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 …
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 …
Photo by liberalmind1012. I am sure the Manx in this picture is not a pedigree cat.
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 when they are homozygous for the Manx gene. “Homozygous” means possessing a pair of identical alleles at a place (locus) on the chromosome. The Manx gene is symbolised by the capital letter “M” because It is dominant. The CFA say it is “incomplete dominant”.
At one time breeders were not aware that kittens were dying in the womb. I presume there was no evidence of their existence except that there was a decrease in the average number of young per litter when Manx mated Manx cat, which is when the offspring will be homozygous to the M gene.
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 …
Need I say that the most outstanding Manx cat characteristic is the lack of a tail? One of the most interesting characteristics of the Manx is that it is a cat with a long history so it was around at the beginning of the cat fancy in England. It is what is called a …
Yes and no. Yes, if you want the perfect modern Manx cat as dictated by the breed standard (at Feb 2013). But the original Manx cats didn’t look like this. As a result, unnaturally long hind legs that are much longer than the forelegs is a breeder’s “refinement”. It is a false creation. In …
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