Allergic? This cat's for you

It is a truth universally acknowledged that cats make some people sick. As a person who would no sooner pet a cat than stick her hand in a tree shredder, I consider this a law of nature.

But it seems that cats may be going nature one better. Starting early next year, a San Diego company called Allerca will introduce the world's first hypoallergenic cat.

Dubbed the "Allerca GD" (for "genetically divergent"), this cat is the result of scientists isolating the feline gene that produces the protein that causes many human allergies. In ongoing trials led by allergist Dr. Sheldon Spector at the University of California, Los Angeles, appropriately altered cats proved nonbothersome to people with clinically diagnosed cat allergies.

Allerca is not a biotech company, but, according to Chief Executive Megan Young, a "lifestyle pet company" that is "taking breeding to the next level."

According to Allerca's Web site, the cats — which have medium-length hair and come in the same colors and patterns as normal cats — are the result of using "sophisticated bioinformatics to manage feline breeding programs."

The price?

$3,950 each.

Don't get excited yet. There's already a long waiting list.

"If you ordered today, you'd have a kitten in about 15 months," Young told me recently. Although the company isn't sure exactly when the first cats will be ready — "It's up to Mother Nature," Young said — it expects to make deliveries in the first quarter of 2007 and to build up the breeding pool to several dozen by next summer. All Allerca cats will be delivered when they are 12 weeks old and will be spayed or neutered. They come with a year of veterinary insurance, nail caps called Soft Paws — "We want to discourage declawing," Young said — and a "certificate of authenticity" that bears an image of the divergent gene sequence.

Is this creepy or miraculous?

Like a lot of animal-loving allergy sufferers, I'm intrigued by the idea of having a cat that won't send me to the emergency room, even if that cat costs more than a used Toyota. But like a lot of animal-loving rational human beings, I'm philosophically opposed to the deliberate breeding of already plentiful animals (OK when it comes to pandas, not OK for dogs and cats).

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 3 million to 4 million cats go into shelters every year, about half of which will be euthanized. Although HSUS has no stated policy on breeding and doesn't know much about Allerca beyond what's on the Web site, Outreach Director Stephanie Shain says the organization plans to keep an eye on the company.