'Hypoallergenic cats' have been specially bred by Allerca, a US biotech firm, and are now up for sale for $3,950.

There was no genetic modification involved:

It tested huge numbers of cats trying to find the tiny fraction that do not carry the glycoprotein Fel d1 - contained in an animal's saliva, fur and skin - which often prompts an allergic reaction in humans.

Those cats were then selectively bred to produce the hypoallergenic kittens now on sale, the company says.

The company's Steve May told the BBC that it was a natural, if time consuming, method.

"This is a natural gene divergence within the cat DNA - one out of 50,000 cats will have this natural divergence," he said.

"So candidates - natural divergent cats - were found and then bred so there is really no modification of the gene."

Don't expect to get your special cat quite so soon because there is already a long waiting list to have one.

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