Berlin police seized 48 illegally bred Levkoy cats considered the product of 'torture breeding' in Germany

Germany has a brilliant nationwide law which states that purebred cats that are bred with inherited genetic diseases causing general pain and suffering are the product of "torture breeding" and they are illegal in the country. 

Levkoy Cay. Image from unknown author.

The word "torture" is a very evocative and strong word and I think it is a brilliant word to describe these breeds which are fully accepted in many other countries including America.

In this instance I'm referring to the Levkoy which is a Ukrainian breed; a hairless cat with floppy ears. Germany has outlawed hairless cats because they don't have a coat 😎😢 and therefore they can't live normal lives. 

You can't change the anatomy of a cat breed that fundamentally in Germany and make the cat more vulnerable without being labelled a torture breeder.

And apparently this man living in Berlin was told to stop breeding the Levkoy cat but he continued nonetheless and in a raid by the police and animal welfare authorities his entire stock of cats were seized and he was arrested. He now faces a substantial fine.

The officials believe that he was probably the last breeder in Germany of the Ukrainian Levkoy cat breed.

The seized cats have been distributed to foster carers across Germany where they have received a check up and veterinary care where needed.

You might like to read about this cat by clicking on the following link. It's an article written by visitor to my website. I have updated that page to include what happened in Germany as described in this article.

Levkoy Cat Breed.

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

Why does the dominant white gene cause deafness in some cats?

The dominant white gene in cats is associated with an increased risk of deafness. This is because the gene affects the development of the cells in the inner ear that are responsible for hearing.

All-white semi-feral cat. Image in public domain.

The dominant white gene can cause the cells in the inner ear to fail to develop normally, leading to a condition called congenital sensorineural deafness. This type of deafness is caused by damage to the hair cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.

RELATED: What percentage of white cats are deaf?

Cats that have one or two copies of the dominant white gene are at an increased risk of developing congenital deafness. This is particularly common in cats with white fur and blue eyes, as the gene that causes blue eyes is closely linked to the dominant white gene.

RELATED: Deafness in cats – causes, diagnosis and management plus dog info. too

It is important to note that not all cats with the dominant white gene will be deaf, and not all deaf cats have the dominant white gene. Deafness can also be caused by other genetic mutations, environmental factors, or as a result of age-related hearing loss.

Does dry cat food improve the oral health of domestic cats?

It's a recurring question: does dry cat food improve the oral health of our cat companions? I've just spent about an hour updating a page that I wrote on this subject about four years ago. It's always useful to go back and rethink matters afresh. I can provide my conclusions in this cross-post. 

Does dry cat food improve the oral health of cats? Image: MikeB

Genetics, not food, plays the biggest role in oral health

The type of cat food that you feed your cat has little impact on their oral health. If there is one food which possibly or probably improves the oral health of cats it is a well-made home-made raw cat food that is correctly stored to avoid bacterial cross contamination. 

This comes out in studies. It is, after all, the most natural cat food. Therefore, to me, it is no surprise that this food comes out on top in this discussion. Do wild cats have the same oral health problems as domestic cats? No, in my view because they feed on prey. Poor oral health is in the top 10 health issues for the domestic cat.

However, veterinarians advise against cat owners making their own raw cat food because they believe that the potential benefits might be nullified by the potential downsides through improper preparation leaving the food without certain nutrients and improper storage leading to potential cross contamination of bacteria.

RELATED: Three domestic cats infected with bovine tuberculosis through eating raw cat food

Having got that out of the way, the biggest factor as to whether a cat has good oral health i.e. healthy gums and strong and healthy teeth, is their genetic inheritance. It's just a matter of luck whether they are born with the genetics which help make their gums and teeth healthier throughout their lives. 

That's the belief of Dr. Jean Hofve DVM, a well-known American veterinarian who often writes articles on the Internet. She has seen the inside of the mouths of 13,000 cats. She said that many years ago so the number will be much higher by now! She's convinced that genetics plays the biggest role but she does support home-made raw cat food as being beneficial with caveats about preparation and storage as mentioned.

Big pellets

If there is one dry cat food which might go some way to meeting the claims of pet food manufacturers it is large-pelleted kibble such as Hills t/d. A study found that dry cat food 'biscuits', which are going to be larger than even over-sized pellets, did show some merit in improving oral health. Perhaps this is because cats have to chew on these extra large pellets which would include some abrasive action on their teeth.

Image and thoughts: MikeB years ago.

Can't be abrasive

The reason why pet food manufacturers claim that dry cat food can clean teeth is because of the abrasive quality of the food. However, if you watch a domestic cat eating dry cat food they immediately crunch it into pieces. This occurs as soon as the food hits the back of the mouth. Therefore it cannot have any abrasive action on the teeth. However, larger pellets are more likely to have a little bit of abrasive action. 

Resorptive lesions

Countering the benefits that might occur, dry cat food may, it is claimed, cause gum-line cavities i.e. resorptive lesions. Dry cat food is high in carbohydrates which is more likely to cause cavities and gum disease.

Conclusion?

Become an expert of homemade raw cat food! And clean your cat's teeth (almost impossible unless kitten was trained to accept it).

