Thursday, October 1, 2009

Change it.

Look at what applied eugenics has done to purebred cats!

Have you ever been to a cat show?

I don't know how much background knowledge a person has to have to look at the cats in the cages at a cat show and see mutant versions of cats for what they are,
but I guess a fair number of people off the street will think "weird", "freaky", "odd", or "what's wrong with these cats?".

I believe most people know that it is not normal or typical for cats to have:

the pushed in face of the peke-faced Persian,

the crossed eyes and kinked tail of older Siamese cats,

the cartiledge problems of the Scottish Fold,

the ears of the American Curl,

the show Manx's hollow spot where a tail should be,

the dwarf legs of the Munchkin, etc.

(You can look up photos on wikipedia, or on breeder web sites where they are sold.)

I guess show cat breeders think that breeding cats with mutations is a good idea?

The thing is, is that, the public will pay more money for a kitten with an oddity, if it is a registered breed of oddity, than what they will for a normal kitten.

Most people just go look at cats or kittens and pick a friendly one, but some people seem to WANT to pay more money and buy a distinctive kitten or cat.

From what I have seen, I would say that 'saving the odd kitten' might not be the main factor anymore, so much as that people want a kitten different from other kittens, they want to show off something special.

It seems to me that people have gotten over rejecting cat oddities, and gone too far the other way, craving to own and display odd or different looking cats, like some Victorian side show.

I think a happy medium would be better, where the unusual is accepted without being craved and displayed.

I rather hope the (British) Kennel Club doesn't get queasy about changing the the dog show concept from looks to actual intelligent and useful performance, because that is one nappie really overdo for a change.

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