Cat Breeders Should Warn of Genetic Diseases

Senator Larcenia Bullard in Florida has introduced a bill (a draft law - actually, I think it is a proposed amendment to an existing law) that breeders of cats and dogs should provide a sort of 'health warning' to buyers. The proposed written warning notifies buyers of purebred cats and/or dogs of the potential of a genetic disease being present but not apparent and recommends that the buyer has the companion animal screened.

This is of course being opposed by breeders. They like to fight for their rights. And I agree that it sounds a bit insulting as decent breeders will monitor genetic diseases themselves and minimise the risk of the disease occuring. Indeed sometimes cat associations stipulate breeding practices that are intended to eradicate or minimise unwanted deliterious conditions that are manisfest through the transmission of mutant recessive genes.

But and this is always the case, there are breeders who go a bit too far in their desire to create the perfect cat that is exactly to type and more. That requires inbreeding and the recessive genes can show in physical characteristics under these conditions.

This is because there is an overemphasis, it is said, on a cats appearance. This drives breeders to breed for appearance sometimes to the detriment of health or at least risking health issues arising.

So the bill is intended to sharpen up the cat breeding business. What is wrong with that? It will help the cats. There are many instances of regulations that govern the freedom to contract. This is just one more. People need freedom, yes, but they also require a degree of regulation. Look at the banks.

There does seem to be a gradual focus on cat related issues and their regulation. I am thinking of the declaw bans in California late last year. And the bill in California to stop landlords insisting on cats being declawed.

The law needs to protect animals that are part of a profit making enterprise as these animals are always open to abuse even on a minor scale. See Genetic Diseases in Purebred Cats.



Cat Breeders Should Warn of Genetic Diseases Home Page

Martin and Kathrin Stucki in the News

Kathrin and Martin Stucki of A1 Savannahs are in the news, and rightly so. They have a fantastic business breeding Savannah cats. It is more than a business, though. Their passion comes through in the commitment to their work and the quality of the cats that are created at A1 Savannahs. The video below comes from News OK, an Oklahoma new website. A1 Savannahs is at Ponca City in Oklahoma.



All being well (volcanic ash permitting), I will be visiting them in May and I intend to bring back some decent photographs for the website: Pictures of Cats org.


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From to Home Page

The Cat Mountain

Here is what I would call a 'cat mountain'. He is Charlie. Now, before anyone thinks that I staged this, I didn't. Charlie just likes to stand up like a meerkat. He uses this position to see better. He can have a good look at what is going on.

He also uses the position to get attention. If he is asking me for food and I don't respond quickly enough, he jumps up like this. I then get the message loud and clear.



From The Cat Mountain to Home Page

More Burmilla Photographs

I have just bumped into some more nice Burmilla photographs on Flickr that I am permitted to publish her under a creative commons license (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic). Thank you kind Flickr photographer. Here they are:

See the above in larger format on the original Flickr page. Next is Priscilla:

See the above photograph in large format on Flickr

Photographs are by Oz-Aspects (Flickr)

The Burmilla is part of the Asian Cat Group

The Burmilla is part of the Asian cat group in the UK. In fact, it is the first in the group.  Accordingly, it is one of the Asian cats.

I have made a post about the Asian cat on this page: Asian Cat where I discuss it in some detail.

You know I am not sure why the word 'Asian' was selected except that the Burmese is one half of the parents of the Burmilla and the Burmese hails from Burma, in Asia - or does it really? - see There were no Burmese cats in Burma.

The Burmilla is an "Asian Shaded". It includes both shaded and tipped cats. The coat should not be so lightly tipped that it appears white. The undercoat should be pale. Tabby markings should be limited to the face, legs and tail and broken necklaces¹.

Note:

1. Encyclopedia of the Cat by Dr Bruce Fogle.

Siberian Tigers Starved

I guess you have heard about the Siberian tigers starved to death, all 11 (or is it 13³) of them in a Chinese  Zoo (I have seen a picture of one of the starved but living tigers and it is horrendous). The zoo couldn't afford to feed them so they fed them all manner of rubbish that was highly innappropriate and eventually they starved to death at which point the zoo buried them to keep it all quiet until they were dug up.

That is not the whole picture though. This same zoo was allegedly, illegally, selling the ubiquitous tiger bone wine or is it "tonics" (a quite ridiculous product based on pure ignorance). Some zoo. The Siberian tiger is becoming extinct in the wild because of people's activities in destroying habitat and sport hunting etc. and this largest of all the tigers is being starved to death in captivity.

How bad does our behavior have to become before we take steps to change things? The whole thing disgusts me frankly. And I find it acutely depressing.

Here is some detail on the Siberian tigers starved to death:

The zoo is the Shenyang Forest Wildlife zoo. It is a semi-private operation, which means part is owned by the local or national government, which in turn means that they are equally to blame. But we already know that the Chinese government has no regard for tigers or indeed wildlife. There are thousands of captive tigers in "zoos" and horrible tiger farms (6,000 in fact¹) in China and I allege that all are involved in the tiger body parts trade. That is why they exist! The tiger body parts trade is simply ridiculous and idiotic because there is no health benefits associated with consuming tiger body parts and there are alternatives that actually work. It is fraud built on fraud while the tiger is treated dispicably.

This is where this dispicable place is:-


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The problem is much wider and deeper. Of the 6,000 captive and farmed tigers it is said that 1,000 are starving².

The "zoo" was created as a tourist attraction but I allege its true purpose was to supply the tiger parts business - utterly cynical behavior. But is there a silver lining? If I am correct it might mean that the tiger body part business supplying the Chinese medicine trade is on the wane, in decline. This is unlikely but possible as the tiger (Bengal or Siberian  - the others are as good as extinct) is on the very edge of extinction and that may have put more pressure on conservation albeit massively late in the day. Horribly late and in fact almost certainly too late in my opinion as tiger population sizes in the wild are unsustainable it would seem.

The assessment that the tiger body part business might be in decline is borne out by the fact (it seems to be a fact) that the zoo in question had to store tiger parts in freezers as they could not sell them. That cost money which would otherwise have been spent of tiger food. The freezers are thought to contain hundreds of tiger carcasses.

To add insult to injury the people (police and senior forestry officials)  charged with protecting wildlife including the tiger were allegedly involved in the open secret of the illegal tiger bone tonic wine. It is all horribly corrupt and a hopeless lost cause.

We must remind ourselves that there are no animal welfare or cruelty laws in China. Where there is little in the way of human rights how can there be animal rights? So not only are they starved to death they are maltreated by being declawed and detoothed².

To round off this depressing post, it is alleged that tigers were being fed sweet buns instead of meat. Can you believe the scandal, the horror of this callous, careless, and cruel place labelled a bloody zoo?

References:
1. http://www.worldzootoday.com/
2. Guardian newpaper
3. Sky News



From to Siberian Tigers Starved Home Page