Munchkin Cat

Originally, the main purpose of this page on this well-known cat was to present the rather technical TICA breed standard in a more readable manner for people who are not in the cat fancy. It has been gradually extended since then. What better way to do this than by presenting Helmi Flick’s fine photograph annotated with parts of the breed standard. I also look at genetics and other people’s views. Please visit my original page on this breed or if you might like to see more of Galadrial in large format. Or, in a hurry? See a Quick Guide but come back!

Note: this page was written in 2012 and republished at the date above.

The dwarf cats, generally, are controversial but many people like the dwarf breeds and the Munchkin is the best known and founding breed. The controversial nature of this breed (breeding from a genetic defect – dwarfism) means that many cat registries neither recognize the Munchkin cat nor any of the dwarf cat breeds, of which there are many (please go here and scroll down to see links to them all). Our visitors like to hear from people who have first-hand experience of this cat breed.

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Munchkin Cat Galadrial – Photograph is ©copyright Helmi Flick – please respect copyright, thank you.
Galadrial is has a calico coat (tortoiseshell and white in the UK)

Just to remind ourselves, the Munchkin cat breed started, in Rayville, Louisiana, USA when Sandra Hochenedel found two cats that looked like ferrets under a pickup truck trying to escape a bulldog.  They were both pregnant. Well, that is the story I heard. One cat was grey, the other black. Sandra called the grey one Blueberry and the black one Blackberry. She gave Blueberry away and kept Blackberry who had her kittens. One of the kittens was a dwarf male cat, which she named Toulouse after the well-known French artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who had short legs. Interestingly Toulouse-Lautrec’s congental health problems were a result of inbreeding; his parents were first cousins. He had a disorder that was similar to achondroplasia, which is the disease that makes dwarf cats what they are (read more on this). Anyway, back to the cats!

Toulouse was given to a friend, Kay LaFrance (very aptly) of Monroe, Louisiana. He spread his seed. There have been many other examples of naturally occurring dwarf cats but all are practically unknown to history.

As I mention on the original page on this breed, it is said that the dwarf cats are generally healthy (a study concluded this); perhaps more healthy than the Scottish Fold as an example (which is accepted by the most conservative of cat associations, the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA)). Yet the only associations accepting the Munchkin is The International Cat Association, by far the biggest to accept this breed (TICA) and the Southern Africa Cat Council and the Waratah National Cat Alliance in Australia (I am not aware of any others but please advise). For TICA to accept this breed and allow it to progress to the level of Championship Breeds indicates that a body of cat fancy experts have agreed that this cat is generally healthy, as stated. Championship breed level is the highest level progressing from Preliminary New Breeds, Advanced New Breeds, Non-Championship Breeds.