A Michael Broad Blog
It is instructional to remind ourselves what a badly bred purebred cat looks like. Here we have an Exotic Shorthair, the shorthaired version of the Persian. The facial anatomy has been distorted by poor selective breeding. The eyes bulge and appear to point in different directions. It is almost as if the eyes are …
Well, Persian cats should come from Persia which is now Iran. Of course we are referring to the original Persian cats because nowadays you can say that Persians mainly come from America where they are extensively bred. For decades Persians were and perhaps still are the world’s most popular breed. In counties with the …
A relatively high percentage of Persian cats have haircoat disorders because they are unable to groom themselves properly A recent study published on the nature.com website tells us that almost 13% of Persian cats have hair coat disorders compared to only 2.5% of non-purebred cats. Of all other purebred cats, on average, 5.6% have …
I realise that I am hammering away at the same old problem but we have to because change is needed and it’s not happening. I feel sorry for the cat of course. The coat is far too long for the cat to maintain. It requires human intervention regularly. The coat on this particular modern …
The difference that 80 or more years of selective breeding makes to the Persian cat can be seen in the photo. The breeders decided in about 1930 that they needed to refine the appearance of the Persian cat. For some unimaginable reason they decided that refinement meant flattening the face to unnatural proportions and …
New regulations for England prohibit the breeding of dogs with inherited health problems which exist because of the breeding process. However, there is no mention of extreme cat breeding in these regulations which is disappointing as the Persian has been selectively bred to extreme for years causing breathing problems. The regulations are very welcome …
Cat inbreeding causes what is described as “inbreeding depression” which is another term for general weakness. Robinson’s Genetics for Breeders and Veterinarians provides a list of signs of inbreeding depression which are as follows: There may be a decline in birth weight. The kittens may be small, thin or lethargic. The kittens may demonstrate …
The California Spangled is extinct but, that said, cat breeds can’t become extinct. Sarah Hartwell says, “The breed was considered extinct in the 1990s”. You won’t get a better authority. This is about 20 years ago. If there were some individual cats with some breeders perhaps they have died. There may be some individual …
