Genetically modified cats for sale

(CNN) -- A California biotechnology company has started taking orders for a hypoallergenic cat for pet lovers prone to allergies.

The genetically engineered feline, which is expected to be available from 2007, is the first in a planned series of lifestyle pets, Los Angeles-based Allerca said in a press release.

Allerca hopes to attract customers among the millions of people worldwide who suffer from cat allergies.

Many cat lovers ignore medical advice and discomfort and choose to keep the animals as pets, or use expensive medications to cope with their allergies.

Cat allergen is also one of the main causes of childhood allergies, asthma and other respiratory diseases such as bronchitis.

Cat allergies are caused by a potent protein secreted by the cat's skin and salivary glands. The allergen is so small it can remain airborne for months.

Using "gene silencing" technology, Allerca is able to suppress the production of the protein.

Allerca expects the first kittens to be born in early 2007 and is already accepting $250 deposits from interested customers.

Allerca president Simon Brodie told The Associated Press that he ultimately hopes to sell 200,000 of the cats annually at $3,500 each in the United States.

He also said he didn't expect to have any problems with federal regulators after neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture nor the Food and Drug Administration objected to the creation of a genetically-engineered pet fish because it wasn't meant for human consumption

The GloFish, which went on sale in pet stores earlier this year, is a zebra fish implanted with a fluorescent sea anemone gene.

"As long as people don't start eating cats and they don't enter the food chain, then we should be handled like the GloFish," Brodie told the AP.

Source

Don't like cats myself or dogs but I think this could be a good thing for people with kids that might allergic to cats

And how do you know what will happen though?

There are a lot of strange people around, and although not initially part of the foodchain, they die in accidents etc in the country...

Then enter the foodchain...

Playing with genetics for something like this.... is just plain wrong :(

plus, you might get back a cat ..that is EVIL..from a steven king book.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

And how do you know what will happen though?

There are a lot of strange people around, and although not initially part of the foodchain, they die in accidents etc in the country...

Then enter the foodchain...

Playing with genetics for something like this.... is just plain wrong :(

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Surely you are being facetious, RF.

What do you think animal husbandry is all about? It is the selective breeding of desired traits. This is just a more efficient and highly specific form of what has been going for centuries.

What is really cool is that biologist have been able to take gene that makes penicillin and place it into bacteria which make it constantly. Our little microscopic robots. Sure beats the days when they used to collect the urine of patients on antibiotics and reclaimed the penicillin from that. Yeck.

Genetic engineering is fun. What we really should do is splice that cat gene into our genomes. That way our immune systems would recognize it as "self" and not respond to it. Then no one would be allergic to cats!

If people want allergenless cats there are 2 breed already available. The Cornish Rex and the Egyptian Rex, which are essentially hairless. Ours was a minimally fuzzy chia pet like animal that didn't shed. He got all greasy so he required a bath every now and then. Funny looking little thing though.

http://www.crcsoft.com/cat/images/cornishrex.jpg

I would love to share my home with a cat, but I am allergic to the dander. But I am also allergic to spending the money it sounds like a non-dander producing cat would cost me.

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Originally Posted by Everose

I would love to share my home with a cat, but I am allergic to the dander. But I am also allergic to spending the money it sounds like a non-dander producing cat would cost me.

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I think with the genetic alteration that they also do their business in the toilet, so in the long run that saves you time and money in regards to the litter box. :dry:

I will take that into consideration. Of course, there may be more time on my part waiting in line for the tiolet. :)

Wow all this bullshit for....a pet. :huh:

Well it's for the rich obviously. :dry:

Interesting though...

If I buy 2 of these cats and breed them, I could undercut Allerca.

I'll sell mine for $2500. :D

Allerca will probably sell the cats neutered though. :dry:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Everose

I would love to share my home with a cat, but I am allergic to the dander. But I am also allergic to spending the money it sounds like a non-dander producing cat would cost me.

