Bengal Cat Toyger Eyes

Tiger photo copyright "Twin Peaks" under creative commons


Bengal Cat Toyger Eyes - unusually with "headlights" - white fur around the eyes. I have not seen a Bengal Cat with this feature before (but see the update at base of page). Photograph copyright Svetlana Ponomareva


Toyger Cat - photo of Ishah - copyright Helmi Flick

The Bengal Cat appearance is well known to people generally and particularly those in the cat fancy. The Toyger cat is perhaps less well known. They have a similarity however, both being exotic domestic cats for cat lovers who like to be the companion of a small but domesticated wild animal.

Toyger breeders look to mimic the tiger's appearance as near as possible. The development program is ongoing and long. In this program, Toyger cat breeders are looking for what they call "headlights". These are patches of white fur around the eyes like the Tiger (see above) . Ishah (the Toyger cat featured above) doesn't have these but they are in development.

However, what is surprising is that a Russian Bengal Cat breeder, Svetlana Ponomareva, has developed "headlights" for her Bengal Cats (but see below). These are very pronounced. In fact they are even more striking than the white fur around the eyes of a Tiger. The cat is a Bengal Cat with Toyger Eyes.

This raises two questions to me. Is this feature an extension of or a breach of the Bengal Breed Standard? How would this gorgeous looking cat fare in competition (please tell me by leaving a comment). And it would seem a good idea if the Toyger breeders got in touch with Svetlana (maybe they have already - tell me if this is the case, please), to help develop those precious "headlights".

Update June 2009: this post is a bit of a spoof as the cat with the headlights in almost certainly an Asian Leopard Cat. It has all the attributes and there is no doubt in mind that it is the wild cat ancestor of the Bengal cat!

Difference between Bambino and Minskin

The difference between the dwarf cats, Bambino and Minskin can be confusing. The Bambino dwarf cat is a cross between the Sphynx and the Munchkin (the founding dwarf cat breed). The Minskin is a cross between several cats, the Sphynx, Munckin, Burmese and Devon Rex.

There is then on the face of it a fine difference between the Bambino and Minskin in their heritage. The Minskin is accepted by TICA as a preliminary new breed. The breed can be shown from the beginning of May 2008. The difference is in the coat. The Bambino is a short legged Sphynx (hairless cat).

The Minskin can also be hairless. This cat can also have similar hair to the Munchkin. However, these variants cannot be shown in competition.

The classic Minskin coat appearance is "furpointed". This coat is thin and sparse and has fur pointed extremities (see a fuller description here). The furpointed Minskins can be shown at TICA events.

Photographs: top - copyright Helmi Flick, bottom, copyright Jim Child.

From Difference between Bambino and Minskin to Dwarf cats

Pedigree Cats with HCM

Pedigree cats with HCM should not be pedigree cats. A pedigree cat is one that can demonstrate a parentage of purebred cat that satisfies the cat association concerned. I other words she has a well documented history from father/mother and grandfather/mother etc. I don't live with a pedigree cat and my research proved fruitless but it seems to me that when you register your cat with an association you don't have to declare whether your cat has HCM, an inherited heart disease. Also, it seems that there is no requirement to test for HCM at regular intervals, which is important as it doesn't show up early on in the cats' life. Would it not be a good idea to make testing negative for HCM (meaning free of HCM) a prerequisite for registration and continuing registration of all cat registries/associations. This would force breeders to better control the spread of HCM, but privately. I say privately because a website that recorded the results of HCM testing for Bengal cats has been threatened with legal action unless an incorrect entry was removed. This website's register is open, a good thing in one sense obviously, but many breeders are too frightened to openly declare negative tests for fear of ruining their business. A private method would result in more testing it seems and a gradual eradication of this killer disease from the breeding lines. The end result would be less Pedigree Cats with HCM. Am I talking nonsense? If so please tell me. I have written this on a commonsense basis and I am not that familiar with the registration process. I think the cat associations have made things horribly complicated in so many areas. From Pedigree Cats with HCM to Cat Facts

Cats Feel Pain

Cats Feel Pain - Vets operating table copyright Brit reproduced under creative commons. Another Flickr photograph had a caption which read something like, "how can I tell when a cat's in pain?". Well if she is quiet, hiding, and behaving in a non-routine manner, she could be in pain. Also cats sometimes purr deeply when in pain. After that you investigate (to the Vet usually and quickly). Thereafter you can normally tell.

Cats hide pain as all do all animals. It is a natural state in their quest for survival. They also hide themselves. But animals and cats do feel pain. A simple test suffices. If for example you accidentally stand on your cat's paw (I've done this once in 15 years - don't do it deliberately please), you will see a reaction that clearly indicates that she has felt pain. She will yelp and cry out. It goes further. My cat suffers nightmares and cries out and wakes up (psychological pain).

