What an honor to showcase Max and Summer, who live with T1D Evan, his sister Sarah and mom & dad, Nightscout & Loop developer and general T1D whiz) John & Laura.  What a precious family with 2 beautiful cats to share the love!

Max (8 years old) was a birthday gift for my daughter Sarah in November 2012 (her 7th birthday). 

My son Evan was diagnosed with Type 1 in August 2012, and caring for him, learning about Type 1… and the tumultuous changes that come along for the ride were wearing us down a bit. Sarah was very understanding of her brother’s new needs, but we all felt we needed something uplifting in our lives at that point.  So we decided to get Sarah a cat for her birthday. Evan and I picked him out from a group of 5 brothers, and we surprised Sarah with him.

Max adores Sarah, and stays by her side nearly all day.

When Evan was diagnosed, a local family (Andy & Allison Mayo) reached out to us. Their eldest son, then 13, was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 7 years old. The were so helpful, and it was so wonderful to see how “normal” things could become after diagnosis… to see how a teenager could take the condition in stride, and be just as happy and healthy as any other child. The Mayo family also showed us their Medtronic MySentry device, and that was an early seed… got me thinking and tinkering with Evan’s G4… and led to our DIY remote monitoring system for Evan, and what would eventually become Nightscout. Allison Mayo soon became our day/childcare provider for Evan and Sarah.  

It was such a blessing to have her looking after Evan as we found our way in managing his Type 1. Allison also took care of cats for a local shelter and after seeing so many cute kittens over the years, we finally decided to get Max a new buddy in 2017. 

Summer is the most dog-like cat we’ve ever had. She loves to be near people, is super chatty and loves to play with toys… and will always find an inopportune time to bug you for a game of fetch. She is hilarious.

MORE!!!  I’m looking for more T1D and their pet(s) stories!!! 

Cats?  Dogs?  Bunnies?  Birds?  Fish?

Please send a bunch of pix and a few stories … and let me share your pet love with our T1D community! 

Send email with pix and stories to:  joanne@TheSavvyDiabetic.com

CRISPR Could Finally Make the First Truly Allergy-Free Cat was reported by Emily Mullen for ReEngineeringLife/OneZero/Medium, 27 April 2020.  That would so amazing for me!  I grew up with my grey tabby named Mynee … but after her, I became severely allergic to cats.  And my husband has it worse.  But I’d love to cuddle a kitty and listening to the purring again!

If you’re among the 10% of people who are allergic to cats, you can blame a protein found in cat saliva and skin. The pesky protein spreads when cats groom themselves and shed their hair and dander around the home.

Scientists and immunologists have been interested in this protein, known as Fel d 1, for decades because of its role in cat allergies.

Gene-editing tool CRISPR has opened up new possibilities for the future of hypoallergenic cats. Scientists at one Virginia company, Indoor Biotechnologies, have successfully used CRISPR to delete the gene that tells the body how to make Fel d 1. Not to worry — no animals were harmed in the process. The team experimented on feline cells, not live cats, but the researchers say the method shows promise for real pets.

“We’ve been hypothesizing about what would happen if you could delete the gene from cats,” Martin Chapman, the CEO of Indoor Biotechnologies and a former professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia, tells OneZero. “What we hope will ultimately come out of this is a cat that is genetically modified so that it doesn’t produce Fel d 1.”

Indoor Biotechnologies says its goal is to develop a CRISPR-based drug to edit the DNA of cats that people already have. If the drug proves to be safe, pet owners could bring their cat to the vet’s office for an injection and leave with a cat that won’t cause allergies.

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