Tails of the Pixiebob
l. Genetics of the Pixiebob tail The Pixiebob is a almost entirely comprised of unknown cats, with the exception of 4, out of nearly 100 foundation cats. And of the many other cats, we cannot possibly know what the parents and grandparents were, nor what were the lengths of their tails. Genetically, the Pixiebob should have a wild look, spotted coat and a short tail, however the actual truth is that we must selectively breed for this, not always having the perfection in our first generations. We may find and bring a cat into the program for several reasons: for me, it must always be the face first. A spotted coat would be a long second reason and the tail is always my last consideration. This makes for an interesting effort in order to achieve short tails.
What is more interestesting yet is that we still do not know why there are different lengths of short tails, including what we call the “bobcat length” or “just above the hock” length. This is not a tail found in the Manx, nor the Japanese Bobtail, nor any other breed. (However, the American Bobtail now has this length of tail often, after adding in several Pixiebobs to their bloodlines.) Since the Pixiebob breed is 21 years old, and has such an unusually large gene pool, (for such a young breed), it would be well for us to remember that no one cat can have a huge influence on it’s own UNLESS this cat’s descendants have been linebred or inbred. Considerable strength would be given then, to the genes of such a cat. On the whole, however, only three cats in the Pixiebob were linebred and/or inbred, through their descendants and those are
Pixie, Jamaica and Samson were not related. Early on in my program, some of my best breedings were when I rebred Samson to his own daughters, which strengthened Samson’s line, because the dam line is stronger than any sire line and Samson was so perfect that I could not lose his influence.
The only other inbreeding was when Pixie was bred once to her half-brother, Battu, who shared the same mother, Maggie.
In looking at the progeny produced by
I acquired And that is as far as the matings to Therefore, in looking at my records, it is my firm belief that Jamaica, the Manx, had a docked tail when I acquired him, and so he was not able to throw the deadly Manx gene, as he would have had two long tailed genes, rather than a short and a long tail gene. EARLY AND BEST SIRE LINE: The Samson line is very different. His sire, Sasha, had a nice length short tail, about 2 inches. Sasha’s father is an unknown, though we know that the legend called him a bobcat. Sasha’s mother, Belle, had a very short tail, however, being about an inch long.
Samson’s mother, Tibbins, had a short tail, about an inch. So, in the Samson sire line, we have short tail genes dominant in all the ancestors we know of. Every short tailed cat carries TWO different tail genes: a short tail and a long tail gene. Every long tailed cat carries ONE tail gene: long Any kittens who have been given two short tail genes, one from each parent, die in utero. All living kittens have each been given a long tail gene, from one parent, absolutely, and from the other parent, either a short or a long tail gene. This determines then what the kitten’s tail length will be, genetically foreshortened or normally long. There are several lengths of short tails in the Pixiebob. Not all are acceptable, as the shorter ones do not give balance to the cat and can give a Manx-like appearance because the shorter tails can make the cat seem rounder in the backend. In the 21 years of breeding experience I have, I have seen all lengths, including the coveted “bobcat tail”, even from the very beginning. I kept kittens from these who more closely resembled Pixie, rather than just those who had short tails. This next generation also had a “3 sisters” for the breed, out of Lucy, being By the time Tiffany, Stormy and Samantha were breeding, short tails were becoming very common in the kittens, as I was seeing tails that were normally reaching 2 to 5 inches by adulthood, with some tails that were shorter and some longer. Long tails were rare. Rumpies were non-existent but some rare tails were so short as to not be able to be measured accurately. I estimated them to be about ½ inch long. Some could move and some did not. These were very rare in comparison with the nicer length short tails. Some of these tails had nice rings all the way to the end, finished with a heavy and long black cap; some had only one or two rings and a very slight black cap and some had no black cap at all, but maybe a dark spot at the end and some had nothing. A cat living today, by the name of Twinkletoe’s Bagheera has a 3 inch natural tail. I know because I was there when she was born at my mother’s home. I also know because her tail has a bend in it and a couple of tiny kinks, barely discernable. BUT she has no black cap whatsoever. And there are a couple of judges who have stated that her tail was docked. When I showed them the bend in her tail and the kinks, which are slight, but there, which needed time and interest to discover, and I looked them squarely in the eye and stated that her tail is natural, they relented, however, they would have disqualified Bagheera for having a docked tail because she has no black cap, when this is not necessarily a good way to tell if a cat’s tail is docked. The black cap is highly desireable, but not an absolute. The anomalies are most common, but not an absolute, as a natural tail CAN be without, though very rare.
