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.
American Curl Kitten Image: By Peppermint13
(Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
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