griffer
Practically Family
- Messages
- 752
- Location
- Belgrade, Serbia
KittyT said:...As for hairless cats, that myth has been dispelled. Cats also shed dry skin, just as humans do, and they do leave that all over the house....
I can only speak experientially, from a very small sample- my wife, but as I said they definitely are NOT hypo-allergenic.
KittyT said:...Also, hairless cats tends to be oilier and they have no fur to guard against that. I have heard of hairless cats leaving oil stains on clothing items. They tend to actually have to be bathed.
As for the OILY thing, let me clarify this myth as an actual owner of two of these guys and a as a clothes horse. It's not NEARLY as big a deal as what is made to sound like. The whole 'oily' thing makes it sound like these are greasy, dirty animals, they aren't. They are cats, they still self bathe.
Yes, they can get oily, but it is only the same natural oil any cat produces, just without the hair to distribute it. Think about how your face gets if you have to skip a day of bathing.
That said, ours are bathed weekly and wiped down mid-week with little wipey thingies. They have never ruined clothes, but they have made some marks on favorite 'spots' on our bed. They wash right out. Not unlike my wife's hair color, or my drool spots. Glass houses and all that...
I will take all this 'bother' over having cat hairs on ALL my clothes, force my wife's OCD into overdrive and make her sneeze.
(What is never mentioned, though, is that our little boy Harold has no modesty without a fur coat; his little bits are just right out there for everyone to see. And he will happily sit and rest them right on any part of you. He's fixed, so it's less disturbing than the breeding studs I have seen. Really messes with my wife's Catholic sensibilities when I remark or joke about it, though. Let's just say 'tea-bag' has a special meaning inour house.)
KittyT said:...For people with allergies, regular grooming/bathing can go a long way to alleviate the problem, having a female cat can help, and so can an air purifier and vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.
Come to think of it, the bathing probably has more to do with my wife's reduced allergies than anything else.
Bottom line, they are high maintenance animals. But they are the most unique pets we have ever had with the greatest personalities- better than dogs, hairy cats, parakeets, wooly mammoths, lizards, or penguins.
I swear and I am totally not biased by my gushing love for our little 'land-bats'.