WL> I do question the wisdom of inbreeding members of Goldie's line.
 WL> Spiker may be  a great tom, but he may also be contributing (and
 WL> reinforcing) undesirable  recessive genes that aren't immediately
 WL> evident.
 
 II> The only "problems" which COULD be genetically-related that I have
 II> seen, one of Shadow's upper "fangs" was underdeveloped, and has come
 II> out.  One of Scamper's siblings had a deformed leg when he was born,
 II> however it was completely straightened out and normal by the time he
 II> was weaned.  I put that down to being cramped in the woumb.
     I believe the phrase used was "undesireable recessive genes that aren't 
immediately evident."  What this means is that, despite what you may believe 
from watching one too many episodes of the X-Files, you just are not going 
to have massively deformed kittens after only a generation or two.  That 
said, inbreeding does cause problems, whether you want to accept that fact 
or not.  It's not going to be immediately evident, and there is a strong 
chance that when problems manifest, you'll dismiss it as having some other 
cause.  Either way, you're not doing your cats any favors.
 II> Speaking of inbreading, I have kept my mouth shut while reading all
 II> the worries about what it might be doing to current and future
 II> generations of cats from this line.  And every time I read yet ANOTHER
 II> such comment, I want to scream, "How the blazes do you think that
 II> animals are bred to get certain characteristics?"  You take a male and
 II> a female which show the characteristics you want to encourage, and you
 II> breed them.  Then you take whatever offspring show the strongest
 II> characteristics you want and you breed them, either to their siblings,
 II> their parents, or to others who also share the desired characteristics.
 II> This is how the different breeds of cats, (longhair/shorthair/special
 II> markings/bone structure, etc.), dogs, miniature horses, potbellied
 II> pigs, sheep, or any other breed of animals... they were ALL bred the
 II> same way: by inbreeding!  
 
     Oh, I'm sorry.  I didn't realize that inbreeding was something that had 
been practiced before; I thought you were the first one to attempt it.
     Realistically, though, what kind of an argument is that?  "They have 
done it in the past so it must be okay!"  That's crap, and you know it.  I'm 
not debating the fact that it was (may even still be) an accepted practice.  
I just think you selectively ignore facts that don't fit your picture of the 
way things work, and you try to rationalize things.
... Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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