- Joined
- Jun 5, 2007
- Messages
- 1,028
- Purraise
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I've seen it posted several times on TCS that few truly purebred cats end up in shelters. I understand that with some shelters, every colorpoint cat is labeled a Siamese or Ragdoll, every blue cat is labeled a Russian Blue, etc in an attempt to make the cat more desirable to adopters. I understand that good, reputable breeders screen buyers carefully and require their kittens to be returned to them if the owner cannot keep them, so few of them probably end up in shelters.
But that got me wondering about breeds with more extreme physical characteristics, such as flat-faced Persians for example. Surely there are BYB who are breeding pet quality cats such as these, and I seem to see such cats in shelters with some frequency. Now I am curious.
My question is, how many generations away from "purebred" would you have to get before you would stop seeing the extreme features of the original breed, such as the flat face of the Persian? Is it possible that a cat with all the features of a Persian (coat, flat face, etc) could, in fact, not be purebred?
TIA for indulging my curiosity. I know very little about genetics, but it is quite fascinating!
But that got me wondering about breeds with more extreme physical characteristics, such as flat-faced Persians for example. Surely there are BYB who are breeding pet quality cats such as these, and I seem to see such cats in shelters with some frequency. Now I am curious.
My question is, how many generations away from "purebred" would you have to get before you would stop seeing the extreme features of the original breed, such as the flat face of the Persian? Is it possible that a cat with all the features of a Persian (coat, flat face, etc) could, in fact, not be purebred?
TIA for indulging my curiosity. I know very little about genetics, but it is quite fascinating!