Cat breeder dumps FeLV positive tortie cats in a field to die

A Cats Protection volunteer was angered by what very much appears to be an informal cat breeder dumping FeLV positive cats in a field to die. FeLV positive cats are those that are suffering from the feline leukaemia virus which can't be cured in which usually is fatal within four years.

Fearful, dark tortie cats with FeLV dumped in a field in the UK to die. Two have been euthanised. Image: Breckland Cats Protection.

It's a killer and a lingering death and what happened is that the Cat Protection charity euthanised two of the cats because the disease was too advanced, they say, and a third is too ill to be blood tested at the moment. 

Feline leukaemia virus is transmitted through saliva, blood and other body fluids. The allegation is that there is an informal cat breeder out there (there are too many) near Didlington, near Mountford, in the UK, who bred what appears to be dark tortoiseshell cat informally and because of bad management the cats contracted this viral disease and then he or she decided to simply throw them away which they did by putting them in sealed crates secured with zip ties and placing those crates in a field in Dinnington.

Fortunately, the farmer found them on October 17th and they were taken into the care of Breckland Cats Protection.

The volunteer, Ms Lardner, who I refer to is urging anyone who has recently bought kittens from this breeder to take their cats to veterinarian for a checkup because it seems very plausible that other cats from this person have also contracted this fatal disease.

Lardner said: "I'm just so angry, I can't get over it. This is the result of breeding and the market being so saturated."

Yes, the last thing that British society needs is a person informally breeding cats to make a few quid and doing it in such a bad way that they cats are unadoptable and have to be put down. And even if the cats were healthy, it's wrong. There are too many cats in shelters needing homes for an irresponsible, unscrupulous person to create more.

Final point: I have referred to "an informal breeder" because there are non-purebred cats i.e. moggies. If there were purebred cats this would have been a formal breeder, normally registered with a cat association and they would then be complying with much higher standards. It is the ad hoc cat breeders trying to make a few quid who really are a problem. It is not illegal to do this but it should be.

The report comes from the Eastern Daily Press.

Location: Didlington, Thetford IP26 5AT, UK

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

About Choupette, a Birman cat loved by Karl Lagerfeld

People ask: 'What breed of cat is Choupette?' As far as I know Choupette is still alive and the recipient of a $1.5 million legacy from her adoring caregiver Karl Lagerfeld who passed away in 2019 aged 85. News media reports that the cat is now looked after by Lagerfeld's housekeeper Francoise Cacote, in Paris, France. I expect she uses the money to look after darling Choupette in the manner to which she is familiar with a lot left over to spend on herself but we don't know!

The name "Choupette" is a cute version of the French word for 'cabbage' namely 'chou', which is a term of endearment between French people. French people sometimes give their opposite number a nickname such as "my little cabbage". The name Choupette is derived from that cultural habit.

Choupette is a Birman purebred cat. They are a majestic longhaired particolor, pointed cat. They have striking blue eyes and white laces and gloves on their feet. That all sounds a little bit complicated so I'll try and explain it.

RELATED: Famous felines: the stories of history’s most notable cats.

The word "particolor" means more than one colour. So, this cat breed is a pointed cat like the Siamese cat which means that the extremities are darker than the middle portions but, in this instance, the dark extremities are not a single colour but a mix of colours. 

And in the case of Choupette, in my opinion, the pointing is dilute tortoiseshell which is orange and black with tabby markings. It's rather complicated. And to go a bit further, I would also state that Choupette's pointing is diluted. Therefore, this cat carries the dilution gene.

Choupette. Image: Instagram.

If you look at the photograph above carefully, you will see that the pointing looks like a diluted red or orange. But if you look to the left of her left eye, you will see some darker-coloured fur. This is in my opinion a dilute black and the two colours together indicate to me that this is a tortoiseshell mix of colours on the extremities. It is manifested in terms of a red pointing colour on the tail.

RELATED: Karl Lagerfeld is wrong about animal fur.

Choupette has 'gloving' on her feet (white fur). The gloving on her left foreleg is not perfect and breeders of Birman cats expend a lot of effort in trying to get that perfect white paw with a clear demarcation between the darker area of the paw and the remainder of the foot.

