Cat Breeding
Purebred cat fanciers follow certain established breeding principles. First of all, a pedigree cat is one having both parents of the same breed. The breed is a group of cats with common characteristics which distinguish them from others. For example, the fawn coat, blue or seal points and blue eyes of the Siamese are breed characteristics. So are the absence of a tail in the Manx, the rabbit like fur of the Abyssinian and the blue or mauve coat of the Russian Blue.
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the mating of very closely related cats, such as father and daughter, mother and son, mother and sister. It is practiced when the characteristics in concentrated format are desired to perpetuate the cat—for example, an exceptionally hick neck ruff on a long-haired cat or particular color shade or shape of the head. Inbreeding is not recon-mended for the novice cat breeder, since many undesirable traits maybe produced. Contrary to popular belief, however, inbreeding does not always produce monstrosities.
Inbreeding proper is much closer than line breeding. The most intensive involves mating of brother and sister, and then, perhaps, the mating of their sons and daughters. Again, so long as the selection is good there is nothing harmful.
It is the selection that matters. Line breeding and in-breeding proper will `fix’ the good features that are being sought - color, size, shape of head, quality of bone, or whatever it may be. But it must be remembered that bad features can be just as firmly fixed by these methods—and that bad features are very difficult to breed out. Indeed, it might almost be said that bad features are much more permanent than good ones. It will be seen that good selection implies complete familiarity with the pedigree and the individual members of it.
Line Breeding
Line breeding is the most common and reliable system of breeding cats and other animals. It consists of mating animals that are related, but not as closely related as those used for inbreeding. Mating cousin with cousin is an example of line breeding. You can distinguish line breeding in a cat’s pedigree by the appearance of the same cat’s name in different generations.
Line breeding really means breeding back along the line of a family. The mating of father to daughter or mother to son is line breeding. The mating of grandfather to grand-daughter or grandmother to grandson is also line breeding, though of course not quite so intensive. Continuous line breeding involves the mating of a female, produced by mating father to daughter; wither grandfather, the female progeny of such a mating being bred back to her great-grandfather. Provided that the selection is good, there is nothing harmful about this.
Out-Crossing
Out crossing is the practice of mating unrelated or remotely related cats within a breed.
Crossbreeding
Crossbreeding is the practice of mating a pedigree cat with a pedigree cat of a different breed. In this way, new breeds are established. The outstandingly fine Colour point variety was established since the war as the result of several generations of selected mating of Siamese cats with long-hairs.