My boyfriend and I have decided to get a cat in October. He is leaving on a trip for a few weeks and didn't want to get the cat before he left to come back and have it not remember him. So we are waiting until he gets back.

I am a cat person who before I moved out had only gone 3 whole days in my life of not owning a cat. So it now being almost 2 months has been a bit torturous for me! I've been looking at the Humane Society website weekly to see which cats get adopted and which have been there a long while. Our plan is to adopt a cat that has been there awhile or is less likely to be adopted.

One problem is that my boyfriend suffers from asthma and allergies. We don't agree with going to a breeder (for "hypo-allergenic" cats) because of the cost, but also because there are so many cats out there that need homes. His allergy is not that bad.... We've spent the week out at my family's cottage with "their" cat (still mine too!) and she has long dark fur and he's never appeared that he's had any worse allergies than he gets seasonally. (Although he has perhaps complained)

But I have two questions regarding black cats:

Doing some reading I read that dark cats produce more allergens than light coloured cats. Is this true or just a myth? I do understand that everyone is different too, but in general?

Are black cats REALLY less likely to be adopted at shelters? We thought originally we'd get an older black cat (if there was one) as I have heard black cats are less likely to be adopted. Watching the website, I haven't really noticed any black cats being left at the shelter longer than others. In fact there was one I had my eye on who was just recently adopted. So I'm not sure how true this is.