The Manx Cat Breed

The Manx cat breed (sometimes misspelled Minx Cat) is one breed that is immediately noticed due to a naturally occurring mutation of its spine. Because of it we are faced with a cat that has a shorter tail and there are various tail lengths from tailless to normal tail length. A lot of Manx cats will show a small stub of a tail although most Manx cats are known to have no tail and this is a special characteristic of this breed.

Manx Cat Breed Appearance

The Manx cat has hind legs that are longer than the front one, thus creating an arch from the rump to the shoulder. This is the reason why this cat breed has a rounded appearance. The cat's coating comes in a variation of two coat lengths. We thus have a short haired Manx cat that has a thick and short under-layer coat and another outer layer coating with guard hairs. The long haired Manx cat (also known as Cymric) also has a double coat with a silky texture, of medium length. All Manx cats have a thick double layered coat and in contests the Cymric is usually judged as a short hair cat.

Manx Cat Tail Length Factor

The tail length of the Manx cat is highly important due to some factors. For instance, Manx kittens are classified by judging from this factor. We thus have Dimple rumpy (or rumpy - no tail), Riser (or rumpy riser - several vertebrae under the fur or a stub of cartilage), Stumpy (a partial tail) and Long tailed (complete or almost complete tail).

Manx Cat Breed Health

Nowadays the Manx Cat breed is a lot healthier than it was some years ago. This happened because breeders started a careful process of selecting the breeding stock. We thus have Manx breed that are as healthy as other cat breeds and their life expectancy is of 8 to 10 years. The only real problem can be found in the Manx Syndrome. This is a condition that appears when the spine is shortened too much due to the mutant tailless gene. The problem is that the spinal cord can be damaged and nerves end up causing spina bifida and various problems linked with digestion, bladder and bowels. Cats suffering from Manx Sydrome usually live a maximum of 3 years while the record is of 5 years at the moment.