Fabric eating by Oriental purebred cats may be due to stress

Dr. Bradshaw who wrote the book Cat Sense discusses the reason why the Oriental breeds have a predisposition to eating wool. Because the Oriental breeds - by which I mean the Siamese and the Oriental Shorthair and associated breeds within the Siamese family - are predisposed to this form of pica, Bradshaw says that it must have a genetic origin. 

Lilac Siamese eating wool. Photo: copyright Warren Photographic.

And if it does, it is not inherited directly. He did a little survey for himself it seems of 75 kittens produced by seven mothers. Three of the mothers were fabric eaters while four of them were not. One third of the kittens had become fabric eaters. But many had normal mothers i.e. they were not fabric eaters. Therefore, he couldn't explain fabric eating in these kittens on the basis of genetics or their mother's behaviour.

SOME PAGE ON WOOL SUCKING

He also found that many of the fabric-eating cats had other forms of abnormal behaviour. These included fighting their owners and excessive scratching. And he found that among Oriental cats the desire to eat fabrics starts within a few weeks of the cat entering a new home. That is an interesting observation because at that moment the cat is going to be stressed and the stress might last quite a long time in the average domestic cat.

Also, the beginning of the desire to eat fabric can occur at around one year of age without a move to a new home. At one year of age a cat is becoming independent which carries the possibility of conflict with other cats. When cats become independent, they want their own home range which leads to this potential conflict. And this conflict doesn't need to happen towards cats in the home. It can also be a problem if a mature cat inside the home sees a strange cat outside the home as they feel that that cat is invading their territory.

Based on these observations, Dr. Bradshaw believes that fabric eating may start "as a soothing oral behaviour that these cats adopt when they feel especially stressed rather like thumb sucking in human infants". Interestingly, you will see kittens sucking their thumbs just like humans on the Internet. This is an alternative to wool sucking.

Kitten thumb sucking an alternative to wool sucking due to anxiety. Video screenshot.

It is possible that domestic cats can slide into anxiety issues quite easily because they have been shoehorned into the human home when mentally and emotionally they are still wild cats.

Domestic cats get cancer less often than humans?

Wes Warren is part of a team of three with William Murphy and Lesley Lyons who mapped the genome of cats. Warren works at the University of Missouri and Murphy works at Texas A&M University. Lyons is a veterinarian and a specialist in cat genetic. They are very skilled scientists and Wes Warren said that cats don't get cancer very often. I thought I would briefly follow that up because Lesley Lyons suggests that cats should be used more in animal research which I strongly disagree with. 

He actually said this:

'We know that dogs get cancer more frequently, similar to ourselves. Cats don’t get cancer very often. And that’s a fascinating story of evolution.'

He is staying that cats get cancer less often than dogs and dogs and humans get it at similar rates.

Cat, dog and human. Photo: Pixabay.

The reason given is that they have better genes than humans (this is probably a massive oversimplification) and therefore we should study them to see whether we can improve human resistance to cancer and other diseases.

My brief research indicates that in the UK 0.54-0.59% of the human population will get cancer whereas in general I'm told that one in five or 20% of cats get cancer in their lifetimes. That positively does not square up with what Wes Warren stated.

It probably doesn't square up because when you try and research the prevalence of cancer in cats just don't get a clear answer except the one that I provided which comes from the Colorado State University. One thing is for sure and that is cats get cancer less often than dogs.

Certainly, dogs are taken to a veterinarian more often cats. That may point to the possibility that dogs are sick more often than cats (or owners are more concerned about dog health?). Overall, cats have better genetic diversity than dogs because a far higher percentage of dogs are purebred and therefore inbred due to selective breeding than cats. Purebred cats are relatively rare compared to random bred cats. Therefore, perhaps it is fair to say that cats have better genes in terms of longevity than dogs and perhaps humans.

I think this team of geneticists say that cats have better DNA 'dark matter' as they call it. The DNA dark matter needs to be studied as it is more important than believed.

Conclusion: I can't find direct statistical comparison between cats and humans on prevalence of cancer. But Wes Warren should know. Cats get cancer less often than people and dogs is the conclusion.

Patellar luxation and Abyssinian cats

Abyssinian cat. Photo: Helmi Flick with her express permission.

Patellar luxation is more common in some cat breeds than was once thought. Rather disturbingly, surveys of Abyssinian cats from California in 1991 and1992 discovered that 26/69 (38%) of examined Abyssinian cats had "patellars that could be dislocated, compared with 1/84 other cats tested". This condition can sometimes be found at the same time with hip dysplasia. The kneecap slides to the inside of the leg rather than remaining on top of the joint i.e. in its trochlear groove. There may be intermittent lameness and a reluctance to jump.

The source of the information comes from the studies listed below:

1. Giger Urs, P.A. Green and G.K. Smith: "Hip Dysplasia and Patellar Luxation in Cats", Veterinary Proceedings from the North American Veterinary Conference, 1992 Vol 6:321. This study is referred to in Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Risk Factors of Devon Rex Cats by Ross D Clark DVM.
2. Guger Urs; Presentation at the 13th Annual Robert Winn Foundation Symposium on Feline Health, June 20, 1991. "Patellar Luxation and Hip Dysplasia" summary by Diana Cruden. Cat Fanciers' Almanac, Nov. 1991, p. 84.