The white gloves and "laces" on the feet are created by the piebald gene a.k.a. white spotting gene together with a pattern gene for the placement of the white in that particular area.

If the white fur runs up the leg the breeders call this "runners". This means that the white fur has run up the leg metaphorically speaking. It's taken many years of breeding Birman to Birman with the desired white-spotting pattern to achieve the perfect gloving on the feet. They have achieved this through careful selective breeding (artificial selection) to weed out the undesirable patterns and to fix the desirable patterns in their breeding lines.

The eyes should be blue, sparkling against the darker pointing of the face. Birman cats are said to be healthy and intelligent. They are relaxed and easy-going with their human family members. They have a tolerant personality and a peaceful nature. Choupette does have this aura of calm and sweetness about which she probably has. This is why, I presume, Karl Lagerfeld adored her so much.

Choupette entered the life of Karl Lagerfeld in 2011 when he adopted her from a model who, I presume, was modelling his clothes. The model's name was Baptiste Giabicone. They went on holiday and left Choupette with the staff at Lagerfeld's home. That was the beginning of the relationship. In short, Choupette was given to Lagerfeld as a gift during Christmas 2011.

In Spain dogs CAN'T have sex with dogs but a human CAN have sex with dogs!

Spain has decriminalised bestiality!! True or false? See below. Screenshot.

Get this! This attractive woman (speaking in Spanish with subtitles and dubbing) on TikTok explains very concisely that in Spain they have decriminalised bestiality and therefore people can have sex with dogs but because they've got restrictions on dog breeders dogs can't have sex with other dogs.  Note: this applies to any animal but dogs are the chosen species in this discussion.

That is her point. And it begs the question whether she is correct because a website called The Local (local news from Spain I presume) states that Spain has not legalised bestiality.

This is her video announcement. She ends it by saying you can't kill a rat in Spain but you can have sex with it.

However, when you go to the European Parliament's website, it states, "Spanish breach of European animal health legislation". That heading is dated 6 March 2023. It is therefore recent to this post.

And I will quote them verbatim the sake of clarity. Here it is:

"Spain recently deleted Article 337 of the Criminal Code concerning sexual acts between humans and animals and replaced it with a new article criminalising bestiality if an act injures an animal to such an extent that intervention by a veterinarian is necessary.

Originally, bestiality was considered a form of animal cruelty in criminal law. The new law waters that down by stating that it is only a crime if a sexual act with an animal causes injury to the animal. This means that the left-wing Spanish Government no longer appears to assume that all non-consensual sexual acts equate to criminal sexual abuse. As if that were not bad enough, an amendment calling for a stricter approach was voted down.

New Article 340 of the Spanish Criminal Code, which no longer systematically criminalises bestiality, is in breach of European animal health legislation. One might ask who lobbied for that.

1. Has the Commission taken note of the criminal code amended by the left-wing Spanish Government?
2. Does the Commission intend to point out to the Spanish Government that animal health legislation covers not only transport, but also general animal welfare, and to request a review?"

Pictures of Blue British Shorthair cats with extreme features

The three pictures of blue British Shorthair cats on this page show cats that have been bred to an extreme appearance. They probably come from Russia where they are very good at this. But I'm going to refer to The International Cat Association (TICA) breed standard for the British Shorthair to point out how breeders end up magnifying a particular feature of a cat because the breed standard specifies it. How far they go down that road is up to the breeder because the cat associations don't prevent them breeding to extreme although they should because sometimes it creates inherently unhealthy cats which goes against the cat associations' policies.

Extreme bred British Shorthair to emphasis the cheeks and to make the cat look very cobby and rounded per the breed standard. Picture in public domain.

So, the head shape of the British Shorthair under the TICA beach standard demands that a show cat should have "full round chubby cheeks. Broad, wide cheekbones with smooth transition to muzzle". It is self-explanatory. The outstanding feature of the cats that you see on this page is that they have enormous, chubby cheeks. It's as if they are giant hamsters. They been bred like this. It's called selective breeding. 

The breeders start off with foundation cats which have slightly chubby cheeks and they breed offspring back to their parents to gradually magnify this aspect of their anatomy (inbreeding). They select those offspring whose cheeks are particularly chubby! They select the cat hence the phrase "selective breeding". It is not letting nature take its course. It is an intervention by a person which is why you end up with an abnormal looking cat. A cat that nature would not create if left to its own devices.

