Cats specially-bred not to trigger an allergic reaction in their owners have gone on sale in the US.

US biotech firm Allerca says there is already a waiting list despite an asking price of more than £2,000.

It claims the animals are the world’s first specially-bred hypoallergenic cats, reports the BBC.

The cats will not cause the red eyes, sneezing and even asthma that some cat allergy sufferers experience, except in the most acute cases.

Allerca tested huge numbers of cats trying to find the tiny fraction which do not carry the glycoprotein Fel d1 – contained in its saliva, fur and skin – which produces allergies.

Those cats were then used to breed the hypoallergenic cats.

The company’s Steve May told the BBC that it is a natural, if time consuming method.

“This is a natural gene divergence within the cat DNA – one out of 50,000 cats will have this natural divergence,” he said.

“So candidates, natural divergent cats were found and then bred so there is really no modification of the gene.”

Source : Ananova

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