The tailless Cymric, whose name is derived from the Gaelic word for “Wales,” along with its short-haired cousin, the Manx, are among the oldest breeds of cats known to man. Native to an island in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland known as The Isle of Man, these cats lost their tails as the result of a spontaneous mutation. The isolation of their origins and centuries of inbreeding easily established the genetic nature of the tailless trait, and both long and short haired cats existed on the Isle of Man before the appearance of this strange mutant gene. The … Continue reading →