Another British SH bred to extreme. Picture in the public domain.

I'm not being particularly critical. I don't really care. I just want to write something about these cats and it has to be about their cheeks! Because they stare you in the face as if something is wrong. But the breeders like it. No doubt these cats have done well. They probably sell very well. However, the classic British Shorthair does not look like these cats. They look fairly normal with slightlyflat faces and slightly shortened muzzles. These cats are extreme in other areas of their appearance as well, such as being extremely cobby (stocky and rounded) for the same reason.

British Shorthair. Picture in public domain.

P.S. There is a current craze for 'chonky' cats - big, robust male cats. These cats follow that trend.

Extreme British SH. Photo in public domain.

Siamese cat phenotype frequency is 1 percent of stray cats

Defining the laboratory animal: IV Symposium, International Committee on ...(1971) says this about the Siamese cat. I quote verbatim and claim fair use as it is educational and I am referring to a small part of the text while promoting the work. (link to original page)

"Siamese on the other hand have been bred extensively. For instance, the gene frequency of the cat population at large in Paris (France) is 10 percent. That means phenotype frequency is 1 percent of that seen in stray cats. In Bangkok, the gene frequency is only 29 percent, and that is where they come from originally."

Some definitions:

gene frequency -- the frequency or proportion of genotypes in a population. "Genotype" means "the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual".

phenotype frequency -- "an organism's observable characteristics or traits".

British Shorthair Breed Standard

The breed standard of a cat breed is the guidelines that breeders follow to ensure that the cats they breed meet the requirement of the breed in terms of appearance.

There are a number of cat associations (registries). Are there too many? They may have different breed standards although similar.

Breed standards cannot be that precise. This allows interpretation differences by breeders, breed councils and cat show judges. This flexibility can lead to a gradual shift in appearance of the breed in question. The breed standards are updated from time to time to meet changes in opinion. Breed standards follow the opinions of the breeders not the public in my opinion.

Below are the breed standards for the British Shorthair of some major cat associations:

• Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) - USA.
• The International Cat Association (TICA) - USA and international.
• The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) - UK. In the UK the premier cat association does not publish the breed standard and the two main clubs don't either! Sorry, can't find the standard in the UK!
• Fédération Internationale Féline - (FiFe) - Mainland Europe

British Shorhair Most Registered Cat Breed by GCCF

The British Shorthair has increased in popularity while the Persian has decreased over the past several years.

I present below a spreadsheet from the GCCF figures showing registrations. Numbers of registrations indicates popularity, indirectly. This is for the UK only, of course.

On my website I have a world popularity poll and the Brit SH is 9th. It is a very popular cat breed. The lower placing is due to the fact that most votes are from America, where the Maine Coon is the most popular. But America has the biggest cat market in the world by far some ten times bigger than in the UK.

British Shorthair Breed Council CFA

The British Shorthair breed council at the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), the largest as far as I am aware is on this page of the internet. Breed councils set the standards. It is made up of breeders and experienced cat fancy people.

British Shorthair Breeding

Tabby British Shorthair Cat
Photograph: copyright Helmi Flick

The hallmark, in my opinion, of the British Shorthair is its natural body type and conformation. This is what makes this cat breed what it is. It is a natural cat after all. We need to keep it looking natural even if it is no longer natural (due to years of selective breeding)!

This is where I feel that breeders, particularly breeders in the United States need to be vigilant.

The British Shorthair is a popular cat, particularly in the USA. It is ranked 8th out of over 100 cat breeds on my reckoning. And in the USA breeders have a tendency to breed to extreme. By that I mean to breed cats that are cartoon characters of their true selves to use layman's language. Look at the flat-faced Persian, for example.

You will see Brit SHs with chunky high cheekboned flat faces that are..well...extreme versions of the natural shape of a cat's head.

The more popular the cat breed the greater chance there is of breeding to extreme because there are breeders chasing more customers. Breeding to extreme gradually defeats the cat breed's popularity because most people prefer a natural looking cat.

This tells us that cat breeders are not commercially minded people. They breed for themselves and hope to make some money. They are not thinking things through sometimes.

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