Hypoallergenic Kittens

Posted by Jennifer Copley Jun 9, 2008

According to CNN, millions of people are allergic to cats. Children react particularly badly when allergic, often suffering respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Allerca has managed to “silence” the genes in cats that produce the allergen protein.

In 2005, Allerca expected to sell 200,000 hypoallergenic cats each year at a cost of $3,500USD per kitten. After introducing the hypoallergenic British shorthair, in 2008 the company came out with two new breeds that will retail for an even heftier price - $11,950 for the Siamese and $28,000 for the Ashera, both patent pending.

It may seem odd to think about cats being patented, but approximately 20% of all human genes have been patented as well, mostly by private biotech companies, according to Dr Susan Wallace (2005) of the Foundation for Genomics and Population Health, or PHG Foundation.

For those who don’t have thousands of dollars to spend or prefer a more natural solution to the allergy problem, it has been claimed that certain Siberian cat breeds produce less of the protein responsible for the allergic reaction, and thus are considered somewhat hypoallergenic. Anecdotal evidence suggests that breeds such as the Sphynx and the Devon and Cornish Rex are less likely to provoke allergic reactions because although they produce the allergen protein, they don't shed as much hair. These breeds are not completely hypoallergenic, but many allergic individuals seem to tolerate them better than other cats.

For information on how to decrease the symptoms of cat allergies, see Dealing with Cat Allergies.