What Allerca Said About Hypoallergenic Pets

Millions of people worldwide are allergic to cats and just as many are confused as to what actually causes them to react to a pet.

In cats, a glycoprotein called Fel d 1, secreted by the sebaceous glands, is the major cat allergen - although cats produce another three known minor allergens.

Most allergy sufferers come into contact with these allergens through the animal's skin or saliva. Pet allergens are so small that they can remain airborne for months and are about 10 times smaller than pollen or dust particles.

Symptoms

Pet allergies can play havoc with the eyes, nose, ears, throat, lungs, and skin. The eyes may become red, itchy, watery, or swollen. The nose may itch, run, sneeze, or become congested. The ears may become plugged or itchy. The throat may have post-nasal drip, frequent throat clearing, itching and hoarseness. The lung symptoms may include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and frequent bronchitis. The skin may develop itchy rashes or hives.

Treatment

As with any allergy, avoidance is the main course of treatment. A pet-allergic individual needs to avoid being around pets at all times. Over-the-counter medications, prescription medications, and allergy shots are all ways to treat pet allergy but they remain expensive, time consuming and may have long term health consequences.

The LIFESTYLE PETS hypoallergenic pets

The hypoallergenic cats offered by LIFESTYLE PETS are a significant new proven alternative to the traditional treatment of pet allergies. People who have lived without the companionship of a cat because of their allergies can now have one of their own without the costs of allergy treatments and the associated health risks of those treatments.

As described previously, pet allergens are potent proteins secreted by the animals' skin and salivary glands. LIFESTYLE PETS has focused on rare naturally occurring genetic divergences (GD) already present in minute group that does not harm to the animals in any way. Our first hypoallergenic pet, the resulting ALLERCA GD cats,  are now helping to improve the health and quality of life for millions of pet-allergy sufferers.

While some breeds of cats (and dogs) have been mistakenly promoted as having less allergen than others (and without any scientific backing), scientists that have tested this hypothesis have shown that all cats, regardless of breed, produce allergens. In fact, in a recent study by Doris W. Vredegoor et al of the Netherlands on so-called hypoallergenic dog breeds they concluded that "significantly higher Can f 1 (the canine allergen) levels in hair and coat samples were found in dog breeds that were considered hypoallergenic than in other breeds."

The LIFESTYLE PETS hypoallergenic cats are the only scientifically-proven pets that helps those individuals with feline allergies  and were developed using proprietary methods.