Black cats bring more than bad luck

I mentioned before how much more allergic I am to Sheba, who is black, than I am to Red Cat and Purdy, who are orange. Someone mentioned that she thought dark colored cats produced more allergens than lighter colored cats. I can't find that thread now. (It was probably one of those lost in early December.) But I thought I'd share the summary of some research I found on the topic.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/30/1728_70265.htm

That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

Hmm I don't think that is true. I have a black cat and she hardly bothers my allergies. We just got a grey tabby (which the black one is less than thrilled about I can tell you). And I can't even walk in the room without sneezing. However this might be related to her living with 13 other cats before moving in with me, I'm hoping to "bathe" her with some wipes soon and we'll see if that changes anything. But the grey exotic shorthair my parents have makes my allergies go CRAZY. And I can rub my face in my black kitties belly and not sneeze at all.

The article is interesting but it doesn't take a lot of things into account from what I can see so I wouldn't put too much faith in it ,there are all kinds of things that could cause a relationship like this to show up in a survey. (Surveys are not good ways to study things) What if all of the people with "dark Colored" cats had breeds with thicker fur? which would trap more allergens than thinner fur. Or maybe the people with dark colored breeds noticed the hair more in their bedroom and overreported allergic reactions that could have actually been due to dust as being due to their cats. This article doesn't tell us a whole lot, but there is certainly no "proof" of any kind of causation. (I'm a statistician, anyone hiring?) Yeah, so if you have black cats and are allergic, don't get rid of them first just based on color.

Cessena, even though Exotic SH's have short coats, they are very thick and this breed can't be good for allergy sufferers at all!

I don't see the connection between the color of the cat and allergies. Dander is the cause. That's dead skin shed by the kitties!

Well, I know for certain that I'm far more allergic to Sheba, my black cat. I had a runny nose and occasional tickles in my nose with my orange boys, especially if I didn't vacuum or wash the bedspread as often as I should. But every time Sheba got up near my face, I could feel it in my lungs and I started coughing. And my eyelids got terribly red and swollen. Getting her to the groomer helped, but it has been a month today since she was there, and I noticed last night again that I could feel it in my lungs again when she got near. Funny thing is, she has the shortest hair of the three.

Here is a link to another article reporting the same research. It provides a little bit additional information. Note near the end it says

Physicians at LICH will be conducting further studies to see if dark colored cats have more fel d 1 antigen in their hair than do white cats.

Click to expand...

Edit: Oops, I said I was providing the link, then forgot to include it! Here it is:

http://savvyhealth.com/db/newsview.asp?docid=4719

I'm not saying it Couldn't be true, I'm just saying that a survey doesn't prove it is. They may do research on the antigens and find out it is. I know the ES's are bad for the allergies, I was just trying to say that breed is probably a better predictor than color to start with.

And, of course, even if it proves to be true on average, that doesn't mean it will apply to each dark or light colored cat as individuals. But I just thought it was interesting that they got this far with the research.

I read about a similar study here in Germany, which reached pretty much the same (preliminary) conclusion. I find the part about females possibly producing more dander than males interesting, too.

Yes, thanks a lot!

I don't know if its true but my moms eyes water right away when she's holding or really close to Tiffani who's all black. She has a very thick coat though unlike our others and I know different kind of coats can make a difference rather than colors.

And please don't say black cats are bad luck (for one you'll jinx me lol). I always wanted a black to turn my luck around since everything always seemed to go backwards and wouldn't you know it Tiffani is the sweetest cat I've met

I dont think its based on the colour.
I think its based on the type of fur.
I have seen so many black cats who have different fur. My cat is short haired and feels like very thin fur. My bfs sister isnt allergic to my cat at all.