The Manx

Happy Sunday, Missians!

I know I'm cutting it close with this one--there's a story there, but not going into that right now!  With no further delay, here's your Christmas in July pretty kitty for tonight:  The Manx Cat.  Tonight's Manx information is courtesy of Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_cat

The Manx cat (/ˈmæŋks/, in earlier times often spelled Manks) is a breed of domestic cat (Felis catus) originating on the Isle of Man, with a naturally occurring mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. Manx cats come in all coat colours and patterns, though all-white specimens are rare, and the coat range of the original stock was more limited. Long-haired variants are sometimes considered a separate breed, the Cymric.

Manx are prized as skilled hunters, and thus have often been sought by farmers with rodent problems, and been a preferred ship's cat breed. They are said to be social, tame and active. An old local term for the cats on their home island is stubbin. Manx have been exhibited in cat shows since the 1800s, with the first known breed standard published in 1903.

Tailless cats, then called stubbin (apparently both singular and plural) in colloquial Manx language,^[1][2] were known by the early 19th century as cats from the Isle of Man,^[3] hence the name, where they remain a substantial but declining percentage of the local cat population. The taillessness arose as a natural mutation on the island,^[4] though folklore persists that tailless domestic cats were brought there by sea.^[3] They are descended from mainland stock of obscure origin.^[5] Like all house cats, including nearby British and Irish populations, they are ultimately descended from the African wildcat (F. silvestris lybica) and not from native European wildcats (F. s. silvestris),^[6] of which the island has long been devoid.^[7]

The dominant trait of taillessness arises from a spontaneous mutation, the Manx taillessness gene, that eventually became common on the island because of the limited genetic diversity of island biogeography (an example of the founder effect and, at the sub-specific level, of the species-area curve).^[8][9]

In the Manx language, the modern name of the breed is kayt Manninagh, literally 'cat of Mann' (plural kiyt or kit),^{[1][2][10][11]} or kayt cuttagh lit. 'bob-tailed cat'.^[11][12] Kayt, used as both a masculine and feminine noun, is also encountered as cayt,^[13] and depending on the exact construction, it may be lenited as chayt or gayt.^[14]:138 The diminutive word is pishin or pishyn, 'kitten' (with various plurals).^[1] Manx itself was often spelled Manks in English well into the late 1800s.^[1][7]

There are numerous folktales about the Manx cat, all of them of "relatively recent origin";^[15]:7 they are focused entirely on the lack of a tail, and are devoid of religious, philosophical, or mythical aspects found in the traditional Irish–Norse folklore of the native Manx culture, and in legends about cats from other parts of the world.^[15]:7

The name of the promontory Spanish Head on the coast of the island is often thought to have arisen from the local tale of a ship of the Spanish Armada foundering in the area, though there is no evidence to suggest this actually occurred.^[16] Folklore has further claimed that a tailless cat swam ashore from said shipwreck, and thus brought the trait to the island.^[17] However, tailless cats are not commonly known in Spain, even if such a shipwreck were proven.

Regardless of the genetic and historical reality, there are various fanciful Lamarckian folktales that seek to explain why the Manx has a truncated tail. In one of them, the biblical Noah closed the door of the Ark when it began to rain, and accidentally cut off the tail of the Manx cat who had almost been left behind.^[18] Over the years a number of cartoons have appeared on postcards from the Isle of Man showing scenes in which a cat's tail is being run over and severed by a variety of means including a motorcycle, a reference to motorcycle racing being popular on the island,^[19] and an update of the Noah story. Because the gene is so dominant and "invades" other breeds when crossed (often without owner knowledge) with the Manx, there was a folk belief that simply being in the proximity of a Manx cat could cause other breeds to somehow produce tailless kittens.^[20]

Another genetically impossible account claimed that the Manx was the hybrid offspring of a cat and a rabbit, purporting to explain why it has no or little tail, long hind legs and a sometimes hopping gait.^[17] The cat-rabbit halfbreed tale has been further reinforced by the more widespread "cabbit" folktale.

Populations of tailless cats also exist in a few other places in Europe, most notably Cornwall,^[5] only 250 miles (400 km) from the Isle of Man. A population on the small, isolated Danish peninsula (former island) of Reersø in the Great Belt may be due to the arrival on the island of cats of Manx origin, by ship.^[21] Similar cats are also found in Crimea,^[5] a near-island peninsula in the Black Sea, though whether they are genetically related to maritime Manx cats or are a coincidentally similar result of insular genetic diversity limitations, like the unrelated Kuril Islands Bobtail, Karelian Bobtail, Japanese Bobtail, and Indonesian Lombok cats, is unknown. The Manx gene may be related to the similarly dominant tail suppression gene of the recent American Bobtail breed, but Manx, Japanese Bobtails and other short-tailed cats are not used in its breeding program, and the mutation seems to have appeared in the breed spontaneously.^[22] Possible relation to the Pixie-bob breed, which also ranges from rumpy to fully tailed, is unknown.

