Munchkin Kittens
It is really amazing how these beautiful cats were breed and where their clan started. Just like munchkin cats which were found in 1983 by a breeder named Sandra Hochenedel. When breeding for kittens, the cats have short limbs.
Eventually, they adopted the name Munchkin from a movie “The Wizard of Oz” where small characters
were named “munchkins.” Although munchkins were cute and lovely just like other breed cats, munchkins were not recognized as breed by most animal federations. It is because munchkins have genetic disease known as achondroplasia. This is the disease resulted from the copying error on genetic materials during breeding process. As a result to the breed munchkins, they turned to have short legs, abnormally. Animal federations considered munchkins as unacceptable because of their abnormal body structure.
Although munchkins have short legs, there’s nothing else different from their characters and traits as cats. The achondroplasia was not accurate disease for munchkins because aside from the short limbs, there are no signs of the said disease found on the munchkins. Later, in the year 1995, munchkins were already recognized as breed cats because there were munchkin cats that were seen in different country that has no similarity than that of Hochenedel breed.
For one munchkin parent and one normal cat, there is more likely to have half of the kittens as munchkins and half of their numbers will be normal kittens. For both munchkin parents cat, there can still be one or two siblings that would end up as normal kittens. Munchkin kittens move slower than normal kittens and cats. It is because of their short limbs. Though they have short limbs, the rest of their body is not affected.
Munchkin kittens are also healthy like any other normal breed cats. But due to their short, thick bones on the limb, there are few munchkins that accumulate diseases like lordosis and pectus. Lordosis is a disease that gives extreme dip in the spine behind their shoulders, and as a result, there is a compression of heart and lungs. Pectus is just the same, affecting the chest. Be sure to check with your vet for your complete kitten care.
For munchkin lovers, they find munchkin kittens and cats as very playful. They can run very fast and they can jump. They are friendly, confident, outgoing and curious. They bring joy to their masters. They are good looking, with a good shape of the head, and furry. There are mainly two types of munchkin hair growth. There are munchkins that have short hair and there are long-haired ones as well. Both hair types are weather textured. Though munchkins are being considered as dwarves compared to normal cats, they don’t actually worry when it comes to mating. Like human, cats that are “in love” does not care about leg size, whether it is long or short. This is why munchkins always got competing skills.
Munchkin kittens are a wonderful breed. They’re just short-legged but they look and perform similarly to normal kittens. They are playful and full of love. They are friendly once treated nice right after birth.