Comments on A thinking person's blog about cats: Short Legs of Dwarf Cats

Thanks for this. And yes, I agree, HCM is bad. The...

2009-07-22T13:37:55.576-07:00

Thanks for this. And yes, I agree, HCM is bad. The Bengal breeders (amongst a number of cat breeds) thought they had a "healthy" cat until HCM turned up. I wouldn't adopt a Bengal cat without a full medical and family medical history an even that wouldn't be enough.

I don't know if you have seen the FAB page on ...

2009-07-22T09:23:42.779-07:00

I don't know if you have seen the FAB page on Inherited Disorders, but there is a small paragraph on the Munchkin which could hint that there is some serious reserach happening into feline dwarfism!

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/inherited_disorders/index.php

It's frightening just how many breeds have HCM.

You are absolutely correct. Thanks for taking the ...

2009-07-22T08:13:12.362-07:00

You are absolutely correct. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

For me a more useful question would be - why do we...

2009-07-22T07:46:01.687-07:00

For me a more useful question would be - why do we need to deliberately breed a cat (or any animal) with dwarfism?

Breeding for form over function is always a mistake and will result in an ever growing incidence of crippling deformity and disease. So many breeds of cat already suffer the consequences - the Rex cats, Norwegian Forest, Maine Coons, Persians... the list is long.

Would it not be better to promote breeding for health and function over form? I see no benefit to the species of domestic cat in producing versions which will inevitably throw up animals which will suffer from appalling defects.