A Michael Broad Blog
Left alone, nature operates natural selection, a process which leads to cleverer animals surviving more successfully. This led to the evolution of larger brained animals and ultimately to the dominance of humans over all animals. But for dogs selective breeding has interrupted this process with a research study deciding that dogs with smaller brains …
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 …
Lordosis is among the 14 inherited diseases that can afflict the extreme-bred Peke-face Persian cat. The infographic succinctly summarizes the condition. To see more inherited diseases depicted in infographics that affect this popular breed, click on this link. It’s truly unfortunate that such a beloved breed is plagued by a wide array of inherited …
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 …
A comprehensive UK study conducted in 2019-2021 and published in 2024 concluded that the Sphynx cat breed “had the shortest life expectancy at year 0 among the analysed breeds at 6.68 years. Being entire, purebred and with a non-ideal body weight were significantly linked to a decreased lifespan.” The word “entire” means unsterilised. The …
Flabby labradors suffer from a genetic mutation that affects 25% of the breed making them obsessed with eating and burning less energy in their metabolism. Why do the dog associations and clubs allow this to happen? It can be fixed by culling (removing from breeding/blood lines) those breeding dogs that carry this genetic mutation …
The cat’s name is Dimples. He was bred in Australia. It is claimed that he can’t eat and breathe at the same time which I can understand. This is a brachycephalic-headed cat breed with an extremely flat face which distorts the nasal passages which negatively impacts breathing. And also, because their muzzle has disappeared …
My thanks to the Mail Online for being at the vanguard of discussing domestic cat breeds. They do focus on cats quite a lot which I like. And in this instance, they’ve focused on a topic which I’ve been concerned about for about 15 years. It’s a topic which should concern anybody who wants …
