The Scotsman and Pets Radar are spreading misinformation about domestic cats

There are two websites that I know of and they are probably more, many more, which are spreading misinformation about domestic cats. The Scotsman is particularly active in terms of spreading all manner of incorrect information. It's quite shocking actually how bad it is. They do this cynically to improve the number of hits their website receives.

Pets Radar is lying.

And this morning, the website Pets Radar has another one of those misleading headlines: "15 hypoallergenic cat breeds for allergy sufferers".

No domestic cat whether purebred or non-purebred is hypoallergenic. There's one breed that breeders claim is hypoallergenic and that is the Siberian. But it isn't. There may be some partial benefits.

Not even the Sphynx cat which is hairless is hypoallergenic because this cat deposits saliva on its skin and the allergen which provokes the allergic reaction in humans, Fel D1, is in the cat's saliva.

And to say that 15 cat breeds are hypoallergenic is ridiculous. It is a blatant example of click bait.

And it does the domestic cat a disservice. If a website claims something which is untrue and a person adopts a cat of a certain cat breed thinking, in this instance, that it is hypoallergenic, they will be disappointed generally and disappointed in the cat.

It is possible that the cat becomes a victim under this scenario. I don't like it. It is cynical behaviour and it must stop. It is a symptom of the highly competitive nature of website ownership.

The Internet has probably become too competitive. It is largely unregulated and therefore it has a wild west flavour about it.

The Pets Radar website argue that if a cat sheds less fur than other cats then it is less likely to be allergenic. This is a very weak argument. And they state that Siamese cats shed less fur than other cats and therefore they are hypoallergenic. This is ridiculous. The Siamese cat has a single coat which is close lying to the skin. I admit that. But it still sheds fur and it still sheds the Fel D1 allergen within the home.