American Shorthair inherited diseases? Infographic.

American Shorthair. A relatively healthy cat breed.

Inherited diseases are quite prevalent among the cat breeds and some are more predisposed than others (take the Peke-face Persian as an example). If you were to rank the cat breeds not by appearance and popularity but by inherited health, the American Shorthair would feature around the top. To be clear I am referring …

Read more

Infographic on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Persian cats

HCM in Persian cats

Although I know a lot about the inherited diseases of the cat breeds including the Persian cat, I was unaware before preparing this Infographic that the Persian cat is predisposed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Further research is needed on this disease with respect to the Persian cat because my research did not shed any …

Read more

Can domestic cats be mentally challenged?

Cat intelligence

Can domestic cats be mentally challenged or in ruder language ‘retarded’? I believe that in order to answer the question it might be useful to divide the domestic cat into two groups: the random bred cats i.e. moggies and the purebred, pedigree cats that you normally buy from a breeder. Cognitive dysfunction syndrome There …

Read more

Do Bengal cats have breathing problems?

Four desirable Bengal kittens looking healthy

Yes, a Bengal kitten might have breathing problems if they suffer from the inherited disease flat-chest kitten syndrome (FCKS) which is similar to but not the same as pectus excavatum (PE). In both conditions the chest is compressed which results in breathing problems for the kitten. If the condition is severe the kitten does …

Read more

Siberian cat is the most genetically diverse among the breeds while the Burmese and Singapura are the most inbred

Siberian (Nevsky Masquerade) boy: 'Feofan Nevskiy Modern'

I’m going to refer to a study of 2007 which contains a lot of useful information (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ygeno.2007.10.009). One of the conclusions which interests me and which might interest others is that the Siberian cat is the most genetically diverse cat breed according to these scientists. And at the opposite end of the spectrum, they …

Read more

Animal welfare laws don’t apply to the INBREEDING of purebred dogs and cats which causes harm

Inbreeding of purebred cats can cause unnecessary suffering during their lives

It seems to me that animal welfare laws which are usually under statute (an ‘act’) don’t apply to dog and cat breeders or any other breeders for that matter in respect of an important aspect of their work: inbreeding. But they should. Perhaps I’ve got this wrong but I don’t recall any dog or …

Read more

Coefficient of inbreeding (COI) in dogs and cats – a full discussion

COI - coefficient of inbreeding

At first glance this is a daunting and off-putting topic. However, we have Ben, the TikTok vet to ease us into the discussion 😎. He’s great and thanks Ben. He has a nice video of the COI of the most inbred pedigree dogs available in the UK. It is a very good start. This …

Read more

World’s first albino ocelot is worrying for conservationists

Albino ocelot discovered in Columbia

The wild cat news today is that the world’s first albino ocelot has been discovered in Colombia. And the news is not good because the discovery indicates that deforestation in Colombia is resulting in inbreeding of wild cat species because of fragmented habitat resulting in small population sizes. This assessment is made because albinism …

Read more

follow it link and logo