Slings-a-pings
This looks like a Bengal cat.
As I’ve said on another forum: Simon Brodie is the most brilliant con-artist since Harold Hill. The sheer amount of wildly-successful schemes he’s come up with over the years, and the variety of ways in which he’s fleeced the rubes is absolutely amazing. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t gotten into politics yet.
But if nothing else, I KNOW that someone is going to make a movie about him someday.
Much less expensive would be a Siberian kitten, which might run around $1,000 or a purebred kitten. They are said to naturally lack a protein in their saliva which is very allergenic to humans. Breeders will sometimes send fur samples. Supposedly about 70% of people who are allergic to cats can tolerate Siberians. They are reputed to be doglike in their character. They’re big, long-haired cats with a triple coat.
Cat-veat emptor!
This guy may be a scam artist, but what he claims to have done is possible, at least in principle. Most people who are allergic to cats are allergic to one specific protein that cats secrete. To make non-allergenic cats, one would only have to “knock out” that one protein so that the cat would no longer make it.
In practice, knocking out a protein might have severe and even lethal consequences, or it might have no effect on the cat. If the protein is essential for life, it may be alterable to be less allergenic.
Technically, I could genetically engineer these cats. I just need about 10 years and a lot of money to do it. Plus, I will need an animal use review board to verify that I am using my cats in an ethical manner. Researchers are ethically required to play with their lab cats and keep them clean and well fed... I could handle it.
Cats own me - I’m so allergic to them I cannot visit a house with a cat. If this development is real I will be glad. Can they retro-fit existing cats w this gene? Why not.
Supposedly Siberian cats naturally produce less Fel-d and are hypoallergenic to most people. They’re expensive, but don’t cost nearly as much as the cats in this story, (about $1,400, last I checked, though you can sometimes get an adult Siberian for less.) They’re cute, too...they look a little like Maine Coons or Norwegian Forest cats.
