ARCHITECTURE
IDEAS
CABINS
Wild Woodz 
CATEGORIES
POPULAR
Nature Animals
People Craft
Science Design
Jump to WildWoodz
Glass tabletops are the best option for renewing existing coffee tables while round tabletops and rectangle-glass-tabletops are perfect for decorating ...
Modern Coffee Table Styles with Table Tops
Glass tabletops are the best option for renewing existing coffee tables while round tabletops and rectangle-glass-tabletops are perfect for decorating ...
Plexiglass is a great alternative to glass. Let's explore the applications in which plexiglass is preferred over ordinary glass.
Top 5 Situations When Application of Plexiglass is Preferred over Glass
Plexiglass is a great alternative to glass. Let's explore the applications in which plexiglass is preferred over ordinary glass.
Interior designs for homes and other spaces are changing faster than one can imagine. Sometimes, it gets too difficult to ...
Difference Between wooden base cabinets & glass cabinets (New Concept Glass Cabinets Design)
Interior designs for homes and other spaces are changing faster than one can imagine. Sometimes, it gets too difficult to ...
Scandinavian design is normally compared to mid-century modern design. While they are known to borrow details from each other, color ...
DIY Nordic wood designs
Scandinavian design is normally compared to mid-century modern design. While they are known to borrow details from each other, color ...
For the love of woodz, craft and nature.
 
Share
Are People who are Allergic to Domestic Cats also Allergic to Tigers and other Big Cats?
In Animals by Emily, December 18, 2016

Tiger, lion, leopard, cheetah and so on, we refer to them as big cats.
It is true that they belong to the family of cats, but how many similarities do they actually have with our domestic cats?

To illustrate, let us first clarify the framework structure of the family of cats. Felidae is the family of cats. A member of this family is also called a felid. Living cats belong to subfamilies: Pantherinae – comprising the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopards and Felinae – including all non-pantherine cats; ocelot, puma, domestic cat.

The question that interested us the most is whether an individual, who is allergic to pet cats, is likely to be allergic to “big cats” as well?
Grooming is one of the most common behaviors that greatly contribute to the domestic cat’s propensity to stimulate an allergic response in some humans. When the cat licks itself, it stimulates both its salivary glands as well as sebaceous glands in its skin, all of which produce a protein known as Fel d1. Another common allergen is Fel d4, which is primarily expressed via the cat’s saliva. While there are other potential allergens, these two are the primary things that cause an allergic reaction in some humans.

testing of allergic reactions
Since “Fel d1” can be found in cat saliva in large quantities and cats are almost always cleaning themselves, the allergen extends to carpets, beds, curtains and slowly but steadily throughout the house. Because this protein is produced by sebaceous glands in the cat’s skin, the general belief that cats without hair do not cause allergies is incorrect. Nevertheless, it is true that some cats produce more protein than others. Moreover, the emergence of Fel d1 is promoted by testosterone and therefore males produce more than females.

People are not allergic to cat fur but their saliva and protein in their skin

Allergy is therefore a response to the “allergen”. An allergen is a little foreign structure that somehow found itself in our body. The organism suspected that this little foreigner is quite threatening. Therefore, our immune system triggers an allergic response, which increases the production of histamine, which is very useful in fighting against diseases.

cute cats licking each other

Photo © Angela Lutz

Now that we know what causes cat allergies in humans, does the same allergic reaction occur when humans are exposed to “big” cats?

In the study, the researchers focused on reactions to exposure to the hair of a variety of Felidae. They did so via examining blood samples from 11 patients strongly allergic to domestic cats. While a very limited sample-size, the team found that the domestic cat-allergic patients all reacted much more strongly to plain Fel d1, cat dander or cat serum, than they did to the big cat hair. However, most of the domestic-cat allergic people did react, at least a little, to the big cat hair, including the Siberian tiger, lion and snow leopard.
Interestingly the ocelot and puma, which are both closely related to the domestic cat, did not stir up stronger allergic reactions when compared with the lion and tiger which are in a separate sub-family. So at least with the limited data we have available so far, if you are allergic to domestic cats, it would seem you can expect to suffer lesser allergic reactions when encountering various big cats.

If you love cats but are allergic to them, you could consider purchasing a lion or a tiger, because they will cause less allergic reactions. Joke aside, we all know that wild animals must enjoy freedom and belong to nature!

Lion clean itself by licking.

Author: Tambako the Jaguar/ CC by ND 2.0

More info: Allergy to cats (h/t: Today I Found Out)

Reshare our content with appropriate credit:
- via Woodz.co (must include a link to the article)
- if it exists, give h/t (specified at the end of our articles)

Leave a Reply

So, what do you think?

avatar
wpdiscuz_captcharefresh
avatar
wpdiscuz_captcharefresh
  Subscribe  
Notify of
Latest
Sustainability, respect for the mountains and direct contact with nature are the principles that have guided all design choices. For ...
9 Dec 2021
Hotel Zallinger
Glass tabletops are the best option for renewing existing coffee tables while round tabletops and rectangle-glass-tabletops are perfect for decorating ...
27 May 2021
Modern Coffee Table Styles with Table Tops
With great views of the golf course and the magnificent trees in the environment. The design of the project follows ...
6 May 2021
GP House
Plexiglass is a great alternative to glass. Let's explore the applications in which plexiglass is preferred over ordinary glass.
12 Apr 2021
Top 5 Situations When Application of Plexiglass is Preferred over Glass
The steep forested hillsides around the Hardangerfjord above Odda is the location of two Woodnest treehouses. The architecture is a ...
3 Feb 2021
Woodnest Cabin – Treehouse
RELATED POSTS
Last year, more than 200,000 Saiga Antelope dropped dead in central Kazakhstan over a matter of days. The landscape was ...
The Reason For The Mass Death Of Saiga Antelope Has Finally Been Revealed
Beauty is a very special bald eagle; she was shot in the face by a hunter, leaving the upper part ...
Injured eagle gets a new 3-D printed beak
Eastern quolls haven't been seen on the Australian mainland for over half a century. However, thanks to a project that ...
The Cute Polka Dot Eastern Quolls Begin Their Reintroduction To Mainland Australia
Architecture Wild Woodz About Us
Ideas Terms & Privacy
Cabins Contact
For the love of wood, craft and nature.
Copyright © 2015-2023 Woodz. All Rights Reserved.