A Michael Broad Blog
Although there are ten imaginative hypotheses as to why Manx cats have no tails, there is one genuine and less colourful reason which is that the Manx gene cropped up spontaneously as a naturally occurring mutation on the Isle of Man centuries ago. This gene became established because of prolonged inbreeding amongst the tailless …
There are two reported instances of Manx cats’ tails being docked. There may be more. It should be said at the outset that the lack of a normal tail in Manx cats is due to a random gene mutation occurring on a island setting (Isle of Man) which confined the cats to a relatively …
Friends for Life Rescue Network in Los Angeles have rescued a couple of kittens that were known to have the Manx, tailless gene but they are also American Curl and Rex cats in my opinion. They appear to me to be the result of a deliberate attempt by a local breeder to create a …
Web surfers want to know where the Manx cat comes from. Perhaps somewhat unusually the breed originates in the Isle of Man, which is a small island in the Irish Sea off the west coast of England between England and Ireland. The word “Manx” refers to the native Celtic language of the Isle of …
The answer is both Yes and No. Yes, when a Manx cat has no tail or a short tail this is how he/she was born and there is no change throughout the cat’s life. No, because not all Manx cats are born without a tail. Such is the variety of tail length that breeders …
By Nathan With a site named “pictures-of-cats” it seems only “proper” to post a picture of my two cats…sorry that it comes with a little auto-biography… Both are Manx rescues. Lucy is a 5 y/o white/black male and with a severe aversion to most anyone…even myself. My wife is the only one that can …
I am interested in how breeders of the Manx cat are able to create healthy cats. We know that the gene that causes taillessness in the Manx is a nasty gene, which potentially causes severe health problems in living Manx cats and which causes the death of embryos before birth. Kittens die before birth …
Spina bifida, which is part of a bundle of illnesses called “Manx Syndrome” can affect Manx cats (“is common in Manx cats¹”). Amongst other things Spina bifida causes faecal incontinence – the cat cannot keep the anus closed. Some Manx are also urine incontinent. Some have recurring constipation with megacolon. Other possible problems with spina …
