Controversial UK entrepreneur and convicted fraudster, Simon Brodie , who founded the US company Allerca , which developed and marketed a genetically manipulated hypoallergenic cat , has put himself back in the news. Celebrating one year on from the delivery of the first hypoallergenic cat, Brodie now says that using ‘leading technologies’, Allerca is focusing on the development of pets that fit with today’s lifestyles. Earlier this year Lifestyle Pets laid claim to the creation of a new breed of exotic cat , the four foot long, leopard-like Ashera . The claim that this is a new breed remains controversial with some cat-breeders - who are claiming that the ‘new’ cat is actually the pre-existing Savannah breed. When the much criticised Californian rent-a-dog company Flexpetz announced it was expanding to the UK, it described itself as a wholly owned subsidiary of a company called Tetros Incorporated . For almost two years, a division of Simon Brodie’s Allerca has been fighting a lawsuit against the veterinary laboratories giant Idexx claiming over $700 million plus damages and that Idexx tried to stifle new technology emerging from Allerca, by putting pressure on distributors to drop a new ALLERCA diagnostic product from their books. read more

On the back of the current trend to banish the chemically-loaded products we use on our bodies and in our homes every day - from our c-numbered soaps and bubble baths through to our washing detergents and powders  - companies are now springing up promising to take us back to our roots by using all natural ingredients. From the jasmine hand creams and avocado body lotions through to sesame marinades for food, coffee-smelling room sprays, fig leaf and cedar shampoos for dogs as well as an all-natural range for babies. This range is designed to help our skin cope with the variants in the earth’s temperatures, with spray mist sunscreens and after sun regenerating creams for the summer and rich creams for the winter. Bedroom sprays (dhs99), pressure point balms (dhs75), essential oils, pillow sprays, massage lotions and relaxing bath foams are all available to help lull us off to sleep. read more

AStarving or eating grass to make themselves sick are fairly normal for dogs and cats with gut upsets but it shouldn’t happen all the time. Q I have two rescued cats and the seven-year-old one is always licking plastic bags and tearing up newspapers and paper hankies. A few cats have a taste for plastic bags and a possible cause is that many plastic items are made from rendered animal fat. These issues are more quirky than problematic, so you should just keep plastic bags and papers out of your cats’ reach. Copyright and Trade Mark Notice ©owned by or licensed to Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd 2007 Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement before using this site. read more

Since then, the company has delivered dozens of the ALLERCA ’sneeze-free’ kittens that for the first time have allowed severely allergic and asthmatic cat lovers to enjoy the companionship of a furry friend. Our home has long been devoid of pets because of my allergies, and although my family was desperate to get a cat, I was trepidatious about as I didn’t want a return of my allergy symptoms. The press did make a thing about the then price of $4,000 (the kittens now sell for $8,000), but those cat-loving, allergy sufferers aware of the cost and inconvenience of allergy treatments required to live with a cat understood that this was a small price to pay. As for new “lifestyle pets,” Brodie has developed a large exotic domestic cat called the Ashera, now on sale and priced at $22,000, which already has a year waiting list. COM is the internet home of Simon Brodie, the inventor of the hypoallergenic cat and the founder of a new sector in the pet industry known as “lifestyle pets. read more