The BBC reports that a biotech firm named Allerca has been selectively breeding cats that have a greatly reduced allergic impact on allergy sufferers.
US biotech firm Allerca says it has managed to selectively breed them by reducing a certain type of protein that triggers allergic reactions.
The company says the animals will not cause the red eyes, sneezing and even asthma triggered by cat allergy, 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 hypoallergenic cats back in 2004.
Would it still work if one of these hypoallergenic cats sneezed in your eye?. This is a description of a sneeze from a regular cat.
Within minutes, our left eye was swollen shut, puffy, red and horrifically itchy. It took four days for the swelling to go down, although our opthamologist (after he stopped laughing, the swine) informed us that we had suffered no serious ocular damage.
A sneeze may be rapid enough exposure to numerous allergens that even the hypoallergenic cats would cause at least a slight reaction. It also sounds like it would be an irritating event even if allergies were not involved. The article says about 35% of humans suffer from cat allergies and there is expected to be considerable interest in these special cats.
