Kangaroo Kitty Cat

I met a new patient yesterday, a 30-something year-old dad. He was coming in with an upper respiratory illness that involved a mild sore throat and a pretty nasty dry cough. While taking the social history, I asked him if he had any animals at home. The patient chuckled then, and his laugh suggested there was a story there, but all he told me was that he had one cat, though he's allergic to cats, and two dogs.
Later, when I re-entered with my preceptor, I noticed that the patient's cough sounded mildly wheezy, not unlike the cough I get when I'm around cats (I, too, am allergic). Our patient had been sick for a little over a week, and I wondered if maybe the cat wasn't responsible for his symptoms. "How new is this cat?" I asked. "Two months," he told us. "I guess getting the cat was your wife's idea?" we asked. Well, it's a handicapped cat, he told us. Its back legs are normal, but the front legs are stunted, so that the cat walks on its hind legs or scoots around on its bottom. The very idea was both comical and precious. "So your wife rescued this cat, I guess?" my preceptor ventured. Well, not quite. Our patient had seen the cat on a ranch while he was away for business. He took a picture of the funny little creature and sent it to his wife, saying "It's too bad they'll have to kill this cat." Of course, he received an immediate, vehement response: "You bring that cat home immediately!"
So now our patient lives at home with his wife, daughter, two dogs, and a malformed, adorable kitty, to which he's allergic. He showed us pictures of the thing. It looked like a feline velociraptor. "Look at how the silly thing sleeps!" he told us, showing more pictures. We told him to use an inhaler as needed, pop antihistamines regularly, and learn to live with the cat. His fate was sealed.
Funny the people you'll meet and the stories you'll hear.