These are mightily impressive cat ear furnishings. They are so long they form the shape of horns. It is looks a bit crazy but for cat breeders ear furnishings are ‘desirable’. For instance, below is a section of the breed standard for the American Curl. Note: the cat in the photo is not an American Curl. I have selected this breed as an example as to how long ear hair can be encouraged by the cat associations through breed standards and in typical fashion they call it a funny name.
Cat breeders will selectively breed cats to have a lot of hair in their ears. There has to be a limit though and the young cat in the photograph is perhaps beyond the limit, n’est ce pas?
The young cat in the photo looks like a doll-face Persian but I don’t know if she is purebred or not. It’s likely that she is a pedigree cat because the ear furnishings are so pronounced. I have seen Persians with ear furnishings like this before but not in this extraordinary shape. Normally a clump of long hair grows out horizontally and droops downwards at the ends under gravity.
Selective breeding
For cat breeders ears present an opportunity to sculpt something which distinguishes the cat from others. There is quite a big focus on ears in the cat fancy. Perhaps it is because they stick up out of the head and are very visible. You can do a lot with that through selective breeding. The size and shape are also controlled. Persians have small ears and big furnishings! It sounds like a furniture store.
‘Furnishings’ means ‘furniture, fittings, and other decorative accessories such as curtains and carpets, for a house or room’. Yes, it is all to do with interior decoration of homes. As I said cat breeders like to borrow the language of other ‘professions’. Another interesting choice is ‘britches‘. These are old fashioned trousers but for cat breeders they refer to long hair on the legs of their cats.
I believe that the silly term ‘furnishings’ and also ‘britches’ were originally from the world of pedigree dog breeding. Bassett Hounds bred with so much spare skin they can hardly walk are another example.
As long as there is no loss of functionality or the latest gimmick in husbandry doesn’t bring with it a host of health conditions, then some will say “where is the harm?”
The harm is that we have turned these beings into objects, to be altered at whimsy or money making whim.