It seems common sense to me that cats feel pain. They have brains, nerves and are programmed to survive. It is necessary therefore for the body to know when it is injured by the signal of pain to the brain.

Yet surrounded by day to day examples of animals suffering pain, until the 1980s (yes fairly recently) scientists argued that animals could not feel pain. They routinely conducted experiments on animals including cats inflicting pain without compunction.

Sometimes the objective was to inflict pain and see the result (this doesn't square up with the argument that animals don't feel pain). The fact that mankind had until recently argued that animals don't feel pain is a major reason for the maltreatment of animals worldwide including cats. That and sheer ignorance and nastiness. I am sure this false concept is still alive in a many areas of the world.

This misconception arose out of the idea that animals couldn't rationalize. It suited scientists to maintain this view as it assisted them in their research during which they inflicted pain on animals. It was and is an example mankind rationalizing things to suit himself.

Vets until recently would not routinely (or at all) give "pain meds" to cats after spaying and neutering. The operation is routine but invasive. Now, gradually, the world is becoming more civilized and pain killers are given to cats after this operation, more routinely because the vet understands that cats feel pain.

The great man Mahatma Gandhi famously said that we can measure the degree of civilization in a community by the way they treat animals (or the vulnerable). Obviously we are not very civilized but getting better.

When we wish to trick ourselves about the truth we talk about the subject in a particular and benign fashion to make it palatable and hide it from ourselves. This is most noticeable in politicians and of course animal testing scientists.

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Cat Coats Curly

The Selkirk Rex is known as a cat in sheep's clothing. They look very cute to me. They have "rexed" fur which is curly fur. This is due to a genetic mutation. They are quite rare purebred cats despite their attractive appearance. You can read more about this cat by clicking on the following link: Selkirk Rex.

Curly cat coats are well known to people in the cat fancy. These are Rex coats, named after that now famous Belgium King of the 19th century (latin for King is "rex") with his very special curly coated rabbits. The gene that causes curly and frizzy coats as we know cuts across cat breeds and species (humans, rabbits, horses, guinea pigs etc.). In humans, hair is curly due to the shape of the hair follicle (the area from which the hair grows). This is dictated genetically. Curly hair can be drier than straight hair because the oils produced by the sebaceous glands (adjacent to the follicle) does not flow down the hair shaft.

The cat breeds (that come to mind) that have curly hair are:

• LaPerm
• Skookum - LaPerm/Munchkin cross
• Devon Rex
• Selkirk Rex
• Cornish Rex
• German Rex

The genetics of cat coats is, I believe, to a certain extent, "work in progress". There are probably genes at work that are yet to be isolated. Those genes that produce curly cat coats that have and have been selected by cat breeders are the following rex genes, "r" gene (recessive) for the Cornish Rex, "re" for the Devon Rex (recessive), "Se" for the Selkirk (incomplete dominant), "Lp" (LaPerm - dominant gene).

Curly-coated cat. The Selkirk Rex. Photo: Nathalie Jacques , Saint-Léonard d'Aston , Québec, Canada 

There have been many occurrences of curly haired cats, which have gone largely unrecorded. Here are some recorded instances: -

• 1930s - Prussian Rex
• 1930s - USA - Karakul cat
• 1940s - Russia - Urals Rex
• 1946 and 1950s - German Rex
• 1950 - Italian Rex
• 1950 - Cornish Rex - England - see above
• 1953 - Ohio Rex USA
• 1959 - California Rex - USA
• 1960 - Devon Rex - England - see above
• 1969 - Dutch Rex
• 1972 - Victoria Rex - England
• 1981 and 2002 - Lanzarote - Canary Islands
• 1981 - Bohemian Rex - Czech
• 1982 - LaPerm - USA - see above
• 1987 - Selkirk Rex - USA
• 1980 - 90s - Curly haired Maine Coon (horror :)
• 1990s - Missouri Rex - USA
• 2001 - Iowa Rex - USA
• 2000s (early) - The Ruffle - USA
• 2002-3 - Canadian Farm

There are more, almost an endless stream of cat coats - curly, as could be expected. No doubt there will be many more to come.

Update 5th December 2008 - The Selkirk Rex - Curliness of the coat is apparent from birth. Homozygous cats (SeSe) have a different type of coat. It is finer, more curly and there is less of it. The "better" cats in terms of show cats are the heterozygous cats.

The two best known rex breeds are the Cornish and Devon Rex cats. The Cornish Rex does not have guard hairs but normally has a denser coat. The Devon Rex's coat is more prone to lacking hair, a feature of rex coats. Breeders try to improve coat quality through selective breeding. Polygenes control coat quality. 

Sources:

• Pictures of Cats
• Messybeast
• Wikipedia
• Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians

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