Many people find out about Siberians because they would like to own a cat, but someone in the family is allergic to them. They find information on the internet that Siberians are regarded to be hypoallergenic. In fact, this really is true about Siberians, and most of our kittens go to allergy households. Of course, an allergy is a complicated thing, and individual cats vary in the level of the FEL-D1 protein which triggers a majority of cat allergies. There are other possible allergens in cats for some people, and Siberians might not help if a person reacts to some other allergen. But Siberians do help with the most common one.

You can find a lot of reliable information on cat allergies and how Siberians are generally hypoallergenic on the Siberian Research website. After you have filled out our registration form (LINK to .pdf file), we are happy to help you test your reaction to our cats. If you live close enough to us, you can drive to our house and we will bring a cat or kitten to your vehicle in front of our house for a one-on-one test. If you live in the vicinity of a cat show we attend, you can test with cats at the show hall (in your car or in an area removed from the main part of the show hall, which will be contaminated with non-Siberian cats) or at our hotel room. If you live too far away for in person testing to be practical, we can send a fur sample from a specific cat you are considering in an envelope (there is a $10 charge to cover FedEx shipping).

When visiting us, it is important to bear in mind that we have one short hair cat in addition to the multiple Siberians in our house, so the allergen load inside our house is not representative of what you will face if you take one or two of our Siberians home as pets. This is why we like for the initial test to take place in a cat-free environment such as your car.

We can arrange laboratory testing of the parents of a kitten or of an adult cat if the buyer will pick up the cost (about $40). We do not believe that it is very cost-effective to do allergen testing of a kitten, because the level of allergen for each cat changes as it grows and matures. Therefore it is more predictive to test its parents. However, there is a kitten test available at the buyer's expense.

Sometimes allergy sufferers experience some symptoms from our Siberians, but at a much lower level than from other cats. In this case, you may decide that the pleasures of having a cat are worth the mild reaction. There are a variety of products available on the market to help determined cat owners work around or work through their issues. We recommend the Allergy Store, though there are many other options.

To find out more, read our testimonies.