I’m not sure I’ve ever been sneezed on by my first cat, Avery. Or any other cats until I met the two Persian cats that I brought into our home not too long ago.
But these two newbies – Bjorn and Athos – boy are they full of sneezes!
And yes, those sneezes ultimately make it to my face. So. Dang. Often.
Like at least once a week? Or if it’s a particularly eventful week, maybe 2 or 3 days in a row with a sneeze to the face.
Lovely (i.e. kind of hilarious) when those sneezes are then followed by a quick lick of their nose, ensuring they don’t have to move a single limb to wipe any of the splatter off.
Of course not, that’d be too much work.
Why’s it happen? What causes it, and does it lead to anything worse for a cat’s human than discomfort, annoyance, and the immediate desire to just sit there confused about how this can possibly keep happening?
Well, I’m going to get into that right now, starting with the point about whether it can cause anything bad to happen to you…
Can I Catch Anything Bad If My Cat Sneezes in My Face?
I’m not a vet. I’m not a scientist. I don’t have a crazy amount of experience besides living with and essentially fostering a bunch of cats over the span of my life-since-adulthood.
But based on what I understand (and please correct me if I’m wrong!), besides rabies, there isn’t really anything you can catch from your cat (or even your dog for that matter), insofar as colds and viruses and things like that.
It’s a little strange when you think about it, especially knowing that a lot of the most dangerous diseases and illnesses we can catch from humans come from other animals.
I used to have a pet snake I called Havana, a ball python, and I know I could’ve caught salmonella from her. Snakes often have salmonella. Other reptiles do, as well, I believe.
But cats and dogs? Unlikely.
The things you can catch from them you wouldn’t be likely to catch from their saliva. They’re things like worms and fleas.
But if your cat doesn’t have those types of things, you’re not necessarily gonna love being sneezed on any time soon, but you should rest assured that you’re probably safe insofar as not being able to contract any illnesses they may have yourself.
Okay, but what about new illnesses and diseases and viruses and such? Maybe. Look into any new ones if they come about, but this is a pretty rare phenomenon specifically from cats and/or dogs to humans, as far as I know.
Why Does My Cat Keep Sneezing on My Face?
See, you might think your cat sneezing is stemming from a cold of sorts, but you really don’t necessarily know that your cat is even sick.
My cats sneeze all the time, and I know they are not sick.
Part of it, I believe, has to do with the fact that they are Persians, as this seems to be a common thing amongst Persian cats, more frequent sneezes.
I’m guessing because of the way their faces are squished, maybe they produce more mucous or it builds up more for some reason? I don’t even know.
Or maybe because they have more allergies than most? Because my cats definitely have environmental allergies. The evidence of that is they tear up quite a lot throughout the day.
To be fair, I have a lot of allergies in particular where I live, too. I have a feeling it’s the sycamore trees behind my house, their pollen is insane! But I can’t be sure.
Shaving my cats will often help with reducing those kind of air-borne allergies. So I learned how to shave my cats in a way that they don’t hate it so much.
Bathing a cat may also help with this too, but I don’t do this because it really stresses my cats out, so I only bathe if really necessary, and there are terrible, terrible accidents in the litter department, which luckily don’t happen all that often.
I also know my cats will sometimes sneeze if they sniff really, really hard to figure out what a smell is, and then I always get the after effects because I’m near whatever they’re sniffing.
Heck, I’ve even had one of my cats (Athos!!) go into a almost violent sneezing fits on multiple occasions when he’s tried to smell his own fur after I’ve shaved or I’ve brushed him… like whyyyy do you do this?
Gently sniff, gently sniff!!!
At this point, I’ve gotten to a stage where I will tend to say, “Easy, easy” when my cats start sniffing too intently.
And sometimes that backfires cause I’ll often be patting them on the back and then am in even closer radius to the wet zone.
But sometimes I’ll be able to settle them down and cause the sneeze never to take place.
And yes, I know they would sneeze in most of these instances if I let them proceed to pretty aggressively sniff away at the object. It’s almost like the tickle in their nose from the strong sniffing just can’t go without being sneezed out!
The only way to know exactly what is causing your cat to sneeze is to go to a vet and let him or her know what’s going on, how often your cat sneezes, and anything he or she sneezes more prolifically around (like certain smells, for instance!).
They can help you figure out what’s going on and maybe even remedy the sneezing entirely! Or near entirely.
Your Thoughts on Cats Sneezing in Faces?
Why do you think cats most often sneeze in a human’s face?
If you’ve known any cats to sneeze, do they do it often? How often would you say? Do you have any idea why they sneeze so much?
Do you know of anything you can catch from a cat sneezing in your face? What about something you can’t get any other way?
If you’ve ever had a cat sneeze in your face, how do you feel when it happens? I just get a bit frustrated and sigh, but often I will laugh and go get a tissue.
Would love to hear your thoughts, stories, and opinions in the comments down below – thank you in advance for sharing them!
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