I think this is my third topic started in the last two weeks, so sorry if I'm spamming you guys ^^' This is the last one for a while, promise. I've just been very curious about something, and I haven't been able to find much info about it online.

Whited out bellies. Are they purely an ALC trait, or do they pop up in domestic populations as well? I've been reading up a bit on Toygers lately (not sure why...I don't plan to ever breed, but for some reason selective breeding just fascinates me), and I've noticed that whited bellies are a trait they've been trying to lock in, that they import from bengals. My own bengal mix has a gloriously creamy belly, with three rows of jet black spots.

So, what are the genetics of whited bellies, and where do they come from?


Also, since I've promised to stop spamming the forums with new topics, I'll ask a second question while I'm here. Grim (my bengal mix) was very much a plague rat when she came into my house. She set about infecting all the other animals with Giardia, earmites, and Ringworm (and I include myself among those infected...it's taken me months to get rid of the ringworm on my shoulder).
Consequently, my little Oriental kitten got a rather nasty bout of ringworm on her tail. That's actually how I first noticed the ringworm, as Grim did not have any visible bald spots, just a bit of dandruff. I really should have quarantined Grim for longer before exposing her to the others. Poor Pangur now has a bald ring around her tail, near the tip. I've been applying Canestan cream to it daily, as my vet recommended, and it's gone from all horrible and scabby to shiny and pink. To my eyes, it looks like scar tissue. It's been about three or four months now, and the fur has yet to grow back. My second question is: will Pangur always have the bald patch on her tail? Does ringworm cause scarring? Or do I just have to wait a bit for her fluff to come back?

I can post pictures, if that's helpful to anyone. And thank you very much for your answers in advance :)

Here are a few pics of Pangur's tail. The fur around the bald patch is greasy and gross from the Canestan cream, so excuse the yellow staining. As you can see from her posing/expression, she is one happy little kitty, rat tail and all :)

Pangur has also got recessive albinism. Forgot to mention that...her eyes are pretty freaky :) You can see all the red blood vessels strung beneath the blue. I've attached a picture, but I'm not sure it shows it all that well.

Would her albinism in any way hamper her healing? Are albinos weaker at all, more prone to any conditions?
If that weren't enough, Pangur is also from a line breeding. She only has one grandfather, so I'm assuming he's the source of the alibinism. I'm just worried that the inbreeding, as well as being albino, has made her more fragile than Grim, which would explain why the ringworm struck Pangur so much more severely.

The pure white version of whited bellies is an ALC trait and the genes responsible can be looked upon as a collection of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. When ALC to ALC is bred the pieces match up and align and the tummy is white. When ALC is bred to a domestic the whited pieces are all mixed up with non whited pieces, some align some don't. The pure whited belly is often lost, as each time the generation is mated to a domestic it introduces even more non-whited genes, that ruin the whited "puzzle". One of the many downsides to having sterile early generation males.
Of course in the Bengal breed then selective breeding takes over and breeding skill comes in. The goal is to match up all those pieces so cats with whited expression ie whitish or greyish underbelllies are mated with others who also have whited expression or who have whited parents in order to put all those ALC pieces back together again in the domestic Bengal cat.

Ringworm as an infection can cause scarring and damage to the hair follicles. Some damage is repairable and the hair loss is temporary whilst other damage is severe resulting in permanent hair loss.

Inbreeding can definitely alter immune function and as the product of a 1/2 brother/sister mating she will have a high inbreeding coefficient, but ringworm can be highly contagious and can need prolonged therapy in any cat or human.
See http://www.fabcats.org/owners/skin/ringworm.html

I had a cat with ringworm years ago and she was given some sort of tablets for it.

There is some really good info here, on Fabcats: http://www.fabcats.org/owners/skin/ringworm.html

Pangur is gorgeous, I hope her tail improves. Maybe go back to the vets and ask them if there's something else they can do.

My kitten is not a pure bred and is considered part of a breeding program. His maternal grandfather black with a white belly. My kitten has a vey prominate white belly and nose. The breeder did not think it looked like a whited belly because when he was a kitten there was a definate line between his color and the white, but as he has gotten older it is starting to look more like the pictures of the whited belly that is sought after. I am considering breeding him with a bengal female to see if this trait will continue or if it is just part of the DSH genes thet will fade away as their is more bengal genes introduced.





Travis

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Lollo

Here is a picture of his belly.

OK, looks like he has a white muzzle, a locket and probably some groin white too as well as the white feet. He, like thousands of others, has a variation of the "tuxedo" pattern.
This is not the "sought after" whited, but just the white pattern that is found on any black and white domestic in the country, only your cat is tabby and not black.
bicolours.png

Maybe you are right, but the white gene was introduced 2 generations ago and it will take 2 more to breed back to a pure Bengal. The only way to know what will happen would be to breed him and see what comes up. As I have stated I do not want to sell them, I want to have clowder of cats.

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Lollo