On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, BarB wrote:
|On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 23:04:02 -0700, Matthew Montchalin
wrote:
|
|On Fri, 5 Sep 2003, BarB wrote:
|
|Actually Ru wrote:
|
||But are there enough usenet readers? That's all that really
||matters. Why aren't the current r.p.cats.* groups satisfying
||breeders as forums for their discussions? What are the problems
||with those forums, and how will the proposed group help? What
||kinds of problems might the proposed group create and how will
||they be mitigated?
|
|BarB wrote:
||
||Some users believe all breeding of animals is immoral, not just
||the back-yard breeder cranking out litter after litter for a quick
||profit, but also the breeder working to improve the breed.
|
|How on earth is it possible to improve a breed without hybridizing?
|
|A breeder can improve the line by breeding to higher quality animals
|in the same breed or by testing and eliminating genetic defects in the
|line.

That presumes some degree of genetic 'spread' within the breed in
question, then.

|Incidentally they can also ruin a line by trying for the more
|extreme features that have won shows. The flat face of a Persian
|is one example of over breeding that can cause respiratory and eye
|problems (blockage in the tear ducts). So is the narrow head on a
|Collie.

Those are good illustrations.

|New breeds are constantly being developed by cat and dog breeders
|to develop a certain look. Some are deliberate crosses and some are
|mutations. Eventually with work and luck some of these breeds will
|proceed to be registered purebreds with the cat organizations. The
|Himalayan is one such cross, with the points of a Siamese and the
|Persian face and coat.

Which 'registrars' (if we shall coin a term) do you think are
acceptable? Doesn't this vary according to public opinion? It's
not like any particular 'registry' of pedigrees is maintained by
any given state, is there?

|Is the breeder going to induce mutations instead?
|
|Usually these occur by accident and someone saves the line...the
|curly-coated Devon Rex, La Perm, Selkirk Rex, American Keuda to
|name a few.

I'll look into that.

|This is more than a rhetorical question, it's a quandary, because
|it requires someone, somewhere, to decide which set of cat genes,
|properly concentrated, constitute an approved 'breed.'
|
|See http://www.messybeast.com/workbreed.htm

Sorry, I don't like going to sites. They tend to be down by the
time I get around to going there.