Hypo-Allergenic Cats Now Available for Pre-Order

humuhumunukunukuapu' writes "Allerca Inc is now taking reservations for genetically engineered hypo-allergenic cats, which it calls 'lifestyle pets'... and apparently they are just the beginning... Read the press release here... and you can take delivery of a cuddy non-sinus bothering bundle of joy for just $3500. 'The hypoallergenic cats produced by ALLERCA will allow consumers to enjoy the love and companionship of a pet without the cost, inconvenience, risk, and limited effectiveness of current allergy treatments. Clients will take delivery of the first ALLERCA kittens in 2007. The hypoallergenic cat is the first of a planned series of lifestyle pets that ALLERCA will develop over the next few years.' Meow!"

Hyper-Allergenic

[fembots]

Wait until one mistake that turns these cute little kittens into Hyper-Allergenic.

On a more serious note though, I think everybody has her/his ideal world in mind, and this GE is offering the opportunity to achieve that.

However, like the old saying "One person's meat is another person's poison", I believe there is a reason for such allergy symptoms (maybe telling your body to get away from that bleeming cat?), and without this warning, I wonder if the still-allergic-to-cat person will suffer from far worse sickness because one of the cat allergens wasn't identified and removed?

And what happens...

[advocate_one]

when owners start breeding from them and selling on the kittens??? Will there be a strict EULA that forbids the owner from breeding and that they must have them neutered at the first available opportunity???

$3500 for a kitty?

[Zemrec]

Damn. And I paid $65 for mine from the shelter, which included a vet check-up, all vaccines, and spaying.

I assume this company will be neutering/spaying before they give them to their customers. Otherwise, people would just breed their own, and then sell the kittens.

Prior Art

[Racter]

Cornish Rex
Devon Rex
Siberian
Sphynx

...are all "hypo-allergenic" breeds (don't produce dander).

Glycoprotein

[killermookie]

So they're reducing the amount this gene is about to produce this protein. Is there a reason why cats produce this protein and by reducing it cause any health issues with the cat?

Hmm, this was done years ago.

[EoRaptor]

Breeders already have cats that are missing the allergen causing protein from their saliva.

Bengal Cats and Siberian-Russians are two such breeds, and several unofficial subbreeds also fit the bill.

Google if you want breed info, but Bengals are a short haired, very outgoing breed with great social skills and tons of energy. The also play fetch and are suprisingly clever. Siberian-Russians are a long haired breed who behave more like traditional cats, in that they can be fat and lazy all the way through to hyper.

How do they control their market?

[tji]

So, are there other genetic changes they make to the cats? For example, making them infertile?

Otherwise, how do they prevent people from buying a few of them, breeding them, and undercutting their market?

I am allergic to cats, so I've never really considered getting one before. But, if these come down to the couple hundred dollar range, I might be interested. But, at $3,500/each, I think I'll instead go for that dual 2.5GHz G5 Mac.

Re:$3500...

[mctanis]

Mine did, and that was nearly 5 years ago.

Seriously, the cats searched around the house until they found "sand" -- pawed at it for a few minutes, then were good to go.

No accidents yet -- although I keep hearing about the accidents that my "dog person" friends have with their dogs every other day from (being in the house a measly 8hrs.)

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Hyper-Allergenic

[Anonymous Coward]

It is good to be careful, and I agree that society's attitude toward GE is too ignorant and accepting. However, as someone who suffers greatly from essentially unavoidable allergens (dust mites and mold), I'd be really interested in a good theory as to what my body is trying to tell me. Haven't found one yet, and I try to shut it the hell up by use of offbrand Claritin and excessive climate control.

Frankly, I'm 95% convinced that the high rate of allergy is due simply to the fact that we've, mostly through hygiene and sanitation, taken care of so many threats that our adaptive immune systems are over-reacting to stimuli that resemble threats for some quirky reason. Of course, one could study how `close' allergen proteins are to really dangerous proteins to back this up.

