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Cat food and cat allergy

Question:

8/7/2020
A number of patients have asked about Purina Pro Plan Live Clear cat food which purports to "reduce the allergens in cat hair and dander by an average of 47% starting in the third week of daily feeding." What is your opinion about the literature supporting these claims and is this a product you would recommend to your patients?

Answer:

It is intriguing that Purina has developed this technology to potentially reduce Fuel d 1 by a significant percent. As far as I am aware, there have not been any studies done to ascertain what this means clinically. Meaning, will this reduce symptoms in patients who are cat allergic? Is this food any better than aggressive cleaning to control Fel d 1 levels? Cats still will be producing Fel d 1 despite the use of this food and will these levels be low enough to be clinically impactful? As you know Fel d 1 is the major cat allergen but not the only allergen that that patients can be allergic to so will reduction in Fel d 1 be meaningful? I think there are numerous questions that still need to asked and answered and at this point I am not sure that I would recommend patients who are cat allergic and have a cat in the house to use this product.

I hope this is helpful.

Andrew Murphy, MD, FAAAAI