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Does your beloved pet make you cry and sniff? It could mean that you are one of the 49 million Americans who are allergic to animal fur.
But one TikToker believes he has found a home cure for this condition. In a clip posted to the video-sharing platform, a Phoenix-based content creator claimed that he used to be allergic to his cat until he started putting egg white protein powder in his pets’ cat food.
“When I Googled this, it was 93 percent effective, or something like that,” he says. “I’ve talked to a few vets about it… I hope this helps someone like it did me.”
While it may seem like a fluke, allergist Dr. Zachary Rubin took to TikTok to explain the science behind this “cure” and says it really works.
It is estimated that about 15 percent of Americans suffer from pet allergies, a total of nearly 50 million.
“The vast majority of people who are allergic to cats are allergic to a particular protein found primarily in the saliva, skin cells and urine of cats called Fel d 1, which is short for felis domesticus 1,” he says in a TikTok video. So far it has had 2.6 million views.
«This was the first protein discovered by scientists that could cause allergy symptoms in humans.
“Later, scientists discovered that when chickens are regularly exposed to cats, they produce a protein called IgY antibodies.”
Dr. Rubin explains that these antibodies can bind to the cat allergy proteins Fel d 1 and ‘essentially neutralize’ them.
“This protein is passively transferred to the egg yolk,” he says, adding that pet food brand Purina Pro Plan has created a type of cat food that uses this mechanism.
He adds that studies have shown that when cats eat this food regularly every day for four weeks, they have a 50 percent reduction in the amount of allergic proteins in the animals’ saliva.
However, Dr. Rubin adds that while there is some science behind an approach like this, there is no guarantee that the chickens that produced the powdered eggs were exposed to cats.
Without exposure to cats, chickens will not produce antibodies that fight allergies.
Other allergy treatments for cats include shampoos, sprays, and pet hair powders that aim to neutralize the proteins that trigger symptoms.
Nasal sprays, decongestant medications, and immunotherapy injections are also effective in preventing symptoms.