Re: Cat Juggling...er, Breeding

From: