Cat White Spotting Gene

The cat white spotting gene is also called the piebald gene and it is not limited to cats i.e. it is the "white spotting gene". The piebald horse or painted horse is perhaps the classic example of its effect. These are bicolor horses and the bicolor cat is a very well known cat. The calico cat also carries the white spotting gene.

The white spotting gene works with any color so you will see black and white cats, tuxedo cats, calico cats (white, orange and black), tabby and white cats, grey and white cats etc. All of then carry the white spotting gene. Solid and white cats are bicolor.

The amount of white fur is very variable. The tuxedo black and white cat has a limited amount of white fur on the chest and lower limbs, while the Turkish Van is almost all white with the classic inverted "V" on the forehead and around the ears and a pigmented tail.

Sarah Hartwell kindly licensed her diagram of the various levels of expression of the piebald white spotting gene:

The "grading" of the degree of white is as follows: the more white the higher the grading. So the Turkish Van has high grade spotting. The tuxedo cat has low grade spotting.

Medium grade spotting refers to a body that is 40-60% white.

The genetic symbol for the white spotting gene is S. It is semi-dominant in its operation.

• Ss - one dominant and one recessive allele -  white spotted cats that are heterozygotes. These are low grade and some medium grade white spotted cats.
• All high grade spotted cats are homozygotes SS.

It is thought that the gene causes a defect in the migration of the embryonic cells called melanocytes. These cells produce the melanin pigmentation that colors hair strands. The cells fail to migrate properly to their usual positions during embryonic development and so the pigmentation for the hair strands is not formed resulting in white fur at these positions.

Top picture (copyright Helmi Flick) shows a Turkish Van high grade white spotting and the lower picture shows a low grade white spotting black and white random bred cat (a pretty and healthy looking cat). See also the piebald gene - the same gene.

Denver Animal Shelters

Here are some (all?) Denver animal shelters and associated organizations mapped.



I hope this proves useful and accurate. Please tell me if there are problems. You can see a map containing almost 4,000 USA animal rescue organisations on this page.

If you click on the flags you'll see some details. This map is a Google Beta product so please be patient if something goes wrong.

Google Plus One under fire already

26th Jan 2012  - Europeans will be given the right to delete information that has been collected by Google under proposed legislation. This was announced by the European Commission on 25th Jan 2012.

We are told that Google and Facebook will be subject to tight limits on the amount and kind of information that they can hold on their members.

The legislation is set to come into law in about 2 years time provided of course that it is passed by the European Parliament after being ratified by member states. It makes sense though because there is no regulation of the internet or hardly any. This allows the biggest internet sites to do as they please to their advantage. This worries ordinary people and chimes with the recent Occupancy protests across Europe and America

The existence and success of Google Plus One (+1) depends on the collection of personal information, the likes and dislikes, of individuals who go online. This news must cast doubt on the long term viability of Google's recently introduced +1 search and social media programme.

I hope that you have noticed (many have not) that there are now two kinds of Google search: a search based on your Google +1 preferences and socialisation and secondly a conventional search that is more objective. The first finds information that is personalised for you and the second finds information that is meant to be the best on the internet. I say "meant" because even god almighty Google gets it wrong too frequently. It favours the big sites and these are far from correct every time.

The sole reason why Google changed its search algorithm and search method was to force people to use Google Plus One. People were not doing it voluntarily. Have you noticed the low +1 numbers compared to the high Facebook like it numbers?

This was a dangerous ploy by Google because their success as a company is built on finding the best sites and web pages on the internet. To connect that objective to one that forces people to use Google as a social media network must compromise Google's ability to provide the best search results.

You can turn off the social media search element if you want to and if you can find the right button to push. Most people won't know that personalized search is on never mind know how to turn it off. Google are relying on that.

Which country loves pets the most?

I'll tell you the answer on this page. First, I don't really like the word "pet" but have used it in the title because that is what the general public are more likely to search for rather than "which country loves cats the most?". My research comes from Google's excellent statistics in relation to this website, which is mainly about cats. So, I'll tell you which country, or more accurately, the people of which country are most interested in the domestic cat. As people worldwide like cats and dogs in about equal measure the figures should also apply to dogs and therefore pets generally.

One factor that might bend the figures is language. This site is in English and some countries speak English as their first language. However Google translation is pretty good these days.

If we take a sample size of say 100 people from across the world who come to this website, 67 of them would be from the United States of America. And about 15 of the people would be from the United Kingdom.



One country not featuring on this list but which would feature on other lists is Russia. The Russian people like their cats and have quite a nice cat fancy. A number of cat breeds originate in Russia including the Siberian, Russian Blue and Kurilian Bobtail to name three. They would normally occupy at least 5% of the visitors.

The overwhelming number comes from the USA. Germany, where they speak good English has a low representation. One person out of the 100 visits from Germany. And France are just not on the map. Europe as a whole (excluding the UK) show themselves as not that interested in pets or at least not reading about them.

In relation to the size of the country the UK punches well above its weight. The UK has a population that is about twice that of California, just one of the 50 states on the US and yet occupies second place on this list. On the basis if this analysis the UK has a much greater proportion of its people who are interested in the domestic cat than the USA.

India is interesting. It is country that is becoming increasingly interested in keeping the domestic cat. I think they'll have a cat fancy there one day.

Australia is known to have a interest in the domestic cat but the interest is somewhat schizophrenic as the people of Australia in general hate the feral cat as they think it decimates their native wild species. As feral cats were once domestic cats it is a rather odd relationship.

The same could be said about the United States. There is no doubt that they are the major country of cat and pet lovers in terms of overall numbers. They lead the world by a considerable margin because they are a large country. However, rather like Australia they have a schizophrenic relationship with the domestic cat. They declaw cats. They kill cats by the millions every year because they are homeless. I won't go on. And I am not criticising - just reporting.

Conclusion: The UK, and particularly England is the leading nation of pet lovers. Also the laws of England, Wales and N. Ireland are probably the best in relation to animal welfare (Animal Welfare Act 2006).

Declawed Cougar

This is a heartbreaking video of a declawed cougar. His name is Kona. He is crippled by the declawing. I can't watch it except for the first seconds. What can you say? To think a person did this to this beautiful animal. Cougars are one of the world's greatest jumpers. Kona can barely walk!

It is a simple case of what I call "the human condition": ignorance compounded by arrogance. It is this that results in what you see in this tragic video.

And, you know, there are an estimated 2,000 or more captive cougars in Florida and most are declawed. Because people like to keep a cougar as a "pet". Cougars are not meant to be pets. I guess they see a nice cougar cub that has been stolen from their mother in the wild and the new owner's first thought is "let's declaw". Horrendous isn't it?. Then the cub becomes an adult and their second thought is, "let's get rid of it".

These people don't think.