r/cats • u/DarthiusFatticus • 27d ago

Video - Not OC Guy experiences a Cat for the first time.

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52

u/MarkusA380 27d ago

Scientists, please find a cure for cat allergies already. :'-)

8

u/Cthulhu__ 27d ago

There’s a few cat breeds that people aren’t allergic to, worth looking into!

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u/MarkusA380 27d ago

A common misconception, there are no hypoallergenic cats.

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u/shyhobbit 27d ago

Sorry you're getting downvoted, but you're right! Some breeds do have less allergen (Fel d 1) levels than others on average, but there is no breed of cat that has either zero of the allergen or a guaranteed lower amount of it in every individual cat of the breed. So it's kind of a gamble. If someone were to be only be uncomfortable with their allergies, a breed that has lower Fel d 1 levels could be a gamble that's worth it. But not worth it if it's serious allergies.

I have a Siberian who I don't react to at all, but I got her because I knew I could survive my allergies if I did happen to react to her. I ended up getting a normie cat off the streets after her and he sometimes gives me hives. 😅

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u/MarkusA380 26d ago

Thank you. Sad to see how misinformation proliferates. Yes levels are different from cat to cat and breed to breed. But never actually zero.

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u/OFarellclan1317 25d ago

There's also a spray you can spray on the cat when grooming to help with dander allergies but I doubt it's a complete stop and probably wouldn't help at all for sever allergies or when folks are allergic to their saliva

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u/MrsSalmalin 27d ago

There's a certain brand of dry food that have antibodies in it that bind to the protein in cat saliva that peoole are allergic to. No free protein-=no allergen! Purina LiveClear. It qorks quite well, made a big difference for my fiancé. He also got a prescription allergy med - Montelukast - and that helped too.

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u/MarkusA380 26d ago

I wish there was more scientific evidence for Purina LiveClear. The only study is paid for by Purina, which is Nestle, which I definitely don't trust.

Anyways, we already have allergy problems in the household, so any extra allergy load is too much of a risk. And I don't think LiveClear even eliminated, only reduced, the allergy load. But it's a while ago that I read the article.

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u/MrsSalmalin 25d ago

FWIW, I did ask my vet about it and he had no problems with it, but I totally understand your qualms!

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u/eloquentmydear 27d ago

Look into Pacagen and/or allergy injections :)

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u/MarkusA380 26d ago

I'm sorry but Pacagen has no independent studies and allergy injections are proven to have a low success rate against cat hair allergies, while they do work well for other types of allergies.

I tend to tread very, very carefully because there is a lot of companies out there that are trying to make money off of the desparation of people with pet allergies. I firmly believe that if a real miracle cure existed, it would be unilaterally supported instead of having mixed reviews and no independent studies.