Post by smilesbetter on Sept 27, 2015 13:28:07 GMT
pixiepops I am with you there in that I think pedigree animals shouldn't be bred unless they are healthy animals and going to strengthen or improve a line. For example with the Scottish Folds I understand that it is frowned upon to breed two Scottish Folds, and that breeders should actually cross the cats to avoid health problems, although in this case I'm actually kind of against breeding them at all, as it is purely for the curled ears (Which must affect their hearing ability) and due to inbreeding etc there is a relatively huge amount of health problems in the breed. To be honest though I am very biased, my 2 favourite cat breeds are landraces (And I would only get a Turkish Van from an actual Turkish line rather than the cat show versions in Europe which I consider to be a different breed anyway) and I don't plan on ever owning either. Moggies for life, haha!
I wouldn't wanna stop breeding but I do think it should be much better regulated. Cases like this could be the way forward in that respect, if it is deemed cruel and illegal to breed from a cat who is not a healthy example of the breed (Due to the heart condition) or because he is missing a sensory organ (As is the case with the lack of whiskers). If you legally had to have certain tests done before breeding a cat and could be fined much more than the cost of spaying for breeding (Even accidentally) from a cat without having had the tests and health checks done, as an owner one might be more careful in letting an unspayed cat out. Not really fair if male cat owners aren't castrating them though.
By the way, there is an area of the highlands where there is a programme on to prevent the extinction of the Scottish Wildcat, and one of the things they have done is set up an area where all cat owners have agreed to either keeping their cats indoors, or having them spayed/castrated. It has been really successful and they are now working on increasing the area. If the whole of the UK did something like that in conjunction with a spay/castrate and release programme for feral cats, there would be much less feral kittens being born. That way breeders can breed their healthy pedigree cats and to be honest people could breed their healthy non-pedigree cats, but there would be much less accidents and because everyone had to have the health checks done before breeding (Although always expect for people to flaunt this, but if enough people did it anyway) and the cat population would be under better control (And healthier!). Plus there would be much, much less domestic and feral cats breeding with Wildcats and so the Wildcat would lose the threat of being bred out of existence. A girl can dream, haha!
I wouldn't wanna stop breeding but I do think it should be much better regulated. Cases like this could be the way forward in that respect, if it is deemed cruel and illegal to breed from a cat who is not a healthy example of the breed (Due to the heart condition) or because he is missing a sensory organ (As is the case with the lack of whiskers). If you legally had to have certain tests done before breeding a cat and could be fined much more than the cost of spaying for breeding (Even accidentally) from a cat without having had the tests and health checks done, as an owner one might be more careful in letting an unspayed cat out. Not really fair if male cat owners aren't castrating them though.
By the way, there is an area of the highlands where there is a programme on to prevent the extinction of the Scottish Wildcat, and one of the things they have done is set up an area where all cat owners have agreed to either keeping their cats indoors, or having them spayed/castrated. It has been really successful and they are now working on increasing the area. If the whole of the UK did something like that in conjunction with a spay/castrate and release programme for feral cats, there would be much less feral kittens being born. That way breeders can breed their healthy pedigree cats and to be honest people could breed their healthy non-pedigree cats, but there would be much less accidents and because everyone had to have the health checks done before breeding (Although always expect for people to flaunt this, but if enough people did it anyway) and the cat population would be under better control (And healthier!). Plus there would be much, much less domestic and feral cats breeding with Wildcats and so the Wildcat would lose the threat of being bred out of existence. A girl can dream, haha!