TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why.

TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why. Screenshot.

Here is Ben the Vet on TikTok explaining why people who love cats should shun the Munchkin, the founding dwarf cat. 

I wrote about the diseases that these cats tend to inherit many years ago. The health problems are linked to the dwarfism which makes them cute. This is due to a genetic mutation. To the problems that he mentions I can throw my knowledge into the ring and say that they can inherit: Lordosis and Pectus excavatum. You can read about them by clicking on this link.

If we are honest there is a moral dimension too. It is unacceptable really to breed dwarf cats. It is what the Germans would call torture breeding. Funnily humans see dwarfism as not cute in humans but cute in cats. It sheds light on the human-to-cat relationship.

@ben.the.vet #stitch with @Margie the growing popularity of Munchkin cats is a great animal welfare concern #catsoftiktok #veterinary #animallover #learnontiktok ♬ Puff - Hany Beats

Please note that the video above does not have a super-long lifespan as its presence here depends on its presence on TikTok. If it is deleted on TikTok it disappears here as you can expect and I have no control over it.

There are no studies on these diseases in dwarf cats regrettably. They are very cute cats and are still quite popular despite the potential health issues. 

This is because humans tend to place appearance above all other aspects in many walks of life. For example, during Covid-19, in the UK, people adopted French Bulldogs in large numbers in the knowledge (or they should have had the knowledge) that they suffer from health issues. 

RELATED: 21 genetic diseases inherited by the French bulldog. Are they always in pain?

And that they were often imported from European puppy mills. They just loved the appearance. There is a bit of a backlash now as they understand that pet health issues are in fact more important than appearance at the end of the day.