A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, shows that cat ownership may have a protective effect against the development of asthma symptoms in young children at age five.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that increased exposure to cat allergen is associated with greater bronchial responsiveness (BR) in people with certain common allergies, even if they are not specifically allergic to cats. This suggests that reduced exposure to cats may be beneficial for allergic individuals, regardless of their specific allergies.

Cats and cat allergens in the home clearly raise the risk of the allergic sensitisation of children up to the age of two. For older children, however, the influence of the environment at home on the development of cat allergen sensitization decreases. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the GSF - National Research Center for Environment and Health (GSF), Helmholtz-Association, when they evaluated the data of more than 2,000 children from Leipzig and Munich.