Hypoallergenic Cats

Lambticc writes "The BBC is running an article about how a US firm has successfully bred cats to reduce the production of the protein which causes an allergic reaction. Since the result was achieved through selective breeding, there should not be any complaints from the anti-GM lobby." From the article: "The cats will not cause the red eyes, sneezing and even asthma that some cat allergy sufferers experience, except in the most acute cases. Despite costing $3,950 (£2,104), there is already a waiting list to get one. Allerca first started taking orders for genetically engineered hypoallergenic cats back in 2004."

Dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

You already reported it in 2004 [slashdot.org].

Re:Patents?

[Duckz]

You can only get spayed or neutered animals from them.

Sphynx cats

[Concerned Onlooker]

I know a guy who is allergic to cats, so they got a couple of sphynx cats. Hairless, so no dander problems. Look a bit like Yoda [naughty-nature.com]. In fact, kind of repulsive. And I'm a cat lover.

Re:Dupe

[TekPolitik]

It wasn't even new then. There's an entire breed, called Siberians, that have been known to have this quality. All that seems to have happened here is selective cross-breading to get it into other more conventional species.

I have a Siberian

[Smallest]

she's only 8 pounds, not huge. her parents were a bit bigger, though.

i have some pretty sensitive (not severe, just very easily activated) cat allergies, but I haven't have any symptoms with our cat. before we got her, as a test, we went to the breeder's house and i stayed in the 'cat room', with five aduts and ten kittens, for an hour - just to make sure i was symptom-free. no problem at all.

i'm also taking Zyrtek, but that's not supposed to be all that great against pet allergies.