“Man-made” breeds

kittens are the new breed, Z. A “man-made” breed results from this deliberate hybridizing. Once the new breed is established, of course, ...

“Natural” breeds

Turkish Angoras and Russian Blues . They are natural because the breeds’ distinctive traits (color, body shape and the like) occurred wit...

The back-crossing phenomenon

kitten is born with a physical trait that a cat breeder likes and then tries to reproduce in kittens. This is done by crossing the kitten w...

Don’t say “mongrel”

Many dog owners are perfectly content with their “mutt” or “mongrel” dogs, and that is certainly true for cat owners as well. It is safe to ...

Melanism, the original mutation

Felis catus , the most common mutation is melanism, or blackness. You might say that a solid black cat is nature’s first variation on the t...

Tabby, the “default” setting

If domestic cats were left to breed on their own, with zero interference from humans, there would be very few longhaired cats and very few s...

Sizing up cats

Felis catus , the common house cat. Humans have been breeding and crossbreeding dogs for centuries, which is why we have tiny breeds, hug...