I have nothing at all against responsible and ethical breeders of animals, but experimental cat breeds are just a monument to the human potential for evil.
I don’t think curly or wiry coats have anything wrong with them that affects the cat’s health, so that’s probably fine. but shit like this?
Brachycephalic (smashed-in-face) cats are bad enough because their skulls are deformed and they can’t breathe properly. Scottish folds have folded ears because of a cartilage mutation that affects the animal’s whole body.
If it is causing the animal to suffer you shouldn’t intentionally breed more cats like that but this is an entire new level
So many new “cat breeds” are just combinations of multiple mutations that each affect the cat’s quality of life negatively
I don’t know if there are serious problems with hairlessness, but munchkin cats shouldn’t be a thing. A disabled cat is one thing, but there are ethical problems with making more disabled cats on purpose
It is a naturally occurring mutation that was made into a breed. All munchkin cats are descended in some way from a single cat with this mutation (though that’s not the only time it’s known to have happened). So it is the product of selective breeding in that if people didn’t breed them on purpose, there would be only a small handful of them if any
this is in no way directed at nogoodnikolai (I never want to discourage questions or curiosity), but the phrase ‘naturally occurring mutation’ is a pet peeve of mine.
there’s a natural occurring mutation in goats that causes them to be born inside out. ‘natural’ does not equal ethical or healthy, it just means that it happens outside of human interference. besides which, a mutation stops being naturally occuring the moment humans decide to selectively propagate it, which is the case for the munchkin gene.
also just a note about the Scottish Fold, and many apologies to headspace-hotel if this is a misreading on my part*, but their face shape is actually alright! it’s definitely Brachycephalic, meaning shorter than average, but not extreme enough to cause any harm at this point. I only say this because Scottish Straights, with the same face shape, are a breed I want to encourage as a healthy alternative to the Scottish Fold. Maru the box cat is a famous example of this breed!
*EDIT: I was mistaken, that’s a photo of a Foldex and not a Scottish Fold! Foldex do have extreme brachycephaly, sorry for the confusion
it’s the Persian/Exotic/Himalayan family of cats that has an extreme enough Brachycephaly to cause damage to the brain, eyes, teeth, and respiration. seriously, this is like body horror to me.
there was a clinical study that compared normal cats, brachycephalic cats (specifically doll-faced Persians, which are at a similar brachycephaly to Scottish Folds), and extremely flat-faced Persians. the normal cats and doll-faced Persians were clinically sound, but the extreme Persians….. I don’t know how anyone can read those results and not want legal consequences to fall on the folk who continue breeding them. I’ll put it under a readmore, because it’s a bit disturbing.
This…is beyond horrific. What the fuck I didn’t know it had reached this point
Basically, the flat-faced Persian cats not only can’t breathe properly, they have extreme, horrific deformities to their entire skulls, contorting their brains to the point where they have severe neurological impairments and struggle to walk properly or respond to stimuli
…
The cerebellum is the thing that lets you control your limbs. This means it was being squished into the space where the spinal cord is supposed to be.
I work in pet insurance. I’m in sales, I speak to people with puppies and kittens, and all I hear are the horror stories of people’s previous pets.
This? This whole thing? Is a FRACTION of the reality of MOST pet owners. These conditions, these breed specific hereditary issues, crop up so much that most pet insurances just straight up exclude all hereditary conditions.
If you’ve never had a dog, like me, you don’t realise just how much people are dropping on pets on the regular. You have a (any big breed)? Look out, known for bad hips and cruciate issues. Oh, one cruciate ligament gone? $8,000. And you know what they say - one cruciate goes, the other’s not far off. And remember, that’s hereditary, so unless you knew to look for that cover 3 years ago your expensive insurance won’t cover dick!
I constantly hear about dogs with lifelong skin infections (any squash face dog), dogs with chronic illnesses with medications costing $600/month, and almost every single big dog is going to have hip problems, that’s non negotiable.
We have bred these issues in, and most people don’t realise because if it happens after the dog is, say.. six? Most people just put them down. So sad, unavoidable, everyone feels bad for the poor owner :( oh well time to save up for a new member of the faaaamily… I saw the cutest pug x frenchie puppies on Ebay the other day!
That’s…bad.
Is this really typical!? My dog Cassie is an awkward looking large-ish (50lbs) mutt too well blended to distinguish what she might be made of, but she’s 7 years old and the only health problems of any kind she’s had so far were the mites and kennel cough she caught at the shelter we adopted her from. There’s been little change in her activity levels or anything as she’s moved toward middle age.
Why would you breed animals whose bodies fall apart like that? I don’t think that’s inevitable at all.
I think a lot of breed specific health issues come from really long ago, before we knew how to test for genetics or anything and generally you just kind of bred for what looked good. Like, in the 1880′s, when Doberman pinschers were made, it’s not really like you can test for heart disease, and it’s not like people back then were always worried about it if a dog died at age 7, so naturally you just might accidentally inbreed in baked in defects to the whole breed, like 60% of them having dilated cardiomyopathy. I’d imagine most invisible dog breed problems relate back to that we’ve been dog breeding for centuries and only fairly recently did we actually know how to test for it, so naturally breeds are going to carry the history of that.
