Meet the designer cats with wild blood

This story is about little

cats

... ...that look like big

cats

... and the people who made it possible. But before we get there, let's back up a bit. We went to an event at the Westminster Dog Show and cats were invited this year. So we went to film them and we weren't the only ones. In the middle of the crowd was a man holding his cat named Bengal. That's Anthony Hutcherson and his whole life he's had a dream: "I always wanted a leopard or an ocelot as a pet." Wanting an ocelot as a pet may seem strange, but until recently owning an exotic cat was not unheard of.

People kept leopards and cheetahs as pets and here is Salvador Dali and his ocelot called Babou. But exotic cats weren't just for celebrities, this family in Denver had a pet leopard. They called him Pasha. Growing up, Anthony found books about keeping an ocelot as a pet and became fascinated. “Luckily, the library was a little dated, so there were still books from the '50s and '60s at my public school that said things about having a pet ocelot, and made it seem normal... and I thought it might be me . too!" But in the 1970s, authorities began restricting ownership and confiscating exotic pets.

So instead of owning an ocelot, Anthony's dream was to raise a cat that looked like one. It started after watching magazine in a grocery store: "At the checkout: like an alien seen and a woman creates a house cat that looks like a leopard and then I remembered, went ahead, found her and called her The woman on the phone." was Jean Mill, the first American Bengal breeder. “At one point I remember saying to her, 'No, I can't afford these cats, but I really want one, this is my dream.'” I described in detail what I wanted and she said: "That cat doesn't exist.

I want that too." '” Jean told Anthony about Asian leopard cats: a

wild

species native to Asia that was bred with a domestic cat to create a first-generation hybrid, called "F1," that is 50%

wild

and 50% domestic. an F1, which he received from Dr. Willard Centerwall, a scientist at Loma Linda University. Dr. Centerwall was breeding hybrid cats to study the hereditary factors of leukemia, which could help understand and combat leukemia in humans. She needed their genetic samples and once she bred the cats, they needed homes, so Jean Mill received an F1 kitten in 1980. By crossing her F1 with a domestic cat, Jean created second generation hybrids, but the males were sterile, as far as Jean could. "And when they are four generations away from the Asian leopard cat, fertility is much more regular and, in terms of being able to be shown and considered a 'domestic cat'," "they have to be four generations away from the Asian leopard cat" *sound of smack* "Sorry, that's my cats running around the room!" By the time he reached the fourth generation, Jean had developed a new breed: the Bengal, which was officially recognized by the International Cat Association in 1986.

After his phone call with Jean, Anthony decided to start breeding on his own, so He bought a Bengal F1. and she began attending cat shows. "This cat is amazing." "For the Bengals' future, I would like to see them" "move more in a direction toward a wild look." "Be instantly identified as 'oooooh.'" "But I want them to be just as sweet, turn them on their side, pull their tail," "or kiss them, if you have to." *applause*” Over the years, Anthony’s goal has not changed. He continued to pursue it by carefully selecting cats for his breeding program. “When I make the decision to raise them,” “I have an idea of ​​what I think. ""The kittens will look like" "and when they are born I try to choose the one" "that looks most like what I wanted it to look like." "It's like any good chef will probably tell you." "It's not about adding a bunch of things other than a soup." "It's what you choose to add, how much, and when you add it." Choosing breeding partners to develop certain traits is called "selective breeding." "All cats are beautiful, but I'm not trying to make all the cats. "I'm trying to make a very specific cat." A specific cat with rosette-like qualities, the natural markings on leopards that he describes as a pattern, "...with that same spot that's maybe black or brown, and in the center of that spot there's a color between, say , yellow or orange". -” You get the idea, Anthony knows what he wants his cats to look like, but selective breeding can put animals at risk if breeders pair close relatives, so to avoid inbreeding, owners like Vicki Jeffers They go to cat shows where they can exchange. cats to develop new traits, like the shaggy coat we saw on this long-haired Bengal "If you crossed her with Jefferson, you could get the beautiful tail and the cute ears" "and the kittens could get this wonderful pattern." "So what you do is look for traits in the cats that yours doesn't have" "and look at the pedigrees to make sure you're not inbreeding too much." To avoid inbreeding, breeders need a large gene pool, which means breeding a large number of cats. "People are convinced that there are too many cats in the world" "and there are too many rescued cats." "And they say, 'well, they're breeding superfluous cats here' " 'when there are cats that are looking for a home.' "And, I mean, they're right." "They have an important point." "But if you look at these cats, they justify breeding" "because they are wonderful, wonderful animals." Animals like Anthony's cat, Ovation. "Her name is Ovation and she is the biggest cat in the world." And while the development of Bengals has taken decades, other breeds are just getting started.

