Ban the Twisty Cat

Anyone that knows me knows I am a devout cat lover, so, there's no question as to how I reacted when I saw this monstrosity:



Not the cat itself, but the reason for why it looks like it does. The owners of Karma Farms purposefully breed "twisty kats", or cats with malformed upper limbs, to the point that they are unrecognizable. (When "purposefully breed" is said, it is meant that they do not strive to remove the gene from their poly lines. IF, and only IF, they truly sought to protect their future polys from carrying the likely possibility of producing a malformed cat, they would alter the cat who is known to carry it. BUT, that first means they must do genetic testing to find which cats carry the gene, but they say no such thing about doing that. They are not proper cat breeders.) These people are disgusting, simply read this quote and you'll understand their full range of animal acceptance:

Read the histories of the various recognized breeds, and you will find that they were created by man for his purposes--from providing amusement to killing each other in pit fights. The same is true of our domestic livestock which were bred for human needs and desires, not to benefit the animal or to improve on its physiology for suvival in the wild.

How can one NOT get outraged by this? These people are monsters, breeding these poor, defenseless cats so they can have a laugh! Destroying what it is to be a cat, encouraging mutation and actually breeding for it... I don't understand this kind of cruelty.

No, it isn't a joke (not like Bonsai kittens or painted cats). This is for real, and these are actually cats.

Background info:

Karma Farms breeds poly cats (or cats with extra toes). One particular cat was born with malformed upper limbs (a mutation that knowingly occurs in breeding polys). They called the cat a "twisty kat".

One of these cats, Flipper (the original "twisty kat"), they bred purposefully to see the result of the mutation in a "twisty" kitten. The result was a cat who's front limbs were so far gone that they couldn't even touch the ground. (And, even though this is fact, the owners of Karma Farm still say, "they have good mobility, too". What classifies as good mobility? Being able to move at all.)

Later, another was born (claimed to be less mobile than all the others), but they don't supply the information as to whether this breeding was purposeful or not--but they were fully aware of the possibility.

Controversy began in 2000.

Recently, a television show called "Weird, True, and Freaky" on Animal Planet aired a segment about "twisty kats" (seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Idch8zeCM -- not the entire segment ). After the show aired, I suspect visitors to the website began to send hate mail to the owners, which in turn caused a rebuttal on the part of Karma Farms, where they began to berate Animal Planet for showing "false information". After their apparent distaste in the way Animal Planet portrayed them, the website goes on to claim that their cats are "some of the best and smartest polys in the world". (Several quotes posted on the website are apparent red flags. It reads to me as if they're trying to make up to the public for a mistake they unknowingly made, or are trying to appear "better" than their alleged competition.)

Other suspicious quotes:

"They are getting to be "senior citizens" in the feline world and have no health problems." - How is this possible for a cat that walks on its stomach? Health problems will be prominent, including spinal and joint damage early on, especially considering that this cat has been inbred and the genes are weak from square one. No cat owner on earth can say that their cat is perfectly healthy.

"Maybe those who have said that they will not live happy and healthy lives such as the vet on "Weird, True and Freaky" weren't given their actual ages? We have never met her and she has NEVER examined any of our Twisty Kats. If she had, she might be surprised at their good general health." - Again, the above applies here.

"Other prestigious and well-known periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Post printed much more correct articles." Praise to sources that did not belittle them and their practices?

You can find the above and more, here: http://www.karmafarms.com/twisty.htm

That is the official Karma Farms website, where you can find all of the above quotes (in context).

We do not call the Twisty Kats "a new breed". The reason is simple--most people would not want a pet that needs to spend its life indoors. These cats have little defense as they cannot climb trees and have real difficulty fighting back with their abbreviated front feet. It is true that we wanted kittens like Flipper when we bred her and did hope that there would be a breed like Flip one day.

This quote confuses me considerably. For one, who on earth wants a pet that doesn't stay indoors...? I'm not familiar with any cat owner that doesn't keep their cats inside (if not all the time, then at least for mealtime and naps), for basic safety reasons, including fleas, disease, and dogs. It's a rule of thumb, when owning a cat. If they know how defenseless the cat is, then why is it that they want this mutation to occur?

Nature has little to do with how we breed our pets. Read the histories of the various recognized breeds, and you will find that they were created by man for his purposes--from providing amusement to killing each other in pit fights. The same is true of our domestic livestock which were bred for human needs and desires, not to benefit the animal or to improve on its physiology for suvival in the wild.

These people find the needs of a human more important than the needs of their animals, and their feelings, this is obvious. This quote reads as if they could care less about the creature they create, as long as it benefits them in some form or fashion--how ever big or small.

We bred the single litter of Twisty kittens on purpose back in 1998 because Flipper was so admired by so many visitors as well as our family. And if we could have assured that all our Twisty kittens looked like Flipper, we would still be working to make them an accepted breed.

If you didn't believe they didn't want to breed them, or don't still try, the above bolded statement should be the dead give away to it all.

And, the last of the quotes:

Why do you think Manx have no tails? What about Munchkins with their short front legs, or the hairless Sphinx? Many accepted exotic breeds have inherent problems. How about Scottish Folds with closed ear channels, flat-faced Persians with eyes that are easily knocked from their sockets and sinus problems, Manx with spina bifida and incomplete rectums?

The absolute ONLY thing this says is, "If they can do it, why can't we?"

Just because it was done before, does NOT make it okay.

On the note of these mutations: Manx can survive in the wild, even the Sphinx has all cat-like abilities it requires to survive (though being hairless would indeed render it helpless in colder months, this is true). Folds have an adequate body built for survival (though hearing is diminished, they are not deaf), Persians again can still survive... what makes all of these breeds different from the Twisty Kat? These breeds can survive without the help of humans, if they so chose to. They have all of their limbs, and all of the power and will to protect themselves and survive. The twisty is deformed beyond all help, there is nothing it can do.

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Another thing you have to know about me is I hate petitions, I have never known one to work, and so I have never resorted to using one. But this is driving me to the edge. I've contacted people, I'm writing articles, and so now I have no where else to turn but the ridiculous thing that is the petition.