American Curl
Introduction With the American Curl the thing to talk about is.....well yes, you guessed, the ears. Like many other breeds (including, for example, the dwarf cat) the difference in the ears is due to a genetic mutation that happened naturally.The mutated gene is dominant, so in mating with, for example, a domestic cat that has normal ears and is not a pedigree cat, at least half the litter will have curled ears. But they won't have curled ears on birth. It takes about 2-10 days after birth for the ears to curl back. They curl and uncurl until they firmly settle into the curled position at about 4 months of age. So far, no harmful defects have been associated with this gene. In other words this gene has no other effect on the formation of the cat after conception that is detrimental to the cat
Origin The founding cat of the American Curl was called Shulamith. She was a long haired black cat with, of course, curled ears. Both she and another (who was called Panda) walked into the life of Joe and Grace Ruga in Lakewood, California in the summer of 1981. Panda disappeared while Shulamith stayed and half of her first litter of kittens had curl eared, confirming the dominant gene. The gene is also autosomal (sex linked).Selective breeding began in 1983 and the breed was first registered with the C.F.A. in 1983.
History
Appearance and Character From people who have kept this cat she has proved to be a medium energy cat and good "all rounder"; in short a nicely balanced and even tempered cat.As it takes about 16 weeks for the ears to form their permanent position a breeder can only tell if the cat will be show quality after this period. The amount of ear curl varies a lot from nearly straight to the full show cat curl. If the ears are straight the cat is naturally not going to win competitions and indeed would fall foul of the breed standard. In addition to the curled ears the longhaired cats have great long haired tails (see above). The coat is not a double coat so it is silky and easier to maintain. By out-crossing to domestic cats matching the breed standard the gene pool has been kept wide and healthy.This also means that there are a wide variety of coat types (long and short hair) and colors. Indeed the American Curl can be seen in any color and pattern. The breed is also mated with other cats of the same breed resulting in all the litter having curled ears. Being a dominant gene, when bred to a cat of a different breed at least half the litter has curled ears. Through careful breeding and the benign nature of the mutated gene causing the curled ears this breed has no inherent propensities to certain illnesses and her temperament is good.
The Ears Perhaps a critical look at the ears will prove useful as they are the feature that sets this cat apart from all others. The American Curl Breed Group says (and I paraphrase) that the ears should be pleasant to look at (of course:). If there are depressions in the ears the cat would be penalized in competition. The ears should curl at least 90% (I'm not sure how you measure this accurately). But if the ear curls too much and touches the back of the head the cat will be disqualified in competition. This is just an example to show you how technical and scientific the subject of ears can be for this show cat.It is essential that the curve should be smooth (to be aesthetically pleasing). Ear hair ("furnishings") are a bonus (my words). You can see a large format slide show with more on the CFA breed standard and some more photographs on this page.
Breeders At early 2008, there are no free standing cattery websites listed by Google in the first 3 pages for the American Curl. If you'd like to be listed here please contact me.If you'd like a full sponsored page, please contact me also. Sources:
 American Curl to home page
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