Why is it do you think some breeders do carry on breeding cats that have obvious faults in them, faults that could be passed down from parent to kitten, surely this isnt in the intrest of any breed to do this, best wishes...CHRIS

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It depends what sort of faults you mean. If you mean only faults of appearance, first, not all breeders want to breed for show and second, you can, if you breed carefully, get offspring that are better than either parent. And most importantly, the gene pool in many breeds is already so narrow that we need to be encouraging breeders to widen it, not narrow it down even further.

Liz

I agree, it depends on the fault. I know of one "mismarked" bicolour queen who consistently has perfectly marked kittens. Although she's got very good type, I would have overlooked her breeding potential based on her incorrect markings on her face. Just goes to show! Appearances can be deceptive!

ive seen even the best breeders have some miss marked girls, agree with the 2 above posties! im sure my tortie girl is miss marked she has 1 half white back paw, still going to take her to a show with my boy, see what happens!

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I obviously have no knowledge of breeding cats but have bred and shown dogs.In my opinion it is never acceptable to breed from any animal in the knowledge that there are faults in the line.It does not matter whether these faults are in appearance ,conformation ,temperament or health ,they are faults.The reason people breed surely is to improve their chosen breed.

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I think I rambled on a bit here, so please excuse me in advance?

I don't disagree, exactly, but I think it may be slightly different with dogs?

It's not unusual for unremarkable parents to produce lovely, typey kittens, and for an absolutely beautiful queen or stud to produce very run-of-the-mill typed kittens.

Not being a breeder myself yet, I've never faced this in practice, but I think a minor fault in appearance (something like less than perfect spots) might not be a problem, with the right stud.

Of course, it's a difficult dilemma, and a very important question, in my opinion. Of course you want to improve the breed, but genetics is very complex, and just because a cat is not themselves absolutely perfect, it does not rule out type of their kittens.

I think that probably the best bet you have is to breed for consistency in type, and then improve on that consistency. If you don't have a specific 'look' in mind, you're never going to breed towards anything specific, and are more likely to just be breeding for the sake of it, not for the sake of improving the breed.

Well yes, to improve the breed, also to improve your own line. But the inbreeding situation is very serious, we don't want to end up in the same position as the pedigree dog world. Well, I don't, anyway. The more animals you remove from the gene pool, the more problems you store up for the future.

Liz

The pedigree dog world is in the mess it is in because people only want to use the"in dogs" regardless of their suitability to the bitch and her breeding.

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I do remember getting an enquiry from someone who wanted to breed. They informed me that although they would be selling the kittens as pets they only intended to breed the best of show quality cats. Once I'd stopped laughing I asked for the secret - never got it.

Whilst inbreeding is a worry, it is also a worry if you leave unhealthy cats in the gene pool to pass their unhealthiness on to others, is that not also storing up trouble?

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