cats?

[Miss_Sara]

Do ALL cats shed like crazy?
I looove cats and really want one
but I know the shedding would likely kill me!!

Any breeds that tend to shed less, or things people do to make them shed less that are effective?

I want a kitty!

[OLIVIA_KARHIS]

I dont really get a breed. I always have gotten free kittens in the news paper or tooken them off the st... They ALL shed during the summer, there is no way around that! THey have the one with no hair, dont remember the name of the breed thou....

[Diego]

Originally Posted by Miss_Sara

Do ALL cats shed like crazy?
I looove cats and really want one
but I know the shedding would likely kill me!!

Any breeds that tend to shed less, or things people do to make them shed less that are effective?

I want a kitty!

A naked cat like the sphinx .

[Miss_Sara]

lol ya I always get cats from the shelter
or from some idiot on the street who has them sitting in a box

but now I have really been wanting to get one again
and I KNOW my body will be like "ha ha haNO"

(when I was young our cat had had kittens and our MEAN next door neighboor came into our backyard, where they were playing and put them in a box and tried to sell them!)

[JESSY_RN2B]

My cat is domestic short haired and sheds during the summer. I brush him daily and bathe him once a week..........have no problems at all

[Miss_Sara]

Originally Posted by JESSY_RN2B

My cat is domestic short haired and sheds during the summer. I brush him daily and bathe him once a week..........have no problems at all

wow you bathe your cat!!!!
that is REALLY bold
I've never done that
because I just KNOW my cat would scraaaatch me up!

I bet if I could get someone ELSE to brush my cat I'd be fine (I'm not lazy, I just don't want to choke to death! ha ha)

[chattiesmom]

Cats get a bad rap about baths and water. The only house cat I have ever had was a beautiful calico named Killer. I would giver her a shower with me -- the first time or two it was a bit tricky, but once she got the hang of it, a quick shower was a piece of cake.

Unless you get a naked cat they will shed, but regular consistent grooming will help.

[Grayson's mom]

I have 2 cats and they shed in the summer, I do give both my girls a bath and have done so since they were 4 weeks old.

They don't mind it to much they stay put and just cry about it. Of course brushing them helps with shedding.

[Lucky's Mom]

I just read something the other day on msn that they have found a breed of cat that doesn't shed & is great for people with allergies. I guess they mixed 2 breeds or something. Maybe you could do a search on google or msn for no-shed cat or something like that cause I can't remember what it was called. Good luck!!

[2blkcatsmom]

i have 2 black catshints the name 2 blkcatsmom anyway they shed and they are short hair but i tried to give them a bath and they got me good and i had them since they where 8 weeks anyway all cats shed except for the hairless one called sphynx good luck but if you brush your cat its less hair i also have a vacum that has a thing to remove pet hair from furniture

[Kathryn_V]

Or for about $5,000 you can buy one of these cats!!!! If you can get your hot little hands on one!

I was thinking... could you just picture this... You get one for you kid.. and it gets out! The neighbors dog gets hold of it?? or a car hits it?? Its $5,000 dollars!!! For a Cat!!! I don't know... I'd be afraid to open my front door!!!!



June 9, 2006
The world's first hypoallergenic cats may soon be curling up and purring in the laps of allergy sufferers, a U.S. company announced yesterday.

Allerca, Inc., a biotechnology firm in San Diego, California, is now taking orders for its Allerca Gene Divergence (GD) kittens.

The cats are not transgenic animals—their genes have not been altered to make them less of an allergy risk.

Instead Allerca officials say they searched for natural variations in the cat gene that controls allergy-inducing properties and then bred cats with the desired trait.

Leslie Lyons, an assistant professor in the school of veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis, specializes in research on domestic cat genetics and is not involved with Allerca's work.

"People breed cats all the time, so why not a company who has used empirical data to identify hypoallergenic cats?" Lyons said.

"Siberian cats have been toted by breeders as being hypoallergenic for a long time," she said.

If Allerca used Siberians—or another low-allergen breed found through genetic screening—Lyons thinks a hypoallergenic breed could be developed in as few as "one to two crosses."

Megan Young, Allerca's CEO, said that the firm has simply "taken selective breeding to the next level."

Allerca officials are closely guarding their scientific data, and independent parties have yet to publicly verify the cats' hypoallergenic status.

But Young says human-exposure trials conducted by Allerca and an independent lab revealed that known cat-allergy sufferers ranging from mildly to highly allergic showed no signs of reaction when in contact with the newly bred cats.