In a more general sense, remember that evolution responds to IMMINENT selective pressures; it is not "efficient" in any sense, nor is it "responsible". Check this one out: Worms Treat Ulcerative Colitis [bbc.co.uk]!

Re:And what happens...

[chill]

Interesting. I have not seen this trend in the purebred dog market.

My wife sells AKC mini dachshunds and they can run from $300 to $1,500 depending on size, color, conformance, etc.

HOWEVER, a neutered animal tops out at $250 or so. The majority of the value is breeding potential. This also includes animals we've purchased. I've never seen pets (non-show/breeder, neutered or non-papered) sold for more than $250.

Doomed to Failure

[gnuLNX]

So what is to keep someone from buying a male and a female...breeding them...etc. Or is their some patent on the cat's sex. I can't see how this company can sell more than perhaps 3 years worth of these cats.

Re:Screw hypoallergenic...

[smharr4]

You know that your cat is bringing you gifts that are alive because he/she is giving you the chance to kill it, right?

As was explained to me, cats don't see you as human, they see you as other cats. By bringing you a live gift, they're showing that they care enough about you to give you the privilege of letting you kill it, rather than giving you a dead-for-god-only-knows-how-long gift.

Having said that, being outside for a cat is quite dangerous, if you keep your cats indoors then the'll probably live longer, cost less at the vets and never bring you 'gifts' again.

Re:They Don't EXIST, folks!

[FryGuy1013]

Maybe they are breeding a bunch of them so that they can sell a lot of them on their initial offering. Maybe they are testing them to make sure they don't come up with hyper-allergens later in life. There are plenty of reasons they may delay "shipping" these cats other than the fact that they don't have them.

Re:Yeah, but...

[mikael]

There are several current theories; (1) that our houses are so clean, that the immune system becomes hypersensitive to anything it doesn't recognise. Another theory is that children born through Caeserian section don't have their lungs properly 'wringed' through normal childbirth and are more likely to suffer from asmtha , bronchitis etc... (3) Another theory is that the fumes chemicals such as housecleaners, detergents damage the lining of the lungs.

Re:Yeah, but...

[Orgazmus]

That is funny.
Im born through Caeserian, and i had child-astma.
Luckily i keep my room so dirty, not even bacterial warfare should work on me :)

Re:How about...

[tmalone]

I remember something from a class I took about some researchers who found an initial link to allergies and cancer. Something about fewer allergies, or supressed allergies leading to higher cancer rates. I don't remember the exact nature of the study, but it was interesting. The theory being that an allergy is your bodies way of saying "this is some fucked up stuff that is getting into me". By supressing that, you are allowing toxins to run rampant through your body. The same line of thinking leads to the conclusion that people without allergies have improperly functioning immune systems. The research was in the very early phase, but sounded very intriguing.

Re:Screw hypoallergenic...

[back_pages]

My cat fits your ideal cat except for bringing you useful gifts - mine never brings anything.

I treated him like a dog right from the beginning and that's how he acts. He'll even follow me around the neighborhood if he isn't stalking something. He doesn't jerk me around because he knows I'll win - if he gets picky about his food, it'll look a lot tastier tomorrow. If he can't decide whether or not to come in, it's easier to decide 4 hours from now. If I piss him off, he wakes me up at 5am rather than make a mess, because he ends up wearing the mess and if he doesn't clean himself up, he takes a shower with shampoo.

I really don't understand why people baby their cats. I'm far from an expert on pets but I think a lot of a cat's personality is how they're socialized when young. Mine is pretty much the ideal cat because, I think, I made it really clear that I wasn't going to put up with the typical cat personality crap.

Worth a couple grand? I dunno - mine cost me $5 at the local animal shelter. Hell, maybe he just came to grips with his own tender mortality at a young age and appreciates how I feed him and play with him.

Re:Yeah, but...

[Wog]

I've never seen any arguments against declawing until your link. I can't speak for everyone, but we've had four declawed indoor cats over the last 20 years. I don't think they could have been happier.

