"Designer" cat breeds is an awfully vague term. Main Coons, for example, are a naturally occurring large cat from Maine. It was always a large cat, but some breeders push that to an unhealthy extreme to win cat shows. Others, like the Ragdoll, for example, is a perfectly healthy breed that started as a mix between 2 other pedigree breeds of cat with no extremes that challenge their health.

I believe that to make progress in reigning in the excesses of breeders we need to stop thinking in terms of specific breeds and start thinking in terms of genetic issues in specific lines.

[–] c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because they have a munchkin or a Corgi and are mad that their animal is also designer but doesn't want to include it.

[–] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

That's actually not why. Both my cats are rescues. My point was that kneejerk "ban this one breed" takes aren't helpful and don't address the core issues.

Requiring by law genetic tests on pedigree cats and veterinary sign-off that the lines are healthy would go a long way to solving these issues.