Cat
Breed Description:
Dwarf cats are domestic cat breeds which have the condition of dwarfism due to a genetic mutation. The Munchkin is the founding breed of chondrodysplastic (short-legged) dwarf cat. Through outcrossing the Munchkin with a variety of normally proportioned cats a substantial number of dwarf breeds have been developed. The munchkin breed of cat is a relatively new breed created by a mutation that causes achondroplasia, or more likely hypochondroplasia as the skull size is unaffected, resulting in cats with abnormally short legs. However, the shortness of their legs do not seem to interfere with their running and leaping.
Health Problems:
As well as shorter limbs, munchkin cats are prone to lordosis and pectus excavatum, suggesting that Munchkin cats may have a particular predisposition to these conditions. Small litter sizes when two munchkin cats are crossed indicate that embryos that are homozygous for the munchkin gene are non-viable.
Origin:
The founder of Muchkin breed of cats is Roy Galusha. The breed originated in 1983 when Sandra Hochenedel found an extremely short-legged black cat living under a trailer in Louisiana. This cat, named Blackberry, was pregnant and half of her kittens were born short-legged. One of Blackberry's kittens, a tomcat named Toulouse, became the father of a breeding program that established the breed in North America.
In addition to chondrodysplastic dwarf cats, there are a number of normally proportioned dwarfed breeds. These are usually termed "mini-" or "teacup" to differentiate them from the short-legged dwarf cats. Some may be due to a condition similar to primordial dwarfism found in humans. There are several lines of Teacup and Toy Persians currently bred, with some due to a spontaneous mutation and others due to consistently selecting and breeding the smallest individuals from each generation to progressively downsize the breed. 