My MIL has a Savannah (F4 or F5) and I abhor her for it. He’s actually a cool cat, albeit pretty aloof. He doesn’t go outside and I don’t believe he gets the enrichment he needs. She has a Highland Lynx, too, that is much more apt to be her housecat. She’s very showy. Just bought herself a european car because she thinks it gives her status, so that’s the role these cats fill. She’s not necessarily irresponsible, and she gives them plenty of attention, but she’ll only absorb the information she wants to and she’ll do as she pleases because she “knows”.
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How do cats end up with dwarf legs? Is it a breed or a mutation, the result of inbreeding, or something else?
They started with a mutation.
This is also interesting
Also this YT channel
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I should maybe put this on the dog bites vet thread, but since it is about breeding I thought I would put it here. Mods, if I am wrong, you may move it. I just saw this on FB.
Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:
I am a 21st century dog.
-I’m a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I’m always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.
-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.
-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.
-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can’t use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.
-I’m a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I’m a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I’m fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.
-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.
-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.
-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnership with my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.
I am …
I am a 21st century dog.
I’m pretty, I’m alert, I’m obedient, I stay in a bag…but I’m also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am not suited for the sedentary life you’d want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I’ll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I’ll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I’m meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you’ve always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can’t give me a real dog’s life, a life that’s really worth living according to my breed, and if you can’t offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren’t willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your goodwill, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think very carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won’t be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it’s an eternity for me to be alone.
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There’s a policy to not identify any breeds (or suspected breeds) in the dogs at the shelters. This policy came about because the available dogs are mostly pits and they don’t want people to shy away from them. It’s a lie by omission, or maybe even fraud.
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I think I’ve shared before one barn I boarded and worked at had a wolf hybrid, chained to a tree, then it got bred,… Bit people,… Stalked me, tried to jump at my horse, parked at the open door to the indoor, while I was riding… Tried to eat kittens dumped there,… Etc
All the anticipated highlights not anticipated or mitigated. Per usual.
.
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Need a frown button. Poor animal.
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So I guess Itty Bitty hasn’t mellowed with age? 
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Definitely not!
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This can apply to most any dog and then when you add that many people crate the poor dog on top of it all?? 8-10 hours in a cage is convenience to the person and cruel to the animal.
They always say " my dog loves his/ her crate and goes in it all on their own"… Baloney.
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My BC kept on stuffing herself in her crate until almost half of her wouldn’t fit anymore, so I put it away in the basement. She really did love her crate as a cozy spot when she was home, proven by the fact we never put her in it anymore, it was her little nest it seemed. She definitely wasn’t being shut up in it anymore.
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I have no issues with having a crate and I know some dogs love going in and feeling safe.
It is the shutting them in for hours on a daily basis while the owner is gone( or home even) part I can’t get past.
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Not dog or cat, but a sorta-friend (kept at armslength for her overall Worldview) has sugar gliders.
Had 2, 1 just died & from her description, obesity was a mitigating cause.
So, of course, she’ll get another, because this species cannot live solo. Self-mutilation results.
This kind of exotic has no place as a pet.
Even if someone has the wherewithall to keep a community of them, it will never be a natural habitat.
Why people are compelled to try to reshape exotics defies logic.
At least one this small can’t do the harm a larger animal would, just WHY? 
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That is horrific. I’m well and truly shocked. Unbelievable that people think it’s okay to breed for dwarfism in cats, and the gene is lethal in its homozygous state…
I don’t know much about mini horses but I understand that some mini horses are born with dwarfism, but I don’t think responsible breeders try to breed for it. There are plenty minis out there that aren’t dwarfs.
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You’d be disappointed to know Dwarfed Minis were trendy with the H/J crowd a while ago.
Kaley Cuoco had at least one: Smooshy
I was at an auction where a parrot-mouthed, roached-back, obvious dwarf sold for more than the normally conformed minis.
The breeders I got my boy from irresponsibly (IMO) rebred mares who’d foaled dwarves
In spite of having some AMHR Champions, they bordered on being hoarders. 50 head at one point.
No dwarfism in my gelding & his dentition is good. Minis can have horse-sized teeth crammed into their mouths.
That was one of the first things I looked at when I got him as a 2yo. To this day no problems.
In fact, he has yet to be floated - turns 10 in May. My vet does dentals & checks him every Spring when I do vax.
She also treats a friend’s mini with some dwarf traits - short legs, oversized head - needs floating every 6mos.
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Wait a freaking minute…there are dwarf minis? As in an actual dwarfism gene to make their legs shorter? Who thought this was good idea? Just get a stuffed animal and quit screwing up living and breathing creatures!
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I just looked at the pictures…good grief! No neck, limb deformities are common, aforementioned large heads and dental issues. Can we stop already? And H/J people were buying these train wrecks? You mean people that knew this was unhealthy were encouraging it anyway?
I don’t think they’re bred intentionally.
But it’s common enough so I’d hope responsible breeders would not breed back a mare who had foaled a dwarf.
The article I read about KC’s mini seemed to say H/J folks were treating them like mascots.
On a par with the omnipresent JRTs & Pugs.
At least at her level of showing, I’d suspect the needed vet/dental care was provided.
The auction I mentioned was the local Amish sale.
One owner dispersed a herd of nicely-conformed minis that went for well under the price the dwarf (not from that breeder) brought.
My own vet has a small herd of minis she’s taken on from clients who couldn’t (wouldn’t) care for them.
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