Allergies to cats are actually one of the most common allergies humans can have, and they can really go from just minor annoyances to severe and life-threatening situations. While there are a couple of things that we can do such as taking antihistamines or just trying to avoid them, scientists may have just developed a new vaccine that would get rid of feline allergies altogether.

Researchers have looked into modifying genes of cats to make sure that they wouldn’t affect people with cat allergies, but this new method is a lot less intrusive.

They’ve created a vaccine that specifically targets and eliminates cat allergens.

To make things clear, this vaccine is actually meant for the cats, not for humans. However, if you’d like to have a few feline friends in the house, that means you can just give the vaccine to your cats and you won’t have to deal with any more allergic episodes again.

Did you know that cat allergies of owners, partners or family members are actually one of the major causes why felines are relinquished to shelters? An absolutely staggering amount of them get euthanized too, and some just plain get abandoned. In other words, having this vaccine around would definitely be a major gamechanger for everyone involved.

The vaccine works by isolating a protein called Fel d 1, which isn’t the only allergenic substance that cats have, but it is the major one that causes the most issues and symptoms.

It’s estimated that roughly 10% of humans, in general, are allergic to the Fel d 1 protein.

Strangely enough, scientists still haven’t figured out exactly what the Fel d 1 protein does for a cat, its function remains somewhat of a mystery. Nonetheless, they don’t believe that isolating this protein would cause any harm to our feline friends.

The findings of the vaccine were explained and reported in the scientific Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Of course, there’s not just theory – the researchers have also tested it as well. The vaccine was successful in over fifty cats in four different studies – the allergenic protein was (significantly) reduced and the cats remain just as healthy as before. The vaccine doesn’t appear to show any side effects.

“Both human subjects and animals could profit from this treatment because allergic cat owners would reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases, such as asthma, and become more tolerant of their cats, which therefore could stay in the households and not need to be relinquished to animal shelters,” the researcher write in the paper.

The scientists were working for a company called HypoPet, who wants to bring the vaccine to market.

After the vaccine is introduced in the cats, their immune system isolates and destroys the Fel d 1 protein molecules which cause allergic reactions.

“We are very pleased to publish this data which shows our HypoCat™ vaccine is able to produce high levels of antibodies in cats, and that these antibodies can bind and neutralize the Fel d 1 allergen produced by the animals,” Dr. Gary Jennings concluded.

It usually takes a couple of years before tested vaccines actually make it to market, but it definitely raises hope for allergic and/or hopeful cat owners around the globe.

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Source: The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, HypoPet, Business Insider