Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Dismissing Breeder Nonsense
Every breeder of pedigreed animals seems to have a mantra ; when asked why they are commencing a career in breeding, they will invariably tell you that they are aiming to "better their chosen breed".
Three questions invite response from cat (or other animal) breeders who claim they are embarking on a career of this nature :
1. What qualifies you to believe that you are in a position to be able to improve a breed, when many other breeders before you clearly have failed?
2. What is it about your chosen breed(s) that you think needs improving and how exactly are you planning to go about effecting these improvements?
3. What makes you think any improvement is necessary from a health and physiological point of view in the first place? (how will your improvements assist the animal's quality of life?)
Of course, the vast majority of cat breeders will have no response to these questions, because they plainly have no formal qualifications whatsoever - and especially any that qualify them to conduct scientific breed studies. And a very large percentage will not even have a certificate from the institute of Toyland showing that they have a diploma in nosepicking or whatever they might think makes them special.
They cannot list anything in their chosen breed that actually needs improving, other than the fact that they want to breed a cat which gets a rosette or two, and maybe a nomination or a SHOW WIN. wow. yawn. But most of the most successful South African cat breeders have demonstrated that the easiest way to achieve a show win, is to import a cat from somebody else. Yep folks - it's easier to buy than breed. Why?
Because the majority of all South African breeders we have encountered have never bothered to analyse what they're trying to do and why (other than win ribbons and burnish the ego - neither of which count for anything). Let's face it - any breeder can achieve significant success by importing someone else's bloodlines, show them and allow the local fancy to buy the lines and breed from them, whilst joining committees, making happy noises and brown-nosing anyone and everyone in the heirarchy above them. Oh - and being a "loyal supporter" at shows.
Any answer to question 2. above, can be countered by pointing out that breeder X, Y or Z have already "been there done that" - bigger eyes, smaller ears, cobbier bodies, longer bodies, longer legs, bigger muzzle blah blah. Why reinvent the wheel? Why not just buy what already has been accomplished?
And of course question 3. above does not have any answer, since to show how you are planning to improve the breed while also sorting out all the health and genetic issues, is tantamount to showing that all the breed committees before you don't have the faintest idea of what they should have been doing. They don't of course. But that's not a great way to try and achieve show wins, is it? Particularly when your "elders and betters" in the cat fancy are judging your cat.
Follow me here - this is not brain surgery : in the 141 years since the first cat show organised by Harrison Weir we should already have completed our work of bettering the breed in every respect - conformation, coat, type and first and foremost - genetics and health. However all evidence is that we appear to have been going backwards - especially as far as the last 2 are concerned. Why is this?
Because the focus of the cat fancy is not the cat - it's the survival and growth of the cat fancy and therefore every initiative which boosts new breeds, kitten registration fees or gate income will be applauded, and anything which encourages moderation and concern for the cat, will be boo'ed.
The cat fancy should be renamed : "The Me Fancy". Look at me. Fawn over me. Gimme ribbons and titles. Put me on your committee. I'll make you feel good. I'll fawn and lick and brownnose. In turn, make me feel good. Good good good. The cat is merely your entry pass, to be checked in at the door. Makes you part of an "exclusive" cult.
Why don't they leave the cats at home, and just put each other in cages and judge one another? After all, that's the basis of the decision making these days, isn't it? The person standing holding the cat is nice/ a buddy/ the breeder of my cats / the person who is showing my breeding/ someone who I want to see at COTY this year/ a pain in the ass etc.
God help the cat - or more likely animal activists are going to have to help the cat, because God and the cat fancy won't.
Floating Around in the Barrel
Probably one of the most fitting illustrative similes for the cat fancy, is that it's like a large barrel of shit with people swimming around in it.
"But that's very extreme", I hear you say. Sadly, it's true. Just about all of it is total shit. Beginning to end. The placings, the list of who goes to COTY every year (year in year out, mind you), the catshow results. It's all about who's who in the zoo - sorry in the shit. It's got so bad that we don't even bother to look at pictures of the cats anymore. It's sufficient to just know who is campaigning and then you can predict who is going to win COTY in which sections. It helps of course in your predictions if you follow who buys which cat from whom, and which breeder is also a judge and who their buddies are, and who runs the shows and the federations and who is on the commshitties. Then you're set. You spot the clique, and away you go.
We predicted 2 of the 3 winners in the sections correctly this year, in a federation that we have never even been associated with. The 3rd section winner was obvious, after the fact. It's easy - the same turds float in the different barrels.
