Places around Chicago to Expose People to Siberian Cats?

In My Humble Opinion
1

For many reasons, the family I nominally head has decided we could really benefit from a cat, if only two of us weren’t allergic.

So my daughter, who is both allergic and desperately wants a cat, did some research and found that many people with cat allergies don’t react to Siberians.

She found some other breeds too, but they’re hairless, ugly and abominations against nature.

Is there any place in or near Chicago where we could test whether my wife and daughter are OK with a Siberian cat?

2
  1. I’d take the “non-allergenic” claim with a grain of salt. All cats have dander, even the hairless ones. Maybe this breed has different proteins in the dander - then again, maybe not.
  2. Google “siberian cat breeder chicago”
    http://users.foxvalley.net/~jonhirst/
3

  1. I do, which is one of the reasons why I want to test out some real exposure to these cats.

  2. Would that be OK? Just saying, "I want to loiter at your (probably-home-based) business for a while to see if my wife or daughter need benadryl?

Thanks for the response.

Have other people been through this? How do you find out what your family members can tolerate before bringing a pet home?

4

Snow Leopards are from Siberia, aren’t they? The ones at Brookfield Zoo are quiet during the day but if you go there when the zoo is open at night you’ll find that they will be very interested in playing with your daughter. She may not like how they play, but they’d make sure her allergies never bothered her again. :eek:

And if your wife and daughter are as allergic as I am, you needn’t loiter at the home of the person selling the Siberian Cats for more than a couple minutes to know if they will react.

5

If the breeder has any chance of selling you a cat, she isn’t going to mind introducing you to a few. I wouldn’t phrase my request to her as you did above, but something more like, we’re considering acquiring a purebred cat, and would like to meet your breeding stock.

Other ideas: talk to your daughter’s allergist. There are lots of anti-histamines out there.

You could also try going to a cat show. Listings here.

6

The breeders I’ve contacted will let you go visit them to see if your allergic. They are familiar with this request. The Siberian cat breeder I was going to go to wanted you to pay for a visit to be used towards a cat should you wanted to go ahead Let us know if your daughter reacts I would be curious. My little girl wants a cat but I’m allergic.

7

I would concur - a good breeder (one who’s in it for the love of the breed, not (just) for the money should be willing to let you visit. They want their animals to be happy and have a good home.

Anecdote != data, but a friend of mine got a Siberian and it has in fact NOT bothered her husband. I’m allergic enough (and have asthma that is definitely cat-triggered) that I don’t dare take the risk :(.