A Michael Broad Blog
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