This is a savannah, which was developed by breeding domestic cats with a serval: a wild carnivore native to the African savannahs. Unlike the Bengals, we found only a few cats at this position. and that's because the Savannah is a newer breed. The first F1 Savannah was born in 1986. Therefore, there are fewer state-of-the-art Savannahs compared to the Bengals. Such a cat can cost more than a thousand dollars. But older generations of Savannahs are even more expensive. A Savannah F1 can cost more than $20,000 and owning one is not only expensive. It may be illegal, depending on local laws.

In New York State, it is legal to own a hybrid as long as it is sixth generation or later. But any Savannah generation is illegal in New York City. So even though these cats had a special exemption, the cats we saw at this show...are technically illegal. And that is one of the main reasons why breeders attend the fair. By showing their cats, breeders hope to demonstrate that the hybrid species is as safe as any other cat. But what if you don't like leopards and what you really want is a tiny tiger? This is Tony, one of the Toygers we met.

Toyger means "toy" and "tiger." This newer breed was created by Judy Sudden. And before you make assumptions, NO, she did not cross a tiger with a house cat. As feline geneticist Steven O'Brien explained to me, that... wouldn't work. "As time has passed, the more separated one species is from another," "the less likely they are to produce fertile offspring." "The reason is that evolution is a gradual process." If we look at the cat family tree, we can see that domestic cats and Asian leopard cats split from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago, which is about half the time that has passed since they split from big cats, such as lions and tigers. . "It's not exactly half, but it's in that order." "So there has been twice as much time for genetic differences to inhibit compatibility." "Which means you're twice as likely to have generated reproductive isolation," which simply means "It's just not going to work, Charlie." "It's just not going to work." It's not going to work means you can't breed with tigers.

So Judy Sugden created the Toygers by selectively breeding domestic cats. "...and then you breed that kitten." As a result, there's nothing wild about these guys. remember a big cat.” “And so, on a tiger, the chin is big and sticks out a little.” “Well, they are beautiful.” “And although raising a small tiger may seem ambitious, Judy.” had help along the way. "I started breeding in the mid-eighties." "My mother developed the Bengal and it must have looked like a little leopard." "So I said, as we watched the progress of that thing," "Well, maybe we need a little tiger!" Judy's mother is Jean Mill.

The first American Bengal breeder and mentor to Anthony Hutcherson. It turns out that the world of cat breeders is quite small. Like Anthony, Judy has spent her entire life developing a new breed to resemble her wild counterpart. It's Tony." And also like Anthony, she's still pursuing that goal. "What's your name?" -"Max" "Max. Antonio. I'm Anthony." Because even though you might think these cats already look like little tigers and little leopards, they see something we don't see. Something to improve on. Something that will continue to push them closer to that goal: the cat they've always dreamed of." My motivation hasn't changed." "And...

I went back to public libraries and used bookstores and bought those books." "Because they inspired me then and," "at times when I think my fellow breeders have no idea what what they're doing" "or I wonder how many litter boxes I can clean in a day", "I still look through those books and think", "Well, I'm almost there."