OK - so there they are, a-floatin' around in the shit barrel. Large ones, small ones, skinny ones and very often, big fat ones. Many of them sink down to the bottom and form a sludge. And then there are a couple of ones that are floaters. And there are a few who are not-so-floaters, but they attach themselves to the floaters and they float along too. The key is finding the right floating partner - then you've got it made!
It's funny : when we started in the cat fancy, we noticed that the judges didn't stand on the outside of the barrel and decided which were the best turds - they dived into the barrel and floated along with the rest of them. Now, we both have an aversion to swimming in sewerage, so as soon as we noticed that the water was on the excremental side of things, we got out. Then we stood on the side and waved at people to tell them they were swimming around next to some huge juicy ones. The strange thing was; nobody seemed to care - in fact they started to mutter to each other about how there was someone who was not joining in the swimming fun in the barrel, and they should be avoided at all costs.
But on our part, we found that the longer you spend in the barrel, the more you start to smell like its contents. And in fact after a while, you become the contents, taking on all characteristics of it. You know of course that old cat fanciers never leave their barrel - they merely sink down to the bottom and join the sludge. The one exception to this is when they sprint out of the one federation barrel and dive into the other federation barrel for the weekly comparison of who is the biggest shit. But that's not really leaving the barrel - it's just a quick barrel swap. I've even heard someone bemoaning the fact that they can't be at their usual shit-party in the off season.
And then once in a while you hear a smaller shit whining about being "sabotaged" by a bigger shit - usually a judge-shit. Usually involves being pulled down and floated over. Provided you're on the outside of the barrel, you pay no heed - it's all about floating nearest the top after all, and there are no real rules in the shit barrel. Besides, if you don't like the stink, stay out of the barrel.
But can't you clean the barrel? You could, but this means draining out all the shit, thoroughly scrubbing the barrel and then putting a fine mesh on it to stop any shit getting back in. If you just avoid the existing shit barrels and start up a new barrel yourself, all the other turds shit-hop between their old and the new barrel, and before you know it, it's polluted too. So maybe it's better to let the shit wallow in the barrel - at least that way it's all contained in one place, and the rest of the country is cleaner for everyone.
"But where are the cats?", you ask. They're an accessory - an accoutrement. They're a nice-to-have - not essential to the outcome, but necessary to maintain the charade that the barrel's full of fresh mountain water. Effectively, they're optional. I wish people would just get on with swimming in the shit without taking the cats in with them.
Cats are clean creatures - they're much happier at home.
2 comments:
My Life in the Cat Fancy
What a boring pedestrian title - but no inspiration will come when I think about the cat fancy.
I did get inspired about 2 days ago, and started raving on about not being able to soar like an eagle when you're mixing it with the turkeys, and a whole lot of other factual stuff about what goes on there.
But G read it, and being a nicer person than I am, she suggested that the aim should be to build up rather than tear down, and other nice things. She's quite right, of course....
But DAMMIT! The cat fancy enrages me. It's not the cats - they're wonderful animals. And it's not some of the owners- we have made some very wonderful friendships while we've been in the cat fancy. I suppose it's the manipulation, the ethos, the wangling and fandangling, and seeing unsuspecting people getting ripped off....There I go again! I promised G I'd be positive and nice.
Well - they do say if you can't say something nice, rather say nothing at all. So here goes - here is my long-anticipated blog about the cat fancy :
The Cat Fancy
That's it - Thanks for reading!
Tears of the Cheetah
The story goes that the mother cheetah emerged from her slumbers with her cubs and found the cheetah population decimated by a global catastrophe. And thus she cried tears which ran down and left the distinctive "tear marks" on every cheetah. It has been found that every cheetah alive today is extremely closely related - genetic sequencing is almost identical. Tests have been done on six cheetahs from different parts of the world, exchanging skin grafts - not one of the grafts was rejected. Normally only a siamese twin will accept a skin graft without anti-rejection drugs...And so, the genetic inbreeding has made these magnificent animals prone to genetic disorders, which manifest more often only in captivity where they are subject to environmental stressors. One in particular is FIP....
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It would give me such pleasure.
You have that shit analogy so perfectly attuned to reality.
The highlight of my Friday so far.
Problem is - there are just so many cats resulting from the shit barrel. As before - wish they'd forget about the cat-breeding thing - it has no bearing on their reality.
Thanks for the comment!