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i have a cheaper solution for you


http://www.nigelhumour.co.uk/shaved.jpg



I'm sorry...i realise that this is "science" but i just can't take it seriously. Having pets is nice but if one suffers alergic reactions to them just don't have those type of pets.
I do however realise that in trying to produce such an animal the research could be helpful in curing genetic desease in humans in the future.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hobbes

Surely you are being facetious, RF.

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You've never seen dead cats on the side of the road?

They die...

If in the country, they will be eaten, hence entering the foodchain of the local fauna.

How's this being facetious?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

You've never seen dead cats on the side of the road?

They die...

If in the country, they will be eaten, hence entering the foodchain of the local fauna.

How's this being facetious?

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Facetious in regards to the alteration of the feline genome being wrong.

As far as food goes, eating an altered animal has no effect on the animal that eats it, in any way. I think the original poster was referring to the beaurocracy that is involved when you are dealing with an animal bred for human consumption. The FDA is very nitpicky, even when it doesn't know what it is talking about.

By it not being an animal bred for human consumption, the project avoided the tentacles of the FDA and a lot of red tape.

Vidcc's post contains another picture of a Cornish Rex- that cat was actually not shaved.


edits: for clarity FDA - food and drug administration

[QUOTE=vidcc]i have a cheaper solution for you


http://www.nigelhumour.co.uk/shaved.jpg



The hair is not the problem, other than the fact that the dander gets hung up in it. :) And please post no pictures of cats without skin. :sick:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hobbes

Vidcc's post contains another picture of a Cornish Rex- that cat was actually not shaved.

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The hell you say :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Everose]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vidcc

i have a cheaper solution for you


http://www.nigelhumour.co.uk/shaved.jpg



The hair is not the problem, other than the fact that the dander gets hung up in it. :) And please post no pictures of cats without skin. :sick:

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Actually it may be.

I had 2 cats that I became allergic too. We gave them away against all of our desires and got a Cornish Rex. No allergy problem, period.

The problem with the Rex breed is that most are show cats, the ones that you can buy are rejects.

I don't have any pictures of cats without skin, but can I post a few pictures of pussies in thongs?

Fortunately I am not allergic to pet dander and have enjoyed the company of several hairy animals ( some that were even non-human), but hobbes, the pictures of your hairless cat have given me hives.

Like owning a four-footed version of Mr. Six.

Thanks so much.

Off to the drug store.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Fortunately I am not allergic to pet dander and have enjoyed the company of several hairy animals ( some that were even non-human), but hobbes, the pictures of your hairless cat have given me hives.

Like owning a four-footed version of Mr. Six.

Thanks so much.

Off to the drug store.....

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My pleasure Benadryl-boy.

BTW, I blame you for my World Series disappointment.

:D :D You two :rolleyes:

But honestly, I could have a hairy cat, which I would like if it didn't have the protein in the dander that I am allergic to.




Benadryl boy. :lol: Clocker, I am afraid you have a new nick name.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hobbes

BTW, I blame you for my World Series disappointment.

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I promise I'll work on my slider in the off-season.
I did think that my ass-scratching and crotch-grabbing was up to snuff this year though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Everose

:D :D You two :rolleyes:

But honestly, I could have a hairy cat, which I would like if it didn't have the protein in the dander that I am allergic to.




Benadryl boy. :lol: Clocker, I am afraid you have a new nick name.

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Everose,

I think the hair in Rex cats is different from the other breeds.

You will have to wait for genetically engineered cats, for a hairy one that doesn't bother you.

It is like babies. Most are born with "lanugo" hair which is a temporary form of hair that falls out. Most hispanic females are born with hair on their backs, which, thankfully, falls out.

So think of the Rex cats as having the lanugo hair which is not associated with the "dander" proteins associated with mature cat hair.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

I did think that my ass-scratching and crotch-grabbing was up to snuff this year though.