The arguments at the site list things like the "need to scratch" to strengthen leg muscles. They must never have had a declawed cat for more than a few months. They get *incredibly* strong in their front legs, especially when you play with them often like we do. They still do their "scratching" routine on the furniture, but of course it's harmless.

One note about declawing... it's ONLY FOR INDOOR CATS. Although a couple of the cats are fully capable of pummeling the family bulldog with said front paws, I wouldn't feel right letting them fend for themselves outside.

They're quite happy, healthy, and well adjusted living in our mid-size house.

Re:Yeah, but...

[lartful_dodger]

I think what you're after is a Burmese- they don't fetch (that I know of), but they will play hide and seek, and tag. I knew one that lived on a boat and enjoyed the occasional swim. Also, if you read the sidebar in the article, you'd notice that cats already have fluorescent urine

lol!

[MarcoAtWork]

funny but I take you haven't met my mom, who, although not a cleaningless freak, did keep a spotless house and encouraged me to learn proper hygiene from an early age :-)

The more I think about this the more I wonder if the prevalence of carpeting as a flooring material here in North America is to blame for the much higher incidence of allergies, as where I'm from pretty much everybody has marble/tiles/cotto/hardwood floors and basically nobody has carpet.

Also since it's not customary at all to have visitors remove their shoes, people tend to wash their floors at least daily, where people here probably wash their carpets once a year (if that much).

Re:Yeah, but...

[johnlcallaway]

Cats can be trained, they require a different stimulus than dopey dogs. Dogs are pack animals, and are satisifed with your affection as long as they think you are in charge. Cats want something for their efforts, like food or scratching. It took me less than an hour to train my cat to come when called for a treat, and I trained him to jump into my lap when I whistle to get scratched. It doesn't work all the time, but often enough that a few of my friends that have cats have also been able to train theirs.

You may think that this training is a waste or just for entertainment (it is pretty funny), but it comes in handy. One day my fiancee saw a black cat on the garage roof and thought that somehow my cat had gotten out. She got all panicky and searched the apartment, then ran outside. I just sat at the dining room table and yelled 'Here Bear, Here Bear', and he came walking from the bedroom with that 'where is my treat' look.

She got panicky because here in Phoenix cats are called 'coyote treats'.

Re:How about...

[yoha]

It is an interesting point you raise, but I don't think you can back it up with evidence. Currently the majority of research is done by the government, major hospitals, and major pharmaceutical firms. The funding for these organizations comes from taxpayers, taxpayers/patients/investors, and investors, respectively. Could you name an organization that is doing cancer research, which is funded (largely or even slightly) by a polluter?

Re:Hyper-Allergenic

[mikechant]

Question: Is it true or is it now discredited that there is some sort of correlation between near-sightedness and some measures of intelligence, which is believe to be due to the relevant genes being related or something?

Re:How about...

[CreatureComfort]

I once read a study (my bookmarked link seems to be dead) that reviewed most of the studies on cancer preventative diets. You know the fish oil/olive oil/red wine/etc. reports. The researchers pointed out that all of the reasons each of these foods had been studied was because they were primary dietary components of groups of people with low cancer rates, compared to American society. When they started correlating factors the big commonality they found was that most of these societies used an extremely low amount of preservatives in their diet, with almost no artificial preservatives consumed at all. Through the data gathered by the other studies, and logical explanation of how preservatives work and the effect they probably have when induced into a living organism, they were able to convincingly postulate that what may be driving the high incidents of cancer in the western world, particularly the U.S., could be the massive amounts of preservatives the typical "modern world" person consumes over their lifetime.

At the time this was published there was quite a bit of talk about it on some of the research biology mailing lists. One of the students working for the main researchers posted some comments that the grant request to study the possible harmful effects of artificial preservatives had been turned down by their university. One of the reasons given was that the ability to preserve food for long periods was essential to modern food distribution methods, and if preservatives ended up having to be banned or heavily regulated as cancer causing agents it could mean mass starvation and worse health problems from food spoilage. To date I still have not seen any large scale or in depth studies on the cancer causing potential of artificial preservatives when taken in large quantities over a period of years.