Recognition as a breed

Manx cats have been exhibited in cat shows, as a named, distinct breed (and with the modern spelling "Manx"), since the late 1800s. In that era, few shows provided a Manx division, and exhibited specimens were usually entered under the "Any Other Variety" class, where they often could not compete well unless "exceptionally good in size and markings".^[20] Early pet breeding and showing expert Charles Henry Lane, himself the owner of a prize-winning rare white rumpy Manx named Lord Luke, published the first known (albeit informal) breed standard for the Manx in his 1903 Rabbits, Cats and Cavies,^[20] but noted that already by the time of his writing "if the judge understood the variety" a Manx would be clearly distinguishable from some other tailless cat being exhibited, "as the make of the animal, its movements and its general character are all distinctive."^[20] Not all cat experts of the day were favourable toward the breed; in The Cat: Its Points and Management in Health and Disease, Frank Townend Barton wrote in 1908: "There is nothing whatever to recommend the breed, whilst the loss of the tail in no way enhances its beauty."^[5]

The Manx was one of the first breeds recognised by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) (the predominant United States-based pedigreed cat registry, founded in 1908), which has records on the breed in North America going back to the 1920s.^[23]

Appearance

Tail (or lack of)

Although tail suppression (or tail length variety) is not the sole characteristic feature of the breed,^[5] the chief defining one of the Manx cat is its absence of a tail to having a tail of long length, or tail of any length between the two extremes.^[24] This is a naturally occurring, cat body-type mutation of the spine, caused by a dominant gene.^[25] As with the sometimes-tail-suppressed Schipperke dog and Old English Sheepdog, tail suppression does not "breed true" in Manx cats. Attempting to force the tailless trait to breed true by continually breeding tailless Manx cats to tailless Manx cats has led to increased negative, even fatal genetic disorders (see below). Tail length is random throughout a litter of kittens.^[26] Manx to non-Manx breeding will usually produce some Manx-type tail varieties in kittens.^[20] Whether the shorter tailed kittens of these varieties are labeled Manx is up to the breed standard consulted. Manx cats' tails are classified according to proportional tail length as kittens (the proportion does not change after birth):

• Rumpy (rumpie)^[27] or dimple rumpy^[28] – having no tail at all, though often a tuft of hair where the tail would have grown from the rump^[20]
• Riser or rumpy riser^[29] – having a bump of cartilage^[20] under the fur, most noticeable when the animal is happy and raising its tail end
• Stumpy (stumpie)^[27] – having a partial tail of vestigial, fused vertebrae, up to about 3 cm (1 in) long^[20]
• Stubby (stubbie), shorty, or short-tailed – having a short tail of non-fused bones, up to about half an average cat tail^[28]
• Longy (longie), tailed,^[30] or taily (tailie)^[27] – having a half- to normal-length tail.

Since the early days of breed recognition in the late 19th century,^[20] Manx show cats have been rumpy through stumpy specimens, with stubby and longy Manx not qualifying to be shown except in the "Any Other Variety" or household pet class.^[24] Kittens with complete tails may be born in a purebred Manx litter, having not inherited the taillessness appearance at all. Depending on the country and cat organization referenced, rumpy, rumpy risers and stumpies are the only Manx cat tail types that fit the breed standard for Manx cats. The longer cat tail lengths seen in some Manx cats are considered a breed fault, although they occur as naturally in the breed, but not as often, as the shorter tails. Although these longer tail types are of purebred Manx ancestry, they do not possess the dominant gene so cannot pass it on. However, since the Manx tail mutation gene is dominant, these longer-tailed purebred Manx cats may still be used in breeding programs and may even be considered in an effort to help avoid the fatal spinal deformities that sometimes result in tailless Manx cats.

The Manx breed is genetically distinct from the Japanese Bobtail breed, another naturally occurring insular breed. The Japanese Bobtail always has at least some tail, ranging from a small "pom" to a stubby but distinct tail, which is kinked or curled and usually has a slightly bulbous and fluffy appearance; by contrast, the Manx has a straight tail when one is present at all. The Japanese Bobtail has a markedly different appearance from the Manx, and is characterized by almond-shaped eyes, a triangular face, long ears, and lean body, like many other Asian breeds. The gene responsible for the bobbed or kinked tail in that breed is recessive and unrelated to the dominant Manx tail-suppression gene; the bobtail gene is not connected to any serious deformities, while the tail-suppression gene can, under certain conditions, give rise to a pattern of sometimes lethal health problems. The Pixie-bob breed also has a short tail, and may be genetically related to the Manx. More will be clear about tail genetics as more genetic studies are done on cat populations and as DNA testing improves; most domestic animal genetic work has been done with dogs and livestock breeds.

