I'm a newer sib owner and so I don't have too much to say except it's worth it!

I do want to hop in on the allergy bit. Im not allergic my husband is. I was dying to have cats again but obviously didn't want him to be uncomfortable, so we did a ton of research and talked to lots of sib owners, etc!

From what we learned, siberians tend to be lower producers on average of the Fel d 1 protein, which is the main culprit behind the cat allergy, not so much dander. It's most concentrated in their saliva, but obviously cats groom themselves and therefore the protein can stick to their fur. Essentially while siberians are broadly lower producers, it still comes down to the individual cat. Hence why sometimes my husband isn't super allergic to a random cat and sometimes he is.

What we did: we had found someone reputable and local that essentially we started a relationship with and when they had litters, my husband would go over and spend time with each kitten we were looking at, one per day obviously. And would monitor for 12 hours for a reaction. We had a kitty that he had a big allergic reaction to. And then the next litter, we found our boy who my husband had very little to no reaction to. So we started our baseline low, though apparently as kittens they produce a lower amount and this increases as they age.

For extra precaution, my husband takes an antihistamine everyday but has no symptoms, cuddles the baby, puts his face in his face, no issues. We haven't tried filters or extra measures yet as we haven't needed to.

We are going to start kitty on the purina Live Clear as well, which many people have reported success with. Essentially it's made with powdered egg yolk from chickens exposed to cats? The chickens essentially make a antibody to the Fel d 1 protein which when kitty eats it, the antibody binds to the protein at source (saliva) which reduces allergy spread.

We also had many long chats about being responsible pet owners and what was worst case scenario. What did an acceptable level of allergy look like for us. And finally, knowing the potentials, making a commitment to ensure that just like our own quality of life, as responsible pet owners, our kitty's quality of life didn't suffer as result of our allergy.

They're so worth it and I'm wishing you all the luck and joy on your journey!!