Brave New Fur

The Manhattan Cat, whose entire existence is informed by dank, cramped apartments they never leave, gets much, much freakier:

Josh is a $4,000 cat, bred to keep from setting off allergic reactions like sniffles, teary eyes and hives in people like me — who until now could never have a meaningful relationship with a feline.

The 3-year-old male was bred by a company called Allerca, which set up our meeting yesterday at the W Hotel.

After hiding under the bed, then behind a pillow, he let me cradle him in my arms.

I waited and . . . nothing. No sneezing. No tears.

. . .

The special cats won’t be available to the general public until early next year. Already, there’s a long waiting list. New Yorkers are actually paying an extra $2,000 to be bumped to the front of the line.

Allerca developed the pets by selectively breeding cats that had a “changed” glycoprotein, the genetic property that triggers an allergy, said Bernadine Cruz, Josh’s vet. One in 50,000 cats has this altered protein.

“Joshua is second generation and there’s many more to come,” Cruz said, adding that he’s the result of three years of research.

Just say no to genetically modified cats!