Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    	Yes, if your cat walked through it, and has the oil on 
    	her fur, you can get it from touching her...
    

      You most certainly can..in fact, a lady who works in my office has a
    severe case currently that she got from her cat.. They can brush
    against the plant (and poison oak and poison sumac as well..) and carry
    the substance that causes it for MILES in their fur... The stuff that
    causes the blistering is called "Urushiol" (probably spelled wrong...)
    and an extremely small amount will cause the blistering...
    
    JMcD

    I get it all the time from the dog and the horse.  The oil sits on the
    top of the fur and when you go and pet them it gets on your hands.  Or
    in my cats case around my ankles.
    
    db

    YUP! I got it from the puppy:-((
    
    

    If you are sensitive enough, you get even get ivy poisoning by walking
    by it!

    Deb

     Since I moved to Russell three years ago, I have gotten poison
    ivy every year. Deb is right. You can get poison ivy just by walking
    by it on a hot day. The poison ivy is in my backyard and the kitties
    play up in the area it is in. And when they come into the house
    and brush up against me I get it. 
      I have been hospitalized twice now for inflamed poison ivy and
    have been covered with it all over. There is nothing you can do
    really but let it run it's course for ten days. I have had everything
    my doctor and hospital have prescribed. And I just had to wait,
    until the next time my fur faces get into the poison ivy. 
       Sincerely, 
       Denise 

    re:.6
    
    If you have it in your back yard, why don't you get rid of it??
    
    I got it from gardening in march/april.  There was no sign of
    it at that time, but apparantly there was enough stuff in the soil
    to affect me (for 3-4 months!).  I got rid of it by spraying 
    Round-Up on it.  It can harm people and animals when wet, but when
    it dries.....it kills the plants good!  I also got 3 tomatoe plants
    and a patch of grass....bt they could be replaced.  I also believe
    it is biodegradable, and safe for the enviroment.....but I'm not
    too sure.  I am generally very conscious of the enviroment and 
    animals.....but if I ever have to go through what I went through
    again....... ;*)

        
    >If you have it in your back yard, why don't you get rid of it??

    If you are severely sensitive to it, you can get a SEVERE CASE of ivy
    poisoning just getting close enough to it to spray stuff on to it!
    (This is the voice of experience!) And even then, most sprays don't
    work; the stuff that used to be used for it is now illegal to use.
    I've contacted several lawn services and they all tell me the only real
    way to get rid of it is to dig the lawn up (read big bucks). And none
    of them wanted the job. And neither did the landscapers that I called.

    Deb (who got her most current case walking down the MRO access road to
         watch a friend play softball)

    And whatever you do, Don't burn it!!!!!  You can get it really
    bad from the smoke. 
      Nancy DC

    In my note I expressed that I have poison ivy in my backyard. I
    have sprayed all kinds of things to get rid of the poison ivy, and
    some of the sprays work, but I live in the country and there is
    so much poison ivy that you couldn't even touch all of it. I have
    a bank that goes up to a road and it is loaded. You couldn't possibly
    get rid of all the poison ivy. 
      Poison ivy is a weed that spreads and spreads. My neighbor has
    poison ivy in her yard and I have even sprayed her yard with sprays
    to get rid of it. So my kitties wouldn't go into her yard and bring
    it home. 
      If you try to burn poison ivy. A person can die from it. If the
    smoke is inhaled the poison ivy will go inside your throat, lungs,
    mouth, tongue, etc. And it blisters inside your whole system. 
      Denise  

      Here's the best way in the WORLD of getting rid of Poison Ivy, but
    it's only good for those of you who have the facilities and love most
    all animals....
    
      Get a Goat!! Yup!! Goats are immune to the stuff, but more than that,
    they are also addicted to it. They'll not only eat it, they love it so
    much they;'ll eat it down below the surface of the ground. including
    the roots. What's even more curious, if the Goat is a milking goat, you
    can still use the milk since the stuff does NOT get into the milk...
    
      'Course you have to have some land and a place to keep the little
    dickens if you want to get a Goat...
    
    
      John McD

    
    
    I am getting over a case of poison ivy.  I am sure I contacted it
    through my cat.  I am using this cream which seems to be drying the
    it up.  I heard that every time you contact poison ivy the rashes
    become more severe.  I am very careful now about washing my hands after
    touching the cat.  

    a timely topic...I think I came down with a case of poison ivy last
    week before heading to DECWorld, and thought I got it chasing one of my
    cats through the bushes by a creek.  It is possible, from reading these
    notes, that I caught it from him after I found him and picked him up.
    
    My initial concern was (and I guess still is) - can cats get poison ivy
    blisters, etc. from coming in contact with the plant?  Since I wasn't
    there last week I wasn't able to keep him under observation, but my
    girlfriend said that neither he nor any of the other cats had any
    blistering.  I want to make sure that none of the cats comes down with
    a case of it and goes ballistic with scratching, etc.
    
    Thanks for any info.

Re:                    <<< Note 3813.11 by MCIS5::MCDONOUGH >>>

>      Get a Goat!! Yup!! Goats are immune to the stuff, but more than that,
>    they are also addicted to it. They'll not only eat it, they love it so
>    much they;'ll eat it down below the surface of the ground. including
>    the roots. What's even more curious, if the Goat is a milking goat, you
>    can still use the milk since the stuff does NOT get into the milk...

It is my understanding that poison ivy induces an allergic reaction and 
that goats don't react.  My goat(s) eat poison ivy but they certainly 
aren't "addicted" to it.  They would much rather eat a tasty oak leaf or 
rose bush any day.

It is also my understanding that drinking the milk of a goat that 
regularly eats poison ivy passes on some immunity...

Bob

    I LOVE goats!  Especially the pigmy ones.  They're so affectionate :-)