Love Cats, But Suffer From Allergies?

BOAS_N_PYTHONS · 10-27-04, 06:25 PM

Hi there folks:

Are you at cat lover?

If your answer is yes - read on.

Are you allergic to cats?

If your answer is yes - read on.

I found this tidbit of information and thought it might help people who answered yes to the 2 questions above. I myself am a dog lover and would not trade my 2 dobermanns for an cats, lol.

QUOTE.

ALLERCA Inc. today launched a project to produce the world's first cats that will prevent known allergies from reacting in humans. This could be an alternative for cat lovers who are susceptible to the inconveniences.

Treatment of cat allergies is currently a multi-billion-dollar industry, and approximately 10% of the country, or 27 million Americans, have cat allergies. Cat allergen is a major risk factor for developing childhood allergies, asthma, and other respiratory diseases; ALLERCA and share holders can only hope so!

Clients will take delivery of the first kittens in 2007, hoping that the biotechnology company offered them a definite cure. The hypoallergenic cat is the first of a planned series of lifestyle pets that the company will develop over the next few years. A web-based reservation system is being offered for those who just can't wait for their very own, allergy-free pussy cat(s).

END QUOTE.

CAT INFORMATION SITE - PRESS HERE

Cya...

Tony

munchy · 10-27-04, 06:36 PM

that is wack. sounds a little far-fetched. i love kitties and im glad im not allergic.

gonesnakee · 10-28-04, 12:40 PM

I saw a news clip about them also, I hear they are going to go for around $3,500 USD each & that they have other "lifestyle pets" in the works. Mark

HeRpZ03 · 10-30-04, 01:40 AM

Personally i dont really like the idea of messing with cat genes and what not, some people were just not meant to own cats IMO. We're always talking about doing whats best for our pets, but with this hypoallergenic cat we're doing only what benefits us. But on the other hand this certainly is an interesting scientific achievement.

Kimo · 10-30-04, 10:44 AM

so....they intend to stop the cat from salivating? or make them salivate some sort of liquid thats not alergenic? cause thats where dander comes from, when a cat licks them selves the saliva drys up, and flakes off into tiny paricles, creating Dander, wich is whats so irritating to people whom are alergic to them...would really like to know how they intend to supress a cats saliva, and remove one of the steps to natural digestion of food.

you ask me? this is all BS

Josh

P.s. i got me a new Kitten!! yay!

marisa · 10-30-04, 10:51 AM

It says this on their site, maybe you should look it over. It's an interesting read.

"The cat allergen is a potent protein secreted by the cat’s skin and salivary glands. Removal of the allergen will not harm the cats in any way. The resulting hypoallergenic cats will improve the health and quality of life for millions of cat-allergy sufferers.

While some breeds of cats have been promoted as having less allergen than others, scientists that have tested this hypothesis have shown that all cats, regardless of breed, produce allergen. Allerca will produce the first cats that will not affect human allergies.

The first breed of hypoallergenic cat produced will be the British Shorthair, known to be friendly, playful and affectionate. Other popular breeds will follow soon."

It's just so weird but I am sure these pets will become common place soon enough.

Marisa

Siretsap · 10-30-04, 11:19 AM

The downfall to all of this, if they intend to sell over 200 000 in the 1st year like they say, just imagine the percentage of those cats that will go outside and reproduce with other cats... I am pretty sore we will see a rising in the number of errant cats outside, (since it will be 200 000 more than there would usually be in a year).

mathaldo · 10-30-04, 12:02 PM

Quote:

The downfall to all of this, if they intend to sell over 200 000 in the 1st year like they say, just imagine the percentage of those cats that will go outside and reproduce with other cats... I am pretty sore we will see a rising in the number of errant cats outside, (since it will be 200 000 more than there would usually be in a year).

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they would spay and neuter all the cats to be sold.

I'm allergic to dogs and cats and wouldn't mind to have a "hypoallergenic" cat if it was possible. I guess I'll just have to wait.

Siretsap · 10-30-04, 12:47 PM

I just re-read the article and didn't see anywhere where it says they will spay and neuter the cats, unless there are more articles on the web about it.

Kimo · 10-30-04, 01:03 PM

it makes sence that they will spay and neuter them, means nobody can produce them, therefore they'll make more money if they are the sole provider of this paticular cat.

but nonetheless i still think what they are doing is wrong, nature made them the way they are for a reason. nuff said.

Josh

mathaldo · 10-30-04, 01:11 PM

I found the spay/neuter thing on the Toronto Star site.

Quote:

The four-person company has yet to engineer any cats, which will be spayed and neutered to prevent breeding with naturally born felines.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...=1098873011022

I have mixed opinions on the idea, but I wouldn't mind having a cat that causes no allergies as long as it doesn't give any problems to the cat itself. I'd rather have a hypoallergenic dog instead though.

munchy · 10-30-04, 04:42 PM

maybe quit trying to play god

Cas · 10-30-04, 05:26 PM

I wonder if they will even pass on the 'do not produce the bad protein' gene... depends on exactly how they're messing with the genetics.... that is, they may have to muck around with each individual fertilized egg to produce the result they want. If they're just changing non-reproductive cells, then it'd be on par with docking a dogs tail and worrying that the dog's puppies will be born the same way. (but, if they're steralizing all the kittens, then it's probably heritable)

Dawn

Cruciform · 10-30-04, 05:35 PM

They're selling something that they currently don't even know works. They're making assumptions based on experiments done with lab mice and manipulating the media into providing them with free marketing.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996594

If they're getting as many deposits as they say, this gives them 2 1/2 years to secure that money somewhere safe and skip the country.

Would anyone like to invest in my glow-in-the-dark Leceustic Ball Python line? Deposits are 2,000 dollars and we expect offspring in 2015.

mathaldo · 10-30-04, 07:44 PM

I didn't think it was possible to make a hypo allergenic cat without affecting the cat's health.

I read that another company had made something called the Glo-Fish. And what they did was put a "fluorescent" gene from a sea anenome or soemthing like that to make the fish glow.

Here's the link
http://www.glofish.com/

Quote:

Would anyone like to invest in my glow-in-the-dark Leceustic Ball Python line? Deposits are 2,000 dollars and we expect offspring in 2015.

2015 is a little too long, could it be done in 3 years?