Egg Powder for Cat Allergies

If you’re a cat owner who’s been looking for ways to manage their cat allergies, you’ve probably heard of the viral egg powder trick for cat food. Online, many people are adding a special type of egg powder to cat food, and feeding this to their cat – supposedly reducing their cat’s allergen production. Let’s take a deeper dive into these methods, discuss whether it actually works, and compare it to another modern remedy!

What Causes Cat Allergies?

Before we can understand why egg powder is trending amongst cat lovers with allergies, we need to discuss the science behind it all. 

In sensitive individuals, allergies typically cause symptoms such as itchy eyes, stuffy/runny nose, or shortness of breath. This is due to an unfortunate mistake by the body’s immune system, which determines a foreign substance as harmful when it traditionally isn’t. Such substances are called “allergens.” For cat allergies, the culprit is a protein known as Fel D1 that cats spread in their saliva. As cats groom themselves and shed, these allergens are spread all throughout a household, triggering those uncomfortable symptoms.

How Would Egg Powder Help?

Long story short, most normal egg yolk powders and egg white powders wouldn’t actually help with cat allergies. This method would only make a difference if the egg powder is made from specially-raised chickens that were consistently exposed to cat allergen Fel D1. These special chickens would naturally produce IgY antibodies specifically for Fel D1, making their eggs candidates for an anti Fel D1 remedy. In fact, studies have shown that when fed concentrations of these special anti Fel D1 egg ingredients, cats started producing lower levels of allergens.

In line with this discovery, Purina launched a line of cat allergen-reducing foods (LiveClear) made from these special IgY antibody-rich eggs. This remedy is suggested to reduce a cat’s Fel D1 production by a reasonable amount after a few weeks of consistent feeding.

This is all to say that, while there’s some merit to people buying their own egg powder and adding it to their cat’s food, chances are that they won’t see any results. Not only does it have to be a very specific type of anti Fel D1 egg powder, but there are a dozen other issues with this method of allergen reduction.

The Problems With Egg Powder for Cat Allergies

Cats Are Picky With Their Diet

Aside from having to be specifically sourced, the usefulness of antibody-rich egg powders and foods is at the mercy of cats themselves. Any cat owner will agree that cats tend to be pretty picky with what they eat. Their sense of smell is several times better than ours, and not every cat has the same palate. It’s for this reason that adding egg powder as a supplement to cat food can show inconsistent results – especially considering products such as Purina LiveClear takes multiple weeks of daily feeding. 

Lower Concentration and Effectiveness

Due to being dependent on eggs that are selected for in farms, the egg powder isn’t very concentrated with antibodies – as such, even the “antibody-rich” egg powders will leave a lot to be desired. To add insult to injury, quality control is very difficult to do when dealing with livestock, resulting in inconsistent effectiveness. Even Purina LiveClear, which is specifically designed to reduce cat allergens, only reduces it by up to 47% after multiple weeks of consistent feeding.

A More Effective Solution To Reducing Cat Allergens

If you want cat allergen neutralizing products that have been perfected, Pacagen offers a more effective solution. While feeding cats “antibody-rich” eggs aim to reduce their Fel D1 production, Pacagen’s approach immediately neutralizes the Fel D1 as they accumulate in a given area. Unlike the egg powder trick, Pacagen’s anti Fel D1 approach is thoroughly tested and much more effective. 

Having undergone several layers of quality control and testing, Pacagen’s Cat Allergen Neutralizing Spray utilizes nanobodies, which are engineered to be functional and efficient. The result is a rigorously tested product that’s 500x more concentrated in proteins that neutralize allergens.

Not only does Pacagen’s solution put the power of allergen-control in your hands (rather than your cat’s), but it’s also been shown to neutralize up to 98% of cat allergens. On top of this, it’s faster-acting than other remedies, as the reduction of active allergens is felt just a couple hours after its application.