These are truly the dog days of summer.

How do we know it’s really hot? We just ask our cat, Nifty. He loves hot weather so much that he paws the door to go out and meows loudly to get your attention. He really only comes in long enough to grab a bite to eat or drink and then outside he goes again.

About the only time he will stay in is when it rains.

So, what do hot weather, Nifty and I have in common? Well, to tell you the truth, our cat has been lying in the wooded areas around the house and I just so happened to come down with my first case of poison ivy for the season. Seems Mr. Kitty got the ivy oil on his fur and transferred it to me. I tried running a dry paper towel on his body but it just doesn’t work. The poison ivy has affected everything I do—working out, the beach, and using the hot tub. Leaves of three—leave ‘em be.

This year’s poison ivy seems much more bothersome than before. Poison ivy is growing bigger and faster than ever before thanks to…global warming. I kid you not. This obnoxious weed with its itchy oil loves the higher carbon dioxide levels, making the season longer and the plants heartier.

That’s bad news for the nearly 80% of the population that has an allergic reaction to the shiny three leaved plant. Shocked? The US Department of Agriculture scientists say not to be. They ran tests and found out that the poison ivy is now double the size it was in the 1950s. Higher temps and a longer growing season are the worst things that could happen to sufferers like me.

So are we creating a new "super" poison ivy? Looks like it. The bigger the poison ivy leaves, the more itchy oils, which leads to a more serious case of irritation and redness. Plus it takes longer to go away.

Word is out of a new "black dot" poison ivy. This stuff is truly nasty. It has to be treated very aggressively—most likely by a doctor. Black dot poison ivy happens to be an unusual form of ivy that, if you are unlucky enough to contract it, will cause the worst case of rash and itching. You’ll want to scream. The black dot ivy can look like you got stung by a hive of hornets—it’s that bad.

Several years back I had to go to the emergency room because I scratched my face and got the poison ivy in my eyes. What a disaster. That is what happens to people with good immune systems. The poison ivy reacts to a person with an uncompromised system. People with low immunity don’t contract the symptoms from the ivy oil.

So, if you get poison ivy, what do you do? It depends on the severity of the oil spreading. This also applies to poison oak and poison sumac.

If you are pretty sure you’ve come in contact with poison ivy you should immediately wash the affected areas of skin involved. You may get lucky if you wash the area with lots of water within the first 10 to 15 minutes of contact.

Ok, so you didn’t catch it in time and it’s bothering you. You really want to dry out the blisters, so try Calamine Lotion—yep—the pink stuff. Dab it on the blisters to dry them out for quicker healing. An antihistamine will also help relieve the itching.

If it’s really bad, then a visit to your doctor is in order. He will probably give you some steroids—no, not those kind! I mean an anti-inflammatory like prednisone.

Now we know this stuff really itches, so if it does happen to get infected, try some antibiotic cream. A helpful hint is to cut your fingernails—that minimizes the possibility of spreading bacteria and opening up the skin.

So now you see how global warming has affected us and that nasty poison ivy. What could be next?