Bruce's brother was allergic to cats. When he married his wife (almost 15 years ago) she had a couple of cats. She was not going to get rid of them, so he had to deal with it. He is fine now. I'm not sure what his reactions were to them in the beginning, but now he doesn't have a single problem.
Maybe if his symptoms are not "that bad" he would become not allergic to them.

Congrats on the new relationship and I hope you can work things out.