Munchkins are fine. I’ve seen them jump and play in person. They’re happy, healthy, active cats and most of this “make them illegal” crap is FUD.
If you want to go after real breeder-related cat cruelty, about half of Persians (depending on specific line) have nasal cavities too small to breathe through, going through life wheezing and apathetic as they can’t breathe normally enough to do any physical activity.
There’s also Maine Coone breeders (thankfully rare) who take the size of their cats to such insane excess that the spine literally isn’t strong enough to support the cat anymore, and it bends to the point the cat can’t jump.
EDIT: Oh! I can’t believe I forgot the absolute worst offender, the Scottish Fold. Those cute flappy ears? That’s caused by intentionally breeding cartilage deficiency genes that cause arthritis and joint pain as the gene effects more cartilage than just in the ears.
“Designer” cat breeds is an awfully vague term. Main Coons, for example, are a naturally occurring large cat from Maine. It was always a large cat, but some breeders push that to an unhealthy extreme to win cat shows. Others, like the Ragdoll, for example, is a perfectly healthy breed that started as a mix between 2 other pedigree breeds of cat with no extremes that challenge their health.
I believe that to make progress in reigning in the excesses of breeders we need to stop thinking in terms of specific breeds and start thinking in terms of genetic issues in specific lines.
That’s actually not why. Both my cats are rescues. My point was that kneejerk “ban this one breed” takes aren’t helpful and don’t address the core issues.
Requiring by law genetic tests on pedigree cats and veterinary sign-off that the lines are healthy would go a long way to solving these issues.
Munchkins are fine. I’ve seen them jump and play in person. They’re happy, healthy, active cats and most of this “make them illegal” crap is FUD.
If you want to go after real breeder-related cat cruelty, about half of Persians (depending on specific line) have nasal cavities too small to breathe through, going through life wheezing and apathetic as they can’t breathe normally enough to do any physical activity.
There’s also Maine Coone breeders (thankfully rare) who take the size of their cats to such insane excess that the spine literally isn’t strong enough to support the cat anymore, and it bends to the point the cat can’t jump.
EDIT: Oh! I can’t believe I forgot the absolute worst offender, the Scottish Fold. Those cute flappy ears? That’s caused by intentionally breeding cartilage deficiency genes that cause arthritis and joint pain as the gene effects more cartilage than just in the ears.
Why not all of them? Ban it all. Stop with the designer breeds. It’s all cruel.
“Designer” cat breeds is an awfully vague term. Main Coons, for example, are a naturally occurring large cat from Maine. It was always a large cat, but some breeders push that to an unhealthy extreme to win cat shows. Others, like the Ragdoll, for example, is a perfectly healthy breed that started as a mix between 2 other pedigree breeds of cat with no extremes that challenge their health.
I believe that to make progress in reigning in the excesses of breeders we need to stop thinking in terms of specific breeds and start thinking in terms of genetic issues in specific lines.
Because they have a munchkin or a Corgi and are mad that their animal is also designer but doesn’t want to include it.
That’s actually not why. Both my cats are rescues. My point was that kneejerk “ban this one breed” takes aren’t helpful and don’t address the core issues.
Requiring by law genetic tests on pedigree cats and veterinary sign-off that the lines are healthy would go a long way to solving these issues.