Hypoallergenic Designer Cats Free Nose, Wallet from Congestion

Remember that $25,000 genetically engineered hybrid wild cat yesterday? Well, the folks at Lifestyle Pets also have a less expensive option for those of you eager to introduce a feline mutant into the family. This morning, the Oregonian has an article about Allerca, a subsidiary of Lifestyle Pets, which produces cats that are a few proteins shy of a typical cat.

Allerca's breed offerings, Allerca GD (the original), Chakan GD (the Siamese-looking version) and Ashera GD (the allergy free version of the $25,000 super cat), are available in a variety of prices, but start at about $5,000. They're missing glycoprotein, Fel d 1, an allergen found in cat saliva and on cat skin, which is what causes those allergic to cats to get the sniffles and itchy eyes.

Those of you who thought hairless cats were the solution? Allerca says you are only fooling yourself. Since the allergen is primarily in your cat's saliva and in it's skin, you're only mildly reducing one of the lesser sources of the irritant by taking hair out of the equation.

Plus, with hairless cats you're cheating yourself out of a cat that coughs up hairballs and sheds all over everything you own. So now, instead of trying to reduce cat shedding, you can keep it and ditch the allergies. Now, all we cat-owning masochists can be happy!