The American
Bobtailis
a fairly rare
domestic cat breed. The breed is the result of a naturally
occurring
genetic mutation (perhaps a variant of the Manx
mutation) that shortens the tail. The original
brown tabby Bobtail, which carried the mutant gene and short tail, was
found
on
an Indian reservation in 1960.
Finding a feral cat with a shortened tail does not of course mean
that this was the only bobtailed cat in America. They had been
around
for generations. It is just that the breeding of this cat began in the
1960s. This may have occurred at this time as a result of a growing
interest in "wild" cats.
For example the beginning of the development of the Ocicat,
another cat
emulating a wild cat, occurred in the 1960s.
The original Bobtail was not a wild cat. There is a story that
she is the result of mating of an
American Bobcat
and a domestic
cat.
Although there are documented cases where the American
Bobcat has mated
with a domestic cat, this
is not the case in this instance as
no genes
from the American Bobcat have been found in the American Bobtail
despite the similarity in appearance. Neither is this breed to
be confused with the Pixie-Bob
which is a large domestic cat breed (50% larger than is usual) started
in the 1980s. There are similar uncertainties about the origins of the
Pixie-Bob and
whether the breed began with the mating of a wild Bobcat
to a domestic cat. Pixie-Bobs have similar personalities to the Bobtail.
Because the cat's appearance was interesting to the people who found
him/her the cat
was mated with
a long tailed cat. The resultant offspring formed
the foundation cats of this
breed.
Since then, it seems, feral Bobtails have been bred in North
America
(USA and Canada) to develop the breed and no specific breed of cat has
been introduced into the breeding program. This has resulted in a wide
range of coat color and pattens together with medium-long and dense
short haired varieties. There is also the lynx pointed Bobtail.
Breeders continue to develop the breed and it is
said the modern American Bobtail is sweeter in nature than previously.
There is, incidentally, a Japanese
Bobtail. The Japanese Bobtail
genetic mutation is
recessive however. The Russians have their own bobtailed cat too, the Kurilian
Bobtail, allegedly a natural beed of cat.
Dominant genes results in half
the litter being born with the
characteristic of the mutated gene. Note also that this gene can
produce what are affectionately called "rumpies" (this comes from the
Manx cats, which are tailless and which are called "rumpies" "stumpies"
and "tailies").
The Bobtail's tail is unusually short, being about one third to half
the length of a normal
tail (see Helmi's photographs). The tail is usually one to 4 inches in
length.
For the Manx cat it is normal
to be tailless. But if this occurs in
the Bobtail there may be accompanying
health issues associated with a shortened spine.
This breed has was granted full status with TICA in 2002.
I like this video because it shows us and explains to us something
about this purebred cat.
The other outstanding feature of this cat breed
is her solid, sturdy, natural looking body and sweet natured character.
See a large
format slide show plus reference to the breed standard.
It would
seem that this cat makes a lovely companion. Helmi
Flick, says that this breed is one of her favorites, with a
great personality, dog-like and
loyal.
Helmi's recommendation carries weight as she is a cat lover with
knowledge and experience. The Bobtail is leash trainable, apparently.
This trait is found in other dog like cats such as the Bengal.
It is a useful
characteristic as it is a way of getting your cat out of the house in a
controlled manner.
This cat is also good with
other animals
such as pet dogs, which simplifies life if you like to have lots of
pets. It also means that she is good with children. They are, it
seems intelligent, active
and interested in what you are doing and therefore need input and your
companionship.
This may make them less
suitable for apartment living and they probably won't like it if you
are out a lot. There is an article about separation
anxiety on
this website, which you might like to refer to. Some breeders may
suggest that if you are out a lot you can provide company for your
American
Bobtail by introducing another cat, but this may not work. Although
Aloeway Cattery listed below say that this helps for Bobtails.
The
American Bobtail is a strong cat with a healthy disposition, which leads me
nicely to a section on suitable food.
Diet
I quote a breeder here (Aloeway Cattery). They feed raw meat to reflect
what a wild Bobcat (possible ancestor) would eat. They go one step
further and feed the whole animal, such as rabbit, chicken and quail.
This is interesting bearing in mind what I say above about the origin
of this breed.
They make the point that when cats are feed dry food they do not drink
enough to compensate. They have a point there, I believe. I feed my
Moggie fish to compensate (there is a lot of water in the fish I buy). Click
here to read about various aspects of cat food.
Breeders:
These are the top ranked websites in Google. Why is this a reasonable
way of selecting breeders? To be top ranked you need to have been
around a while (a good sign) and be organized. These are free standing
sites not part of a directory. They are all listed in the top 3 pages
on a search for this breed.
I'd like to make a special mention of this breeder:
BelovedAmerican
Bobtails
Cherry Hill, NJ, USA. This cattery is run by Ellen R.
Brenner
If any breeder sees this and wants a listing please ask (go to contact
page). Or better still advertise yourself using the
Forum page
form - go to this
page
and fill in the form. A submission gets converted to a page on this
site and is picked up by Google on the site's Blog (updates page). Try
it and see.
Aloeway
Breeding Bobtails since 1995. You can see some nice photographs of a
Bobtail playing with a dog on this website. This site is Alexa ranked
about 4m with no Google PageRank (little or no inbound links). It is
the first to come up as a breeder on its own though (i.e. not as part
of a directory)
Catalons American
Bobtail
Google listed on 1st page. Located about 20 km outside Los Angeles.
Attitude
Acres
This is a small, family run, cattery, specializing in
chocolates and chocolate silver American Bobtails. Attitudeacres is
pleased to announce they are home and breeder of TICA first IW and
LIFETIME achievement winner, Attitudeacres Murony.
Buckeyebobbis
American Bobtails
This cattery is located in Ohio. Their website has a Pagerank and is
traffic ranked (Alexa) about 7.5m worldwide (the ranking for all
websites, there are 57m websites).
Nachrel American
Bobtails
This site has a PageRank and a traffic ranking of about 5m.