Are Orange Tabby Cats Hypoallergenic? What You Need To Know
Plenty of orange tabby fans are held back by allergies.
Orange tabby cats are not hypoallergenic.
Key Takeaways
- Orange tabby cats are not hypoallergenic. Like all cats, they produce the Fel d1 protein in their saliva, fur and urine, which can trigger allergic reactions in people.
- No cat is entirely hypoallergenic, but some breeds, like the Sphynx, produce fewer allergens and may suit allergy sufferers better.
- To limit the spread of allergens: groom regularly, change bedding and clothes often, use a good air purifier and switch from carpet to solid flooring.
- Diet and stress affect how much a cat sheds, which indirectly affects the allergens in your home.
The rest of this page covers why these cats cause allergies and what you can do about it.
Why Do Orange Tabby Cats Cause Allergies?
Like all cats, orange tabby cats produce the Fel d1 protein in their saliva, fur and urine. This protein is what triggers allergic reactions in humans.
The tabby is a coat pattern, not a breed in its own right. Orange tabbies have different patterns depending on how the stripes sit, but all of them have distinctive “M” markings on the forehead.
Orange tabbies are not a specific breed, so they make Fel d1 like any other cat. Some breeds produce more or less than others and may suit allergy sufferers better.
When cats shed fur, groom themselves and use the litter box, they spread Fel d1 around your home, and that is where the trouble starts if you react to it.
Living With a Cat When You’re Allergic
You cannot control how much Fel d1 protein your cat produces, but you can limit how much it spreads around your home.
Shedding is one of the main ways it spreads, so start with your cat shedding.
How much your cat sheds depends on breed, diet, health and the season, among other things (more on that below).
Long-haired cats tend to shed less than short-haired breeds, but their fur tangles easily, so grooming them takes more work.
Short-haired cats tend to shed more but are much easier to groom.
Some pedigree cats, such as the Himalayan and Bengal are more likely to carry genes that cause hair loss.
Others, such as Sphynx, are bred to be hairless.
There are ways to cut down how much your cat sheds:
Brushing Helps With Shedding
One of the best ways to reduce excessive shedding is by regularly brushing your cat.
Regular brushing removes long hairs and ones ready to fall out anyway, so fewer end up on your carpet, furniture and clothes.
How much brushing a cat needs depends on the breed.
Brushes to Consider
Small brushes are very effective and a favorite with cats who dislike brushing. They are a good size, remove a lot of fur and leave the coat soft and fluffy.
For cats that don’t like normal brushes, grooming gloves can help them get used to being groomed.
Diet
Cats should always be fed a quality, balanced diet.
Most commercial cat food has a suitable balance of ingredients, but cats can still end up short of specific nutrients. Vitamins A, E and B are needed to produce and maintain healthy fur, and a cat that doesn’t get enough may shed more than usual.
Cats need plenty of protein to maintain healthy fur. Some dry foods have less protein than wet food, which often has a higher meat content. If your cat is shedding heavily, switching to a mix of wet and dry, or all wet, could help.
Try a few different foods to find one that improves the coat and cuts shedding.
The right food helps your orange tabby live a long, healthy life.
Read More: How Long Do Orange Tabby Cats Live?
Stress and Shedding
A stressed cat may shed large amounts of fur in clumps.
There are plenty of possible causes, and they don’t always point to a medical problem.
Changes of location can stress cats, and bringing a new cat into your home is one of them. This is especially true for rescue cats with troubled pasts.
Click for our tips on introducing a new cat into your home.
Loud noises can be stressful for cats, including loud music, heavy traffic noise and thunderstorms. Reducing background noise can help if your cat is shedding a lot.
How To Minimize Allergic Reactions
Change clothing and bedding regularly
If your cat sleeps on your bed, keeping them off it makes a big difference for allergy sufferers.
Washing bedding and clothes often helps too, because it removes allergy-causing particles.
Vacuum regularly
Removing cat hair and other particles from floors and surfaces stops allergens building up where you’ll come into contact with them.
Clean out litter box often
Outdoor cats may not use a litter box, but if yours does, or lives indoors, cleaning it out often cuts the allergens in the area and stops them being carried through the house.
Wash hands regularly
Washing your hands often reduces the spread of allergens onto household items.
Use an air filter
Air purifiers remove loose hair and other particles from the air before they settle on your clothes, furniture or bedding.
A purifier with a HEPA filter can cut down the allergens floating around a room. This Levoit model is one budget-friendly option.
Change carpets to solid flooring
If you have an orange tabby, you’ll know a lot of the hair they shed ends up on the floor. Carpets hold hair and other particles far more easily than solid floors.
Even frequent vacuuming doesn’t get it all out, so replacing carpet with solid flooring is an option, though an extreme one, for an allergy sufferer who wants to keep cats.
With carpets, it can seem like the hair never goes away, however much you vacuum.
A handheld carpet scraper helps here. It brushes the cat hair out of the carpet so you can vacuum it up, and you may be surprised how much comes out.
Read this article for more on why orange tabby cats shed and how to cut it down.
Is Any Cat Breed Hypoallergenic?
No cat breed is entirely hypoallergenic, but some, such as Siberian cats, produce less Fel d1 and can be better for people with cat allergies.
Some breeds also shed less fur than others, which can make them easier to live with if you have allergies.
Cat Breeds Which Shed Less
Are Hairless Cats Hypoallergenic?
Some breeds, such as the Sphynx, have been selectively bred to be hairless, which raises the question of whether they are hypoallergenic.
Sphynx cats produce Fel d1 like any other cat, but because they are hairless they don’t spread it by shedding fur.
It is still present on their skin and in their saliva, so the risk of allergies remains, though Sphynx cats can cause fewer reactions than other breeds.
Even so, Sphynx cats are not considered hypoallergenic.
Orange Coat, Same Protein
Orange tabby cats are not hypoallergenic.
Like all cats, they produce Fel d1 in their saliva, fur and urine, and it is what triggers allergic reactions in people.
And as tabby cats are not a specific breed, none of them is the exception.
If you have an orange cat or are thinking of getting one, our list of orange cat names has plenty of ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The color of a cat’s fur does not affect the number of allergens it produces. That depends on the breed.
There isn’t one, because sensitivity to cat allergens varies from person to person. Some breeds are known to produce fewer allergens than others, such as the Sphynx and the Balinese.
Yes, all cats shed (except hairless breeds), orange tabbies included. How much depends on the breed and the individual cat.
Read More: Do Orange Tabby Cats Shed?
There is no truly hypoallergenic cat breed, but some, such as the Sphynx, Devon Rex and Balinese, are known to produce fewer allergens than others.
Read More: Are Any Cats Hypoallergenic?
Think the risks through carefully and cut down your exposure to allergens. That might mean choosing a breed that produces fewer allergens, keeping the cat out of certain rooms and using air purifiers or other allergy control measures.
Orange cats aren’t prone to any specific health conditions, as that depends on the breed, but like all cats they can develop various health issues.
Yes, you can be allergic to any cat, whatever its color or breed. Orange cats are not a breed, so they don’t have any specific allergens.
No, neutering does not affect the number of allergens a cat produces.
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