PUBLICATION MAGAZINE VOLUME ONE magz onl | Page 25

23 KNOW YOUR CAT BREEDS
AMERICAN BOBTAIL
MODERN - UNITED STATE - UNCOMMON
T HE CHARISMATIC AMERICAN
BOBTAIL or AB, is recognize as a relatively “new”
breed, although it has been around for many years.
On first glance, the AB has all the magnificient
appearance of a wildcat that has strolled in from the
wilderness. Its temperament, however, could not be
further remove ; it is among the most affectionate,
charming, engaging cats around. The AB devotes
itself to its entire family, not just a single member,
and is (generally) excellent with children, dogs and
other pets. It is fairly active, with a keen sense of
play, and is very intelligent, which it often uses to
its advantage. It is not unheard for ABs to be leash
trained and to engage in a riotous game of “fetch”.
The other significant aspect of the ABs is of course
its short tail. The tail should not extend below the
hock, but should be present and a minumum of
one inch. Each tail is unique, and maybe slightly
knotted or curved, exhibit bumps, or be straight.
The AB carries its tail proudly above its back when
in motion, and may even gemtly wave it much like
a dog wagging, when its happy or concerntrating
hard.
The AB is recognized as a naturally occuring
shorttailed breed, altough it is also a product of
hard work by a number of ealry breeders, who
consolidated and developed the natural traits.
Interestingly, the breed is not believed to be linked
to the Manx or the Japenese Bobtail, and both
of these breeds have been kept out of the ABs
bloodlines. The AB’s short tail is believed to be
due to a dominant gene (like the Manx) that could
have occured as a spontaneous mutation. Most
surprisingly, given their appearance, the AB is not
believed to have originated through wild bobcat
and domestic cat hybrids.
All accounts of the AB’s development trace
back to John and Brenda Sanders from Iowa. While
on vacation in Arizona, the couple came across a
short tailed kitten, which they retrieved and took
home. He was a brown tabby and they called him
Yodie. Yodie took a shine to the Sander’s other cat,
a female non-pedigree domestic colour point called
Mishi, and Mishi produced a litter of short tailed
kittens. A friend of the Sanders, Mindy Schultz,
saw the kiteens and realized they might lead to
the new breed. She took several and introduced a
long haired colourpoint cat to the breeding mix, as
well as using other feral cats with naturally short
tail, feral cats like this occur across the United
States and Canada. Mindly Schultz wrote the first
provisional standard for the breed in the early
1970s, but unfortunately these original cats were
excessively inbred, leading to health issues, and
this first breeding initiative was lost.
In the late 1970s, other group of breeders
began to re-astablish the American Bobtail using
the naturally occuring bob-tailed cats In 1989
two breeders, Lisa Black Borman and Reaha
Evans submitted the AB to the International Cat
Association (TICA) committee to seek recognation,
and were accepted. Since then breeders have
used domestic bobtailed from across the United
States and Canada to produce the AB and have
thus kept the gene pool healthy, leading to the AB
being the robust cat. Interstingly altough it is from
an apparently fairly random, disparate breeding
program,the AB always shows striking similarities
and characteristics. Some breeders continu to use
bobtail cats of unknown parentage in their breeding
program.The result is a breed that has no other
recognize cat breed in its foundation and bears an
uncanny resemblance to the wild bobtail cat.