A Michael Broad Blog
Can big cats be polydactyl? The answer is probably, yes. Although, having read a lot about the big cats and all wild cat species and seen many photographs, I have not seen one polydactyl paw on any wild cat of any size or description. That does not mean that they don’t exist. Update: my …
A long time ago, perhaps about seven years ago, I wrote an article about genetic diseases in purebred cats. It is a comprehensive article. Many purebred cats are linked to inherited diseases due to defective recessive genes coming to the fore as a result of overenthusiastic selective breeding in order to create a cat …
Here is a series of very useful charts showing various aspects of the effect of the presence of the white spotting gene including theories on how the gene works to create varying amounts of white fur. The charts come from Sarah Hartwell’s messybeast.com website with her permission. Sarah is the graphic artist. Talented lady. …
This is a discussion about the tip of the cat’s nose and a follow up to my page on a condition called “Bengal Nose”. The tip of a cat’s nose is a triangle of skin and is made up of nostrils, the nasal plane (planum nasale) and the philtrum (a groove). This area is …
The Siamese cat is predisposed to getting adenocarcinomas of the small intestine. This is a certain type of cancer and in this case it affects the Siamese cat’s small intestine. Compared to domestic shorthair cats (non-purebred cats) the Siamese is 3-8 times more likely to suffer from these cancerous growths¹. Other sources state that …
If you click on this you’ll be taken to a map that shows information about how the domestic cat – all domestic cats, genetically speaking – are clustered into four groups. The link opens a new page so you can flick between this text and the map. The map (created by Michael using Google …
This is an odd-eyed Siamese cat. I don’t think I have seen one before… This is just another example of easy and relatively minor photoshopping. I am not saying it is good work. It only took me about 25 minutes. I cut out the yellow eye (not literally!) from a genuine odd-eyed cat (see …
By Sarah Hartwell (of Messybeast.com) Estimates of the frequency of tortoiseshell and calico tomcats range from 1-in-1000 to 1-in-many-thousands though many are misidentified classic tabby-and-white cats. Contrary to myth, tortoiseshell/calico tomcats are not valuable in financial terms (from here on, I’ll use to term tortie to include tortoiseshell, calico and torbie cats). Though many …