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Yes, you were very impressive in the above qualities. But, just as a pointer, which is a bit of nit-pick, the ass you scratch and the crotch you grab MUST be your own. I really can't stress this point enough.

So many complaints about you, dear me, the diplomacy I have had to use to keep you in the league. I finally had to tell them that you were deaf and that you were using an obsure dialect of sign language.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hobbes

Everose,



So think of the Rex cats as having the lanugo hair which is not associated with the "dander" proteins associated with mature cat hair.

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Alternatively Everose, you could simply think of them as weird, freakishly alien creatures.

Up to you, of course.

:lol: :lol:

Now, this is really very important to me here. My parents, as I was growing up told me that getting a hairless animal would not help the allergy, due to the allergy actually coming from the protein in the skin dandruff, for lack of a better word. I believed them.

(Course, my Dad also told me the red clouds on his right forearm were from the Indian Blood in him, which he has. I didn't find out the truth, that they were birthmarks until I was married with my own kids.)


Myth or fact? Where are the Myth Busters when you need them!!!!! :lol:

Myth Busters

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Everose

:lol: :lol:

Now, this is really very important to me here. My parents, as I was growing up told me that getting a hairless animal would not help the allergy, due to the allergy actually coming from the protein in the skin dandruff, for lack of a better word. I believed them.

(Course, my Dad also told me the red clouds on his right forearm were from the Indian Blood in him, which he has. I didn't find out the truth, that they were birthmarks until I was married with my own kids.)


Myth or fact? Where are the Myth Busters when you need them!!!!! :lol:

Myth Busters

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You can do your own study. Find people with this breed of cat and handle them for a night. As you know, the allergy will show up in the first 30 minutes.

If you can hold them to your face and pet them without any allergic reaction, you are in the clear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hobbes

You can do your own study. Find people with this breed of cat and handle them for a night.

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Be careful, Everose.

Handling the cat owners will probably tell you little about your allergic reaction, but much about their feelings concerning assault and battery.

:lol: And you, Clocker, would know this from your time in the league???

It's amazing the things one sees from the mound...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Be careful, Everose.

Handling the cat owners will probably tell you little about your allergic reaction, but much about their feelings concerning assault and battery.

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foiled again!

Damn you meddling kids and Scooby Doo, too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

It's amazing the things one sees from the mound...

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It is pronounced "mons", mons pubis, actually.

http://www.advertology.ru/images/con...ags_mr_six.jpg

It looks like it might be in dire need of benedryl.

Aren't we all.

Touche! :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Everose

Touche! :lol:

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My bargepole isn't long enough to touch that one, Rose, but I'll wager that hobbse's is.....

:( I am so dissapointed, Clocker. Not on the size of the bargepole.....

Tis sunny here and I would have loved to see the movement of the eyebrows on your face when you squint.............






:whistling

Ever willing to accomodate 'Rose, I would be happy to recreate the moment for you.

For a small fee, of course.

There has been the same for dogs for awhile now.

http://www.labradoodle-dogs.com/

And let's not overlook the obvious solution...
http://www.genetics.uga.edu/rbmlab/i...rabChiapet.gif
Perhaps not as overtly affectionate and outgoing as a "normal" pet, the Chia breed's quiet personality and steadfast loyalty* will soon win you over.


*My ChiaPoodle is always waiting for me in the exact same place everyday when I get home...I don't know how she knows when I will arrive, but her consistency is amazing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Ever willing to accomodate 'Rose, I would be happy to recreate the moment for you.

For a small fee, of course.

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:D I will have to think about that, Clocker. The original information I received, although not all inclusive, was rendered freely. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Everose

:D I will have to think about that, Clocker. The original information I received, although not all inclusive, was rendered freely. :D

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True enough, but I was hoping to have Johnny Depp portray me in the recreation and,as you might imagine, his services can be costly.

:D :D You have a good day, Clocker!!!!