For those of us that are unaware of the term teacup cats it seems like quite a strange phenomenon when someone mentions the term. You may have heard of miniature cats being sold but teacup cats have a slightly different edge to them.
When we talk of ordinary cats they weigh between eleven to fourteen pounds in females and around seventeen pounds in males. Though tea cup cats are miniature cats too but features of a tea cup variety differs from a normal one.
On the contrary a teacup Persian cat starts weighing in at the measly three pound mark and stays below eight at the maximum. If you have these weight markings in mind then you will immediately be able to gauge whether the cat being offered in the market is an actual teacup Persian cat.
When you are looking for a tea cup cat you should be concious of the qualities of a tea cup cat otherwise you may be cheated by some cat breeder of doubtful quality. Any seller who would want to trick you will offer a cat which is less than ten pounds in weight as a tea cup cat but this cat is a Persian cat of common variety. Those Persian cats which weigh ten pounds or less do not necessarily become a tea cup Persian.
Many people think the teacup Persian cat variety to be very appealing. As it is Persian cats are considered to be extremely cute and cuddly making them an excellent choice for a home pet.
The teacup Persian cat with its extremely small size and fragile nature is all the more demanding of love and care which is one of the things that cat owners instinctively do.
The tea cup cats do not come naturally and are bred by a method called inbreeding. Here the cat breeders mate the smallest variety of one breed with the smallest variety of another. The size of the off springs gradually decreases with the coming of each new generation thus gradually the correct size is acquired after a few generations.
The complete process of cutting down the size has a relation to the Japanese art of dwarfism of a tree. A similar process is practiced to dwarf the cats size. When we take the case of tea cup Persian cats however there are two methods involved in the procedure of dwarfism.
One of these ways is known as achondroplasia. This is the process in which the dominant gene grows while mutating. As a consequence it has an effect on the hormonal balance in the cats body. This balance then controls the bone growth resulting in smaller overall bone structures. Although there are number of different breeds of teacup cats the Persian is by far the most popular teacup cat in the world.
The author is a fan of cats and admins a free web based resource on black persian cats. If you want to read further about tea cup persian cats please click on the preceding links.
Tags: animals, cats, dogs, family, household, persian cats, Pets