What affects us affects cats
Domestic dogs vary in size much more that cats because they have been selectively breed for a much longer time. With a head start of thousands of years the relentless selective breeding of dogs has forced their sizes to new upper and lower limits. Today, the lightest dog might be 1.5% the weight of …
There is so much that is crappy about this example of human behaviour in relation to pets. Bad breeding of both cats and dogs can produce some pretty distressing anatomical distortions. For cats Persians get the accolade: overshot jaws and bulging eyeballs. A nine-year-old bulldog, Zsa Zsa, shown below won this years World’s Ugliest …
The reason why dog breeds look so different, and there is less difference between cat breeds is mainly because: The breeding of dogs has been taking place for far longer than for cats. This is because the domestication of dogs took place at least 20,000 and possibly 30,000 years ago. The domestication of the …
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 widespread adoption of early neutering by the most responsible cat owners risks pushing the domestic cat genetics back gradually towards the wild, away from their current domesticate state.” (Dr Bradshaw of Cat Sense) Humans selectively breed purebred cats mainly for their glamorous appearance. We almost never selectively breed random bred cats (moggies). However, …
I list what I consider to be cat breed mistakes by which I mean cat breeds or developments that should not have got off the drawing board. Strictly speaking these breeds should not exist but this is a personal view. Many people disagree and I accept that. I focus on high profile examples. There …
This is a huge and handsome Maine Coon. His name is Gizmo. He wins lots of prizes at cat show which is predictable as he is so special. His size is slightly unreal. When he behaves like a cat and swats the cat tease held by the judge, Jean-Marc Lagarde from France, it seems …
The domestication of the cat is an ongoing process. Domestication still takes place. The domestic cat is still very close to the wild cat in terms of behaviour and its genetic make up because, it is believed, that about 15 or 20 genes separate domestic cats from their wild relatives. Dr John Bradshaw1 of …