She also notes that Allerca plans to submit its findings for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in early 2007. Approximately 10 million people in the U.S. are allergic to cats, according to the nonprofit Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Cat allergens can trigger severe asthma attacks for 20 to 30 percent of asthma sufferers and exposure can lead to chronic asthma.

Contrary to popular belief, people are not allergic to a cat's fur or dander. The sneezing, wheezing, and itching are brought on by Fel d 1, a protein excreted in feline saliva and skin glands.

Even a hairless breed can trigger an allergic reaction. Cats—notorious self-groomers—transfer the allergy-inducing protein to their skin and fur while licking themselves.

According to Young, Allerca researchers used genetic sequencing to search for natural variations in the genetic code of the Fel d 1 protein.

They then selectively bred cats to express the protein at a lower molecular weight, reducing the likelihood of an allergic reaction.

Allerca's low-allergen felines, expected to arrive in homes next spring, carry a price tag that could send some pet lovers into shock. The firm currently charges $3,950 (U.S.) per cat, plus nearly $1,000 for processing and transportation.

The steep cost includes pet insurance, vaccines, a microchip identifier, spaying or neutering, nail caps, and a starter kit. Kittens will be delivered via private jet courier to pre-selected veterinary offices where owners can pick them up.

Because building up a breeding pool takes time, Young projects that Allerca will only have 400 to 500 cats available next year.

As a safety precaution, Young says the kittens will be tested for their Fel d 1 levels before they are delivered. Owners and their homes must also undergo FDA-approved allergy tests to create a baseline for any preexisting allergens.

Should an individual exceed the threshold level for tolerating the new cats' low levels of allergens, Allerca will strongly suggest the owner not claim the cat and will refund the purchase price.

Cat Fight?

A Denver, Colorado-based firm, Felix Pets, is trying to produce hypoallergenic cats using a different technique: developing a hypoallergenic cat via direct cellular modification.

In theory, while a developing kitten is still a single cell, its DNA can be modified to remove or suppress the gene that produces the allergen protein, Felix Pets' president David Avner explains.

The modified cell would then be implanted into a surrogate mother cat to finish developing into an allergen-free kitten.

Avner says gene modification has an advantage over selective breeding in that modification takes less time to produce a cat consistently free of the allergen protein.

"To breed out the allergen could take decades," he said.

Avner says he expects to have transgenic allergen-free cats ready for the market by 2008. While kittens will be "expensive" initially, Avner said, he hopes to eventually sell them for $800 to $1,000.

Felix Pets is a division of New York-based Transgenic Pets, which brought a lawsuit against Allerca over intellectual property issues in 2004. That suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 2005.

According to Young, Allerca had been pursuing genetic modification until last year, when researchers ran into challenges silencing the allergen-producing gene.

But it was during this research that Allerca developed genetic testing to focus on less potent versions of the Fel d 1 protein.

Little is known about the exact role the Fel d 1 protein plays in cats, so no one is sure what effect removing or suppressing the protein would have on an animal.

Duane Kraemer is a professor of veterinary physiology and pharmacology at Texas A&M University in College Station, and the owner of "CC," the world's first cloned cat (related news: "Cat Cloning Offered to Pet Owners").

"The only way to determine that would be to do some of the knockout experiments and see how the cats do," Kraemer said, referring to clinical trials in which a target protein is "knocked out" of an animal's genetic code.

UC Davis' Lyons, agrees: "If [we learn] anything from these experiments these companies are doing, we might learn a lot about the physiology of this particular protein."

[Miss_Sara]

whoa that's amazing
I'm sure in like 20 years they wont cost that much lol

my friend has like 4 cats, and they hardly shed
and the 2 youngest barely shed at all
she said it's because they bathe and brush them regularly?

does this really help? or are they lucky?


btw thanks everyone for posting thigns to help me out!

[Kathryn_V]

Sure thing!!

By the way.... I am just inlove with that baby in your avitar!!! What a chilly little doll!!!

[Miss_Sara]

ha ha thanks!
I LOOOOOVE penguins!
I want to go to australia and see the "fairy" penguins they have there ha ha
and thent ake on home

If I was rich and famous I'd have my own zoo, like Hugh Hefners girlfriend!
ha ha ha

[yorkieangel]

WEll I have LOADS of cats and believe it or not.... A silky persian barely sheds at all and is the sweetestet calmest cat. I have 2 black silkies. They are basically a persian with a SILKY coat instead of cottony. Their hair is long but kinda droopy just a bit more then the cotton coat persians.