This program is on tonight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7569521.stm

I read some info about that on the BBC website this morning - it should be worth watching. I had no idea that 75% of all dogs in Britain are pedigree! I wonder what the figure is for cats?

From my very limited experience it seems cat breeders go more for colour, body shape and natural looking features rather than the distorted features that seem to be "fashionable" among a lot of dog breeds. No doubt there are exceptions in the cat world but it does seem as if there are a lot more opportunities for odd shapes/sizes in dogs which just encourages the extremes, especially if breed standards reward them.

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Hestia Gone but not forgotten, RIP sweet princess.
Zeus Gone but not forgotten, RIP big fella, our Nookie bear.

i'll be watching that...saw a few clips on richard & judy...looks very interesting.
the main extremes in the cat world i guess are those bred specifically from deformities such as the sphynx, manx & munchkin.

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Best Wishes,
Maddy

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Hestia Gone but not forgotten, RIP sweet princess.
Zeus Gone but not forgotten, RIP big fella, our Nookie bear.

I thought the dog breeders came out of the programme very badly and the people at the Kennel Club weren't very impressive either. They'll probably argue they were put on the spot and it wasn't a balanced programme and I know it only featured a tiny sample of dog breeders but they came across as a middle class elite who were breeding for fashion and to enhance their own image. They seemed to be in total denial that what they were doing was totally unnatural - yet how could anyone look at the Crufts champion Pekinese who had to sit on an ice pack, or the Basset whose belly dragged on the floor and whose legs could hardly support it and say that's locking in the original features. Animals like that wouldn't survive more than a generation or two in the "real world". Happy, healthy animals just didn't seem to come into it which is terribly sad.

I just hope that Bengal breeding (or any other breed) doesn't go down the same lines in pursuit of "desirable" looks.

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Well I have to say after watching this programme I am utterly shocked & disgusted & feel ashamed to call myself a human being. The dog breeders in question were what I would refer to as 'old school' their way or no way!

They don't like to be told that there may be a genetic problem in their line & definitely don't like change. Now what these breeders need to remember is, these animals lives are in our hands we purposely put 2 cats/dogs together & wait for the offspring. Surely the least we can do is to make sure we are putting 2 healthy animals together to begin with.

So.... somebody may breed the best looking Bengal we have had so far, who Supremes's at every show, gets every trophy going but, he is known to produce or does have HCM there would be no need to reproduce from him at all but breeders like those on that dog programme still would because it's all about what they look like on the 'catwalk.'

I actually have a similar situation myself I approached an established UK Bengal breeder the other day regarding HCM & the response I got I found shocking.... I was told that there are worse things in the breed than HCM although nothing specific was mentioned now again 'old school' not always the best to get advice from, although there may be other points to watch for in our beloved Bengal I don't think it would compare to the devastating effects of HCM. Have these people read the symptoms of an affected cat? I guess not.

I have to admit it wasn't until reading the sticky from Elaine (Junglerose) mostly the link about the poor Ragdoll breeder that I became aware of what the poor animals go through again, reduced me to tears. Now what right do we as human beings have to inflict this sort of pain & suffering onto poor defenceless animals that do not ask to be born the least we can do is test our breeding stock & just hope & prey our beautiful Bengals do not suffer like most of the dogs on that programme.

I love this quote from the programme would you sleep with your daughter? Of course not, don't be obsurd! Well the same should be for animals we as humans do not inbreed so why should animals just to lock in a certain trait surely the health should come 1st.

It's just ashame that a lot of new Bengal breeders go to him for advice but I hope that with time they too will learn that if you have your breeding stock tested at least you will be able to sleep at night

The cat world is not immune to some of this, there are a few of the established breeds that have changed so drastically that a quality cat from 25-30 years ago would not stand a chance on todays show bench. And, in all honesty the older one is probably the better cat.

It is happening all the time, and one reason is that the people who do this breeding are often the ones who get the standards changed. This then means the others all play catch-up and hey presto your breed has changed.

What sadly seems to have happened in the Bengal world is that the ailments of the outcross breeds came through as well. So, we have a breed that is prone to afflictions and then these do not get properly culled so it grows. Ok, some things take a while to come out, but it is no use to anyone carrying on regardless.

Hopefully, the Bengal will never suffer the type problems, because at the back of it all there is the ALC running around in the wild (which is in a way our target cat), well out of the way of people playing at designer cats.
Oh, I forgot, didn't someone cross a Munchkin with a Bengal . On their own fine, mixed no thanks.

Gerry.