Enlighten me please
Besides picking where any outcrosses have occured, how do you tell a good pedigree from an average one? Especially when you come across a prefix you've never heard of before? Are there certain cats in any pedigree that people know are excellent examples of the breed, and can you tell if a certain cat in a pedigree has red flags? Ta for any imput
More recent cats and breeders are more important. The quality of the cats, skill of the breeders, strengths from one side counterbalancing weaknesses on the other and emphasis on characteristics you seek for your own program are what one wants to see.
That makes sense
Thanks!
When researching pedigrees, I like to check out if there are any champions, grands, triples, quads, supremes, rw's, etc..
if there are absolutely NONE in the pedigree, I check out the catteries that are actually listed in there... and see if they actually show any of their cats or not.. (yay google) if they do, I check out the cats that they have championed...
I usually move along tho if there isnt at least 3 champions within a 3 generation pedigree. And I prefer the ones who have higher titles in their titles as well.
Good point Amanda, you want to know breeders are making sure their cats adhere to the standards!
If I was a breeder, then making sure that the HCM & PKD genes aren't in the pedigree would be important to me.
On the contrary, fortunately one does not have to try to figure out inheritance in the pedigree. One just DNA tests the breeding prospect herself. If she does not have the mutation, then the mutation status of the rest of her relatives makes no difference at all.
That's true Jan.
I wonder whether it is the same with titles. I don't see why it should matter whether cats in the pedigree have titles. Many untitled cats will produce a kitten that will go on to win a high title, and many titled cats will produce untitled kittens. I just don't get why having no titled cats in a pedigree is enough to make a breeder decide not go get the cat even if the cat is of fantastic standard (nothing against you Amanda), if someone could please explain why that is important I would be very interested to hear it!
The quality of the cats in the pedigree, whether identified by titles or otherwise, makes a difference even if particular characteristics are not seen in the candidate. This is true because of polygenes and recessives which may make it easier to produce better kittens by choosing mates who will counterbalance the weaknesses of the candidate. If the genetics of the cat are better, expressed and unexpressed, then it should be easier to get back to the quality of the ancestor, if that is the goal.