Bob-tailed cats

We found a dead cat. It has about an inch of tail. I've seen some others in the neighbourhood and I think I know where they live - or rather where they're coming from. I doubt it's some strange genetic quirk.

Manx cats have no tail, or a stumpy tail.

there's the Japanese bobtail too. I'm sure ya can get full tailed, still purebred, manx too? And they can have just a bob too. I can't remember how the gene carries, but it could easily be just a bob tailed cat got in there somewhere that has passed it around, and while they will doubtfully be purebred now, the genes are still clinging.

Let me be a little more specific then: I believe this oddity has more to do with an elastrator and some little rubber rings than genetics. The cats are ordinary-looking moggies.

Isla, a normal looking, heavily pregnant stray cat wandered into the house of a neighbour of mine. When the cat gave birth, low & behold, some of the kitten had tails and some just had stumps. The lady let the cat get pregnant again to a farm tom and same thing happened again so, obviously, the mother cat was carrying the gene.

they can easily be normal looking moggies and still carry the gene. Infact many wouldn't know the ideal breed standard for the manx and bobtail nor be able to pick it as anything other than a normal looking moggy with a stumpy tail...

Ok, thanks. The guy once asked me for some castration rings to desex his cat, so I have become rather suspicious of his personal animal welfare code.

Hi Isla, is the tail of the dead cat straight or has it a kink? manx cats will have a bend, kink or even forked tails.
in all the years I had the pleasure of a long line of x bred manx cats, at least 10 generations, I don't ever remember a dead stright bobtail. they were long normal moggy tails or crooked bobtail or no tail at all. and the cats look just like any moggy.
it is quite a dominant gene and will be passed down for ever.

BB, if the mother cat was carrying the gene she must have had a kink in her tail as it doesn't carry on in stright long tailed manx...it's a form of spineabifida?(sp)

We have a manx and he has a hook on the end of his tail. You can't tell unless you feel it otherwise his tail looks like a pompom. He is the coolest cat ever.
They have bigger/powerful back legs than conventional cats, I guess with no tail they have compensated using their legs for balancing etc.

It's pretty kinky. I'm pleased. I didn't like to think I was living near a serial cat abuser.

digby, your beautiful cat is the spitting image of the last of my manx line...his mother was a manx but he has a long tail:(
do you find your cat has better balance than your average mog? I always think cats with tails seem clumsy compared to manx ;.)

Digby, thats a lovely cat.

quote:Originally posted by Isla

Ok, thanks. The guy once asked me for some castration rings to desex his cat, so I have become rather suspicious of his personal animal welfare code.

Hope you didn't give him any.

I have a manx cross also. Like yours digby, he is the coolest cat ever. He also has a very big HQ and longer back legs than the average cat. He is also very deep through the body. He has a wee stump and his too looks a bit like a pom pom.

His mum was a manx and his dad was some stray who impregnanted her. In his litter he was the only one with the stump, some had no tails at all and one had a extra long tail and one had half a tail. He was also the only ginger.

I have added some photos, yes he is very big and honestly though he looks fat he really isn't that bad, he is just very big. I have had him to the vet because of his weight and we tried him on a diet and eventually the vet said he must just have a slow metabolism and he is just a big bodied cat as the diet didn't work and he is in very good health other than being a bit heavier than the normal. Actually the diet was a bit of a disaster as he just ended up getting cranky and trying to kill us, he would hide under the table and when we were walking with his jar of cat biscuits or some other form of food he would launch an attack and throw himself at us like a lion and wrap himself around our thigh, with claws and teeth sunk in, in the vain hope I think that we would fall to the ground and drop the food. LOL. It nearly worked on occasion.[:0]

See the fluffy bit where a tail normally is



and a photo just to show that really he isn't that fat, the lying down shot makes him look huge

We actually never meant to get a manx he was my sister in laws kitten BUT… they were shifting so we offered to look after it. 12 years later he is still here. “Felix” fell in love with our dog (Dalmatian) and used to suckle off her when he was a kitten.
Then we got a foxie. The foxie attacks Felix and he just falls over and puts up with it until he has had enough … then swipe, he hits him.

I don’t think that I could have a tailed cat any more.

The stealing has caused great hilarity over the years and nephews have even written school speeches about how their Aunty STOLE their cat. ….. They never took him home…. Honest![]