A Michael Broad Blog
Today, Persia is Iran. Fortunately, we have at our disposal a well-known study which evaluated the genetics of cat breeds and worldwide random-bread populations. One objective, as I understand it, of this study was to look at the origins of the breeds and see whether the modern-day cat breeds can be traced back to …
There are extremes of skull variation in cat breeds because of a natural propensity in humans to go too far in this sort of project and because breed standards have to ensure that the breeds are sufficiently differentiated one from another. The slenderising of the Siamese is due to what the breeders believed was …
Some time ago the CFA Persian breed standard described this breed as having a “pansy-like” face. I don’t see it in the breed standard today but it was a phrase that contributed to an unhealthy cat. Today, the breed standard still demands that breeders create an unhealthy cat against the CFA’s own ethics and …
‘Punch face’ is an unfortunate term to describe the modern Persian cat. The term is based on violence which makes it innapropriate. This is a punch face cat: Below is an alternative image. The Persian cat in the image below is more a flat-faced Persian while the one above has some doll face characteristics: …
These are two photos of a ginger Persian cat called Zen. He is a modern, flat-faced Persian with a lion cut which makes his fur fly up as you see in the photograph when the wind is blowing as it normally does by the seaside where he appears to live as the pictures were …
This is a classic Helmi Flick studio photograph of SC Surreal’s Trick of Treat ‘Fruit Loops’. She was 8-months-of-age at the time of the photograph. She was bred by Leesa and Mike Altschul. Apparently she behaved well in the studio (‘Gold Star Kitty’) which is at the home of Helmi and Ken Flick. I …
The reason why the eyes of Persian and Himalayan cats water will often be because the cats are bred to extreme. Himalayans are Persian cats with a pointed coat. The contemporary Persian is bred to have a round head and flat face. This is a brachycephalic head. Their eyes are large, round and prominent. …
What are humans getting up to? First we breed a cat with a very flat face which is completely unnatural and which causes known health problems and then we have to shave all the fur off this poor cat’s body except for his face which leaves him looking extremely weird. I’m not sure that …
