American Curl Kitten
American Curl is a domestic cat breed.
It is made unique by its curling ears.
A domestic cat breed, American Curl has
perhaps the most amazing ears in all of
the feline world. The name 'Curl' is in
fact attributed to the ears that curl
back from the side of face towards the
centre of head. These give the cat a very
singular and sweet look and are the reason
behind the enthusiastic development and
pursuit of this felid as a distinct breed.
The breed originated in the early nineteen
eighties when a feral female with curled
ears was first discovered in California.
The individual appearance of the
kittens from this cat's litters soon attracted
breeders who took to establishment and
propagation of the American Curl. Within
the last two decades the cat has gained
widespread recognition among cat fanciers
in United States, and is now registered
in both long and shorthair classes.
American Curl is a medium sized animal
with an elegant physical make up. Weight
is normally around six to eight pounds.
Coat is smooth and lustrous in both short
and longhair format. Longhair cats have
a fluffy tail. The remarkable ears are
straight in newborn kittens but begin
to curl within first week of age. They
reach their permanent conformation by
the first four months of life, curling
at an angle between ninety to one hundred
and eighty degrees, and should not be
manually disturbed after that, for fear
of breaking the ear cartilage.
American Curl Unique Traits
The curling of ears in these pretty cats
is due to a mutant gene that is dominant
in character. As a result litters from
cats where only a single parent has curled
ears, result in Curl kittens. Therefore
outcrosses with domestic cats are often
done in case of American Curls to maintain
genetic variety. There are no ill effects
associated with the 'curl' gene and indeed
American Curls are amongst the healthiest
of all cats. They have no significant
recurring hereditary ailment and seldom
present with serious medical conditions.
American Curls are one of the friendliest
cats around today. They have little problem
accepting other cats and dogs in their
household and do well in case of either
large or small families. Faithful pets,
they always try and be around their humans
accompanying them in all of their activities.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Omer Ashraf
The author is a blogger about cats and
an expert on American Curl cat.
IMAGE: By tanakawho [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
Submit
your quality American Curl kitten photos
or informational cat articles for increased
cat breed exposure, cattery recognition
and traffic back to your website