tailless cats

I have so many people comment that my cat with no tail is a Manx. I know nothing about them except that they have no tails. I tell people probably not, but it got me wondering. Can cats just be born without a tail as a fluke, like possibly from inbreeding or something? Or are there ONLY certain breeds that are born without tails? Willoughby has abslutely no tail. If you feel the right spot, you can feel a smal bone moving there but there is nothing. He is also HUGE with the biggest paws I have ever seen. They are bigger then my Himalayans. I have never had such a big cat.

My Phantom doesn't have a tail an was just born that way. Her tail area is as you describe it a bone about the size of the first joint of my pinky finger.

Here's an interesting article, while taillessness is a feature of some breeds, it also occurs as a random genetic mutation:

Tailless Cats

LuckyGirl doesn't have much of a tail either. Her's "looks" like a bunny tail, like a "cotton tail", and is just adorable if I say so myself. It's one of the reasons she looked like such a sad case when we found her, her tail was missing, and she was starved to near death. But the vet said that she was just born with a birth defect. Similar to Amniotic Band Syndrome in humans, basically the same thing but in cats. Her "tail" is as thin as a toothpick, and about 1/2 inch long, and crooked ~ it kinda goes up a tiny bit and way to the left. But it's completely covered with an abundance of fur, so she was definately born that way, if it had been severed there would be scar tissue where the fur doesn't grow back. I have to say though, knowing that she was born with a birth defect really gives her a tender spot in my heart . Not that she ever does anything wrong (she's such an ) but if she did, she could get away with murder . I think of the momma cat, whose only instinct is to neglect the "weak/sick" kitten to protect the others, and my heart just breaks....she is spoiled. But for good cause, she went without for so long, I am always trying to make it up to her!

my stormie has what they call a stumpy lol and she is a part manx i do believe...but also people that are telling you about manx some dont have tails at all. I found all this out by googaling it because mine like i said is a manx breed and i wanted a kitten and i seen her picture online and she was so gorgoeus lol..Your cat is soo darling lol, and well here is one website that tells you about different breeds, but like people said it can be a mutation but thats how the manx breed got started lol
http://www.cats-central.com/cat-breeds/
on there there is a couple breeds that are tailess and tells u the history and things like that so i hope this can be some help to you!

i dont know much about different pet breeds.

I do know that most of the cats i saw running around indoensia had short or no tails at all. I did look and try to find what breed they were, but no luck.

she looks like she could be a manx to me but im not sure and if it is he would have a "rumpie" as what they call it, i will try to find some more websites about the breed for you !