Cats can be allergic to people.

 Animals & Nature

Original photo by Linda Raymond/ iStock

If you love cats but can’t have one of your own because you’re allergic, the feeling may be mutual. It isn’t common, but cats can be allergic to people. The condition is rare in part because we humans usually bathe regularly and thus don’t shed as much dead skin or hair as other animals (and it’s somewhat unclear how much of a problem human dander may be for felines). That said, cats are fairly sensitive to chemicals and sometimes have a negative reaction to certain perfumes, laundry detergents, and soaps. Cat allergic reactions look much the same as the ones humans get — they may manifest as sneezing, runny noses, rashes, hives, or other uncomfortable symptoms. In rare cases, cats can even be allergic to dogs. (Maybe that’s why some of them don’t get along.)

Yet our feline friends are more likely to have the same seasonal allergies as us — especially grass and pollen — as well as year-round problems with dust mites and fleas. As much as 30% of the human population with allergies is allergic to either cats or dogs, with allergies to cats being twice as common as allergies to their canine counterparts. While ailurophiles (cat lovers) may consider that a fate worse than death, the good news is there are a number of hypoallergenic breeds that are less likely to make you sneeze.

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Ernest Hemingway had a number of six-toed cats.

The Nobel Prize winner wasn’t kidding when he said that “one cat just leads to another.” After being given a polydactyl (six-or-more-toed) cat by a ship captain and naming the feline Snow White, Hemingway couldn’t help but accumulate more — and name them after famous people. (Most cats have five toes on their front paws and four on the back, for a total of 18, but at least one polydactyl cat in Canada had seven on each paw for a record-setting 28.) Following his death in 1961, Hemingway’s former home in Key West, Florida, was converted into a museum that today is home to roughly 60 polydactyl cats.



Michael Nordine
Staff Writer

Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.

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