ForestWind Siberian Cats

We were asked an interesting questions the other day, "Are dark haired cats more likley to produce an allergic reaction in succeptible individuals?" We recalled reading that coat color has no bearing on allergenic properties, so we set off to locate the research.

A study conducted in 200o did indeed state that darker coloured cats were more likely to produce allergic reactions. You can read about it here:

^ HussainS, Bassett C, Kaplan S, Schneider A, Silverman B. Correlation betweenthe color of cat hair and severity of allergic symptoms in patientswith allergic rhinitis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology2000;105(1 Part 2):S5.

In 2001 another study was done disproving this theory.

^ Siebers, R.; Healy, B., Holt, S., Peters, S., Crane, J., and Fitzharris, P (October 2001). "Fel d 1 levels in domestic living rooms are not related to cat color or hair length". Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Elsevier) 108 (4): 652–653. doi:10.1067/mai.2001.118788. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11590399&dopt=Citation. Retrieved 2007-03-20.

Siberian cat breeders find that the more pure the Siberian (closer to Siberia and eastern Russia) is, generally the lower the level of allergen. Cats with colorpointing background are often higher in allergens than cats never crossed to Siamese or Himalayans.