Try Purina ProPlan Liveclear!

by Rita Reimers, Multi Cat Behavior Expert

One of the nice things about what I do for a living is sometimes I am asked to try new products. Just before it came on the market, Purina asked us to try a new type of cat food, one made to reduce cat allergens in cat owners.

At first I was confused: how can it be that feeding our cats something could help MY sensitivity to cat dander? But that’s exactly what Purina’s ProPlan Liveclear cat food promises. By reducing the dander that causes sensitivity to cats, people who have mild allergies could actually live with cats without sneezing!

How cool is THAT!?

Knowing the long-held secret that our Executive Director, Linda Hall, is, in fact, allergic to cats, I asked if she could also give it a try.

Linda was already a fan of ProPlan Sensitive Stomach, since her cat Warren has food allergies, and needs that type of food. Wouldn’t you know, Liveclear comes in a Sensitive Stomach formula!

Both armed with a bag of Purina ProPlan Liveclear cat food, we offered it: me to my 19 cats and Linda to her 8 cats. We held our breaths to see if our cats would like it.

They did!! My cats actually stormed around the bowl to get their turn trying this new food! As you can see in this photo, my cats really loved it, and were pushing each other out of the way to try it. (Yes I filled more bowls with it so they all got to eat it!)

While I am not technically allergic to cats, I do tend to have a stuffy nose in the mornings. But as they at this food over the next few days, I did notice that I awoke with much less stuffiness than usual.

Meanwhile at Linda’s house, her cats enjoyed the new food as well. Since they already ate ProPlan, this change was not quite as radical for them. Linda was so impressed with how much her cat allergies cleared up, that she now feeds Purina ProPlan Liveclear for Sensitive Stomachs regularly.

Just what is in this food that helps our allergies? I have included the ingredients list from the bag here. But I wasn’t clear on just how this product works.

So, I asked! This is what I was told:

“Pro Plan LiveClear doesn’t affect the cat’s overall physiology. In fact, the cat will continue to produce allergens and shed as normal. The key ingredient in LiveClear, which is a specific protein found in eggs, simply binds to the Fel d 1 allergen in cats’ saliva and neutralizes it, safely, in the cat’s mouth. The cat will safely digest this egg product ingredient like all other proteins. As odd as it sounds, at this time, the scientific community does not know the exact function of Fel d 1. That is why Purina felt it was extremely important to identify an allergen management approach that does not interfere with the normal production of Fel d 1 by the cat or impact the cat’s overall physiology.”

I feel comfortable feeding this product to my cats, and recommending it to people with cat allergies who would dearly love to add a cat or two to their household! (No more excuses guys! Sorry, not sorry!!)