Miniature Cat breeds

[jadyn]

This may be a bit of a stupid question, but here goes anyway.

Why is it that you can buy miniature or toy breeds of dog such as poodles but miniature breeds of cats are not available? Has no-one ever tried breeding small cats?

There. I told you it was a silly question!

Love jadyn

[wiggal]

I dont think it is a silly question at all!
Maybe, Im possibly thinking, may be well off the mark, that there is not such a big thing about different cat breeds as there is dogs?
Ive got 7 cats myself, and one is alot smaller then the rest of them, but that is just her being little!
And also, Ive just thought, surely miniture dog breeds are breeding one breed of dog with a smaller breed dog, or something along those lines, where as with cats, they are pretty much cat size, and the size they grow to be depends on the size of the litter & where they came, and not their breed?
Am I making my self look silly!?

[wiggal]

In a Pickle, you made me look silly :(

[jadyn]

Thank you both very much. Wiggal, you don't look silly to me at all. I think you're both very clever.

jadyn

[paddywak]

In Tuesdays' Express there was an article about an American (where else) designer cat called the "Toyger" which has the colouring, behavour and movements of a tiger but the nature of a domestic cat. Apparently it took the American breeder 15yrs to get a strain that breeds true. So I suppose if somebody had the time and inclination they could breed a strain of miniture cats. By the way the article mentioned that the Toygers fetch up to �2,500 apiece for a breeding cat so if they did breed minature cats I dont suppose they would be cheap

[paddywak]

Sorry,Didnt notice pickles post that trying to breed mini-cats had already been tried and failed due to genetics

[wildwood]

There is no reason why a small breed can't be achieved in 20 to 30 generations. There is already a 3-fold difference between the smallest breeds and largest breeds. The people who purposely breed cats strife to obtain the standard as set for their individual breed. The common household moggie is a result of romantic meetings in the neighbourhood.

If you breed two cat together the progeny will be the average of the parent with some being slightly larger and some being slightly smaller. If other people did the same those smallest cats could be bred together and keep the smallest ones of the next litter. etc. etc. It won't take long to bring the size down.

The domestic cat is nothing like its wild ancestor and is as prone to genetic modification as any other animal. We already have from naked cats to extremely hairy ones.

Perhaps this would be an opportunity for you to develop a Jadyn breed! Not such a silly idea. You just need as many people as possible to have the same goal, as line breeding only leads to trouble.

[wildwood]

Sorry Jadyn, you are now too late. Have a look at

http://messybeast.com/breeds2.htm

and scroll down to mini...........

there are already several mini/ature breeds.

[jadyn]

Oooh what a lovely lot you are. I really appreciate your help. Love you all.

jadyn

[TIGGERLIT]

hi in a way there are different size breed cats. i breed maine ***** and they are one of the largest breeds of cat, then you have the munchkin breed one of the smallest breeds. also you can get cobbly persians which are small.
my maine ***** can take things off the worktop from the floor, open doors you name it. i think give it a few years and there will be some more breeds

[divegirl]

http://www.boutiquekittens.com/Toy-and-Tea-Cup -Persians-and-Himalayans.74.0.html

There you go!

Lisa x