina loved cats she knew living with one would be a problem... because she is allergic to them.

"I came from Canada four years ago and knew I would have problems with cats,'' said Mrs. Nash, a therapist at CedarBridge Academy.

That was before she began allergen immunotherapy 16 months ago and now her condition has improved sufficiently to allow a cat into her home two months ago.

As she sat and played with nine week old Dingo, Mrs. Nash showed no signs of the allergic reaction that would previously have prevented her from being in the company of cats for a long period.

"When we were getting married I would go to Mark's parents' house and would have to leave because my eyes would get all puffy and my nose would be runny,'' she recalls.

"Mark has grown up with cats his whole life and was really sad that we couldn't have one. His father mentioned that he had taken shots a long, long time ago and it really helped him so I figured I would look into it.'' It was at that time that Mrs. Nash sought out the Allergy Clinic of Bermuda to try to find a solution to her problem.

"I got tested and it goes from zero to six, but for cats I was off the scale at seven,'' she explained.

"For molds I was at six and for dogs six. The first time she tested me for cats my eyes swelled up right away so there was no doubt about it.'' Mrs. Nash suffers from allergic rhinitis which also includes dust mites. At first she was prescribed nasal sprays and eye drops which proved very helpful and improved over time to the point where she didn't need the nasal sprays.

Now she is down to shots every two weeks.

"Cat allergy can be very, very serious,'' said Jutta Harvey, Nurse Manager at the Allergy Clinic.

"I always recommend never to have a cat in the bedroom. Cat dander is very lightweight and stays in the room.'' Mrs. Harvey drew an interesting reference to a study of cats carried out in New Jersey on 100 homes of allergic people.

"None had cats but cat dander was found in every single home,'' she stated.

"The people were allergic to cats and in some cases the previous owners had a cat. Three months later the new owners moved in and the cat dander was still there. It sticks to the walls and stays in the air.

"In another case children in the home played with children at school and cat dander was in their clothes and it was brought home. In the third case the owners went to visit friends who had cats and from walking on the carpet they took the dander back to their home.'' Added Mrs. Harvey: "It's not just the dander that is an allergic part of the cat. It's also the saliva, when cleaning themselves, and also urine, so the litter box is a source of allergen.

"If the cat will tolerate it, they can wet the cat down to make the dander heavy so that it doesn't float.'' There seems to be a happy ending to Mrs. Nash's horror story.

"Now I can go to Mark's parents house and stay a little bit longer and now honestly I don't feel anything,'' she says.

"I can play with the cats as long as I don't touch my eyes. If I sneeze it's because of something else. Literally it has changed my life, we would never have been able to get a cat.

"Now she sleeps on my chest, we play all the time and I don't have any reaction. Jutta has told me I can soon be down to a shot every three weeks. I used to get three shots every week and then it went down to every two weeks.'' She added: "My whole quality of life has improved. I'm always bragging to people about it.'' "I used to have Kleenex in every pocket, I never left home without Kleenex.'' Dingo is barred from the bedroom but only because of her mischievous behaviour.

"I was told by Jutta that you should always have one room as a sanctuary where you don't let the cat in and the only reason she doesn't come into the bedroom is because she's been eating Mark's ties!''