It appears that nothing is absolute, but while we cannot always discover if a tail has been docked, we CAN tell if a tail is natural if there are anomalies (kinks, knots, bends, curls, etc., which are the very best indication that a short tail is a naturally occurring one.
lll. Differences in long tail length Oddly enough, there ARE differences in full long tails. I am not speaking of 2/3 or ¾ length tails, but of the full, long tails. Few people know that not all long tails are equal: some are actually longer and seem snake-like, perhaps more articulated, and certainly thinner in the bone. Some long tails are very fat in appearance, still being full length, but because of the thickness of the tail, it can appear shorter than perhaps a sibling having a long thinner tail. The thicker tails have the skin firmly attached to the skin of the tail, however, in the thinner, more snake-like tails, the skin is definitely not attached to the muscle and bone, but it appears to be more like a narrow sack-like covering. It is an oddity that I cannot explain. Neither tail is better than the other, but it is of interest to me that some appear to be far more articulated even though fully long. lV. To dock or not to dock This is a personal decision. I first learned about docking tails from a book on the Manx, titled “The Manx” by Marjan Swantek. In it, she has a small chapter on docking tails. I was shocked at first, since I was breeding but not docking obviously, since Pixie’s tail was long and even her granddaughters had full long tails for all to see. However, with time, I discovered that people wanted short tailed kittens with a wild look. I thought that the wild look would be enough to cover for the long tail, but I sadly discovered that it was not, for the most part. I often placed my long tailed kittens at a great discount UNTIL I discovered that many of these kittens were taken to the vet after the age of 4 months who surgically removed their tails. Some of the kittens did not survive this procedure and I became very angry about this. I began to dock tails then, when the kittens were first born, as when they are very young, it is not a health issue. I reasoned that dog breeders dock the tails of puppies and Manx breeders dock their kittens tails, so I justified this practice. Over the years, I changed my mind on the subject, sometimes going a couple of years at a time not docking and then returning to the practice. However, I then made a promise to TICA in 1995 that the long tailed kittens would find homes as pets having their long tails attached. As breed founder, I determined to set an example and do what was right by our new association and our kittens. Thus, I began to more carefully quiz people about what they were looking for. With time, I learned that the tail was more important to some and less to others. I also began to charge nearly as much for a beautiful wild looking kitten having a long tail as I would for one having a short tail, as I was judging the kitten by it’s face, not it’s tail. I have finally found the perfect place and balance for myself and advocate each breeder to make up their own mind as to what to do, giving it much thought, considering all aspects of the issues before them. Our first responsibility is to our kittens. Our second responsibility is to our customers. We must always remember that. V. How to tell if a tail is docked (90%) In order to discover if a tail has been docked, I would check THREE things:
1.
I would check for anomalies in the tail bone itself. Some are very small and barely discernable. If there are none at all, I myself would think that the tail MIGHT have been docked.
2.
I would also check the end of the tail, to see if there is a black end of any kind, not even necessarily a black cap, though this is desireable, but some black. If there is very little or no black IN ADDITION TO no anomalies in the tail, I would be be suspicious that such a tail had been docked.
3.
I would look under the tail, at the light cream coloration. A short tail NORMALLY has a short length of cream underneath the tail. A long tail NORMALLY has a LONG length of cream coloration underneath the tail. This is not a rule but a guideline, which, in combination with the other 2 checks and balances given above, can give us a 90% chance of being right. Thus, a short tailed cat having NO bone anomalies (I include the tiny boned tail that do not have anomalies, per se, but when short have a VERY fine pointed tip under a sac-like skin covering), no or only a small black cap AND having the long cream coloration underneath, all the way to the end of the tail, would SEEM to be a cat whose tail was originally longer. We can say that a cat having the bone anomalies has a naturally short tail, but even with these THREE considerations, we still cannot tell 100% that a tail has been docked, as Bagheera is just one example of a cat who has barely discernable bone anomalies, no black at all on her tail AND she also has a long length of light coloration under her tail. Fortunately, the bone anomalies ARE there, but only for a patient person to feel.
IF her tail had NO anomalies, no or a small amount of black on the end of her tail and a long length of light coloration under her tail, I would personally feel that either she had a very rare tail or that her tail had been docked. The anomalies saved her and my reputation in the ring. Vl. Ethics of docking There are only 2 things that we must remember, whether we dock or not: NEVER sell a docked kitten as a breeder or show cat, never! A breeder needs to know if the tail they are working with is genetically the real thing. AND NEVER show a cat with a docked tail, period. Not for any reason, ever. This is a short tailed BREED, which produces long tailed kittens. These should go as pets. There are many people who are waiting to have Pixiebobs, short or long tailed, because they love the faces, the spots and their fabulous personalities. You can breed a cat with a long tail, (I often use long tailed cats in my program), but you cannot show it. That would be the height of dishonesty. And it would affect every single breeder and Pixiebob in the show ring. DON’T DO IT, even if you are tempted. You will not benefit by this and you could cause yourself great embarrassment, not to mention damage to the Pixiebob breed, itself. If you really love the Pixiebob, just don’t. Carol Ann Brewer |