Manx

The Isle of Man is situated in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, and has a history of habitation dating back 11,000 years.  The island abounds with legend and folklore, and some of this relates to the island’s native cat, the Manx, and its defining feature of the lack of a tail.

One legend has it that the cat was late for the sailing of Noah’s Ark and was separated from its tail by the closing doors. Another that it is the result of cross breeding between cats and rabbits. There are several versions of a legend blaming invading Vikings or Irish soldiers for the missing tail; these intruders were said to kill cats believing their tails to be lucky charms, feline mothers bit off their kittens’ tails to save them.  The mysterious origins of the Manx cat may account for its supernatural powers. The cats have their own king, an ordinary moggy by day who wanders the island in the shape of a fiery phantom by night, carrying out terrible acts of revenge against any human foolish enough to be unkind to the regal feline.

It is not known for sure when cats arrived on the Isle of Man.  Small, isolated, populations of tailless cats are also found in other parts of Europe including Denmark and Crimea, although whether they are genetically related to Manx cats (Manx have always been highly favoured as ships’ cats and so could have visited foreign shores) or are simply a similar result of insular genetic diversity is unknown.  What is known for sure is that the Manx is an ancient natural breed, and its taillessness is caused by a mutation that probably originated among the island’s cat population, and being a dominant gene it spread to other cats on the island.  Manx were one of the first show cats, the first recorded exhibit appearing at Olympia in 1885, with the first breed standard published in 1903.  It was also one of the first breeds recognised by the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) when it was founded in 1906.

A Manx cat named “Stubbs” was the Mayor of a town called Talkeetna, Alaska from July 1997 until his death in 2017. Stubbs lived to the age of 20 years and three months.

The Manx has a fairly round large head with prominent cheeks. The nose should be broad and medium length with a gentle dip from the forehead to nose. The muzzle should be strong and there should be a definite whisker break and the chin should be firm and the bite level. The ears are fairly tall, set rather high on the head and angled slightly outwards so that they are gently flared. The eyes are large and round and set obliquely, with the colour in keeping with the coat colour. The body should be solid with breadth across the chest; the back should be short, but not overly shortened, as this may pose a greater risk of associated health defects. The flanks should be deep and the legs well boned, with the back legs longer than the front with powerful deep thighs. A Manx should appear tailless with a rounded rump with no substantial extension of tail bone or cartilage, although minor rises are permitted if these do not interfere with the roundness of the rump. The overall impression should be of balance for roundness of rump to back and hind leg length. The Manx has a double coat, and should appear well padded, with the quality arising from a short, very thick undercoat and slightly longer overcoat. The double quality of the coat is of more importance than the colour or markings. All colours and patterns are acceptable with the exception of colourpointed (Himalayan/Siamese colour restriction), chocolate or cinnamon and their dilute derivatives lilac or fawn. The average weight and size of a male Manx is approximately 10 – 12 pounds (4.5 to 5.5 kg), comparable to that of its near cousin the British Shorthair. A female can range in weight from approximately 8 – 10 pounds (3.5 to 4.5 kg). Neutered cats will be slightly heavier. Manx are at present recognised as Tailless Manx including (i) rumpy (ii) rumpy riser and also tailed/part tailed Manx including (iii) stumpy Manx and (iv) Tailed Manx. Only shorthair, tailless Manx are currently recognised by the GCCF Standard of Points for showing purposes. Stumpy and tailed Manx are included as a vital part of the breeding programme.

As a family pet, the Manx is playful and intelligent, bonding well with its human family. Their powerful hind quarters means that they can jump to great heights, accelerate and turn quickly. They are not as territorial as other cats and will actively avoid conflict. They are sometimes referred to as “dog-like” in both their loyalty to their human companions and their love of interactive play. They are generally laid back individuals, and happy to be part of a family with children and other pets. They are noted as great hunters – a legacy of their working origins – so if allowed access to outdoors, you will probably be presented with “gifts” in the form of mice, voles or birds – so consider a catio for your Manx friend!

The Manx is a fairly easy cat to manage. As they are slow to mature, the Manx kitten should be fed kitten foods for at least the first year of life whilst bone is being laid down. The coat will require grooming during the moulting season to remove loose hairs from the dense coat. As the cat ages and becomes less able to groom itself, it may be that the coat will need attention to prevent mats from forming.

The Manx taillessness gene is dominant and highly penetrant; kittens from two Manx parents are generally born without any tail. Being homozygous for (having two copies of) the gene is usually lethal in utero, resulting in miscarriage. Thus, tailless cats can carry only one copy of the gene. Breeders have reported all tail lengths in the same litter, and there is no accurate means to predict the ratio of tailed to tailless kittens produced in each litter. Because of the danger of having two copies of the taillessness gene, breeders generally avoid breeding two entirely tailless Manx cats together. However, in contrast, as neither parent carries the tailless allele, a tailed Manx bred to tailed Manx results in all tailed kittens, which is also undesirable. Therefore, controlled combinations of tailed to tailess and tailess to tailess matings are generally used to maintain overall litter balance, phenotype and genetic diversity.

“Manx syndrome” or “Manxness” is a colloquial name given to the condition which results when the tailless gene shortens the spine too much, as discussed above. It can seriously damage the spinal cord and the nerves causing a form of spina bifida as well as problems with the bowels, bladder, and digestion. Some tailless cats such as the Manx cats may also develop megacolon which is a recurring condition causing constipation that can be life-threatening to the cat if not properly monitored. It is a condition in which, due to absence of a tail, the smooth muscle that normally contracts to push stools toward the rectum loses its ability to do so. Very small bladders are also indicative of the disease and it is often difficult to diagnose. Death can occur quite suddenly and some live for only 3–4 years; the oldest recorded was 5 years when affected with the disease. In one study it was shown to affect about 30% of Manx cats, but nearly all of those cases were rumpies, which exhibit the most extreme phenotype. The breed is also predisposed to rump fold intertrigo and corneal dystrophy. Some partial tails are prone to a form of arthritis that causes the cat severe pain, and in rare cases Manx-bred kittens are born with kinked short tails because of incomplete growth of the tail during development; kittens with stumpy to long tails have sometimes been docked at birth as a preventative measure.

However it must be stated that these problems are now rare and can be avoided by observance of good breeding practices i.e. minimising the number of generations of tailess to tailess matings (maximum of three and preferably two) and the use of fully tailed Manx cats in the breeding program, as discussed above. These are responsible for a decline in spinal problems among modern, professionally-bred Manx cats today. Most pedigreed cats are not placed until four months of age (to make sure that they are properly socialised) and this usually also gives adequate time for any such health problems to be identified. Renowned feline expert Roger Tabor has stated: “Only the fact that the Manx is a historic breed stops us being as critical of this dangerous gene as of other more recent selected abnormalities.” However, these cats survived over many centuries, independent of outside interference from man, building a viable, self-sustaining population of free-breeding animals. This confirmed the inherent vigour, soundness and independence of this tailless phenotype in feral animals. The Manx cat has not been artificially derived by man from a naturally occurring mutation which has then been selected to build a novel breed. The tailless phenotype (and all its permutations) is still the predominant feature of naturally born domestic cats on the Isle of Man’.