What affects us affects cats
They used to cost around $50,000 each in the USA (1992). I have seen various prices from $40,000 to $65,000. However, things have changed dramatically in the USA, the home of the captive white tiger. The Big Cat Public Safety Act, promoted by Carole Baskin (BCR), has banned the private ownership of wild cats …
“Inbreeding depression” is a euphemism for a general lack of health in an individual purebred cat which has been selectively bred (using artificial selection) for appearance, which automatically incorporates inbreeding. Cat breeders often have to inbreed their purebred cats in order to fix their appearance. This is because the appearance is held on a …
On my travels through the Internet today I have bumped into what appears to be a huge problem with Sphynx cats: smelly, loose stools in nightmarish quantities. There really are some horror stories on the Internet. One Sphynx owner says that she changes the entire litter tray every time her cat goes to the …
There are at least 2 reasons why cheetahs reproduced poorly, which is an added reason why they are vulnerable to extinction in the wild. There has been an approximate 50% decline in population numbers over the past four decades. Inbreeding The first reason is inbreeding due to mating between close relatives. There have been …
Bengal Nose – a comparison between a good nose and an affected nose – photo copyright Helmi Flick This page was first written, as I recall, in around 2009. It has been updated on more than one occasion including today June 5, 2022 at which point I have republished it. My understanding of the …
The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) has been under pressure for decades to revise the breed standard i.e. the guidelines, for the flat-faced cat breeds namely the Exotic Shorthair, the Persian and the Himalayan. I hope that the pressure has been ramped up on the news that the Kennel Club has revised its guidelines for …
Herman was the bug-eyed overbred Exotic Shorthair cat (a shorthaired Persian) who, due to his odd appearance, became one of those much heralded and celebrated online cat celebrities with many thousands of followers on Instagram and all the other social media sites that are popular. Herman was known for his big eyes and loving …
“Breeding true” means that the offspring look like their parents. It is achieved by “line breeding” which is a form of inbreeding which ideally does not transfer undesirable traits together with those traits that the breeder wants such as the correct phenotype (appearance as per the breed standard). It is a fine balance being …