Manx (and other tail-suppressed breeds) do not exhibit problems with balance;^[31] balance is controlled primarily by the inner ear. In cats, dogs and other large-bodied mammals, balance involves but is not dependent upon the tail (contrast with rats, for whom the tail is a quite significant portion of their body mass).

Since Manx kittens are naturally born with any tail length, from none to long, it was formerly common to surgically dock the longer tails a few days after birth. Although illegal in many jurisdictions (including much of Europe), the practice was formerly recommended, although with the caveat that the commonness of the practice meant that many spurious Manx cats – i.e., random British cats – were altered to resemble the Manx, to defraud unwary buyers.^[5]

Body and legs

Manx are medium-sized cats,^[20] broad-chested with sloping shoulders and flat sides,^[20] and in show condition are firmly muscular and lean,^[20] neither bulky nor fatty.^[20] Lane reported the original, native, naturally occurring pure breed as ranging typically from ten to twelve pounds for males and eight to ten pounds for females, with many smaller examples but only rare ones larger.^[20] The hind legs of Manx are notably longer than the fore legs,^[5][20] causing the rump to be higher than the shoulder and creating a continuous arch from shoulders to rump giving the cat an overall rounded or humped appearance,^[24] though the breed is comparatively long^[20] when stretched out. The fore legs are strong and straight.^[20] The shape is often described as rabbit-like.^[5][17]

Head

Manx cats' heads are rounded in shape,^[20] and medium in depth^[20] with a long neck.^[20] The face is often expressive,^{[citation needed]} with a small nose.^{[citation needed]} The upright, round-tipped and front-facing ears^[20] are largish.^[20] The eyes are large,^[20] rounded^[20] and prominent,^[20] with their outer corners higher than the inner ones.^[24] Absent any bloodlines with a dominant alternative eye color (such as blue in Siamese or related ancestry), Manx often have some hue variant of gold eyes,^[24] and for show purposes follow the eye colour standards of the same coat colour/pattern in non-Manx short-hairs.^[20]

Coat

Manx cats exhibit two coat lengths. Short- or long-haired, all Manx have a thick, double-layered coat. The colour and pattern ranges exhibited should conform to the standards for that type of coat in non-Manx.^[20]

The more common short-haired Manx – the original breed – has a coat with a dense, soft, under layer and a longer, coarse outer layer with guard hairs.^[24] The overall appearance of the coat is fine, short and lying close to the skin,^[20] versus fluffy or voluminous.

The long-haired Manx, known to some cat registries as the Cymric, has a silky-textured double coat of medium length, with "breeches" (i.e. a distinct jump in fur length at the hocks giving the appearance of old-fashioned, baggy, knee-length pants^[32] ) belly ruff and neck ruff, tufts of fur between the toes and full "ear furnishings" (hairs in ears).^[24] The CFA considers the Cymric to be a variety of Manx and judges it in the short-hair division even though it is long-haired,^[24] while The International Cat Association (TICA) judges it in the long-hair division as a distinct Cymric breed.^[33] The long-haired variety is of comparatively recent development. Lane wrote in 1903 that the Manx "to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, does not include any long-haired specimens", in his detailed chapter on the breed.^[20]

Regardless of coat length, the colours and coat patterns occurring in the breed today run the gamut of virtually all breeds due to extensive cross-breeding, though not all registries may accept all coats as qualifying for breeding or show. The most common coats are tabby, tortoiseshell, calico and solid colours.^{[citation needed]} Widely divergent Manx specimens, including even a colour-point, blue-eyed, long-haired variant of evident Himalayan ancestry, have been celebrated on Isle of Man postage stamps since the 1980s, and recent publications often show marbled and spotted varieties. The original insular stock, however, were of less widespread variation. Lane, having "seen a great many of them" wrote of Manx cats that "[i]t is curious that the colours in this variety seem somewhat limited" and that the breed "does not comprise all the colours usually associated with other short-haired varieties".^[20] He reported only very common orange, common orange and white, common cream tabby, uncommon tortoiseshell, and very rare all-white specimens in 1903.^[20] Calico and point-coloured are notably absent from this list, as are even today's common colourful tabbies. However, writing in England only five years later, Barton suggested that "the Manx may be of any colour, but probably orange is the most frequently met with."^[5]

Specific registries have particular, and differing, standards of points with regard to coloration and patterning. For example, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) classifies the Manx as a variant of the British Shorthair (BSH),^[34] and thus requires that Manx cats to have one of the coat patterns that would be permissible in the BSH rather than any that is exclusive to a "foreign" type (e.g. point colouration). New Zealand Cat Fancy (NZCF) does likewise for colour and markings, but requires a double-coat and other Manx-specific features that GCCF does not.^[35] Some other registries are even more restrictive, while others are more liberal.

That's it for now,

See you back here on Tuesday for your next Christmas in July kitty.

Until then,

This is your host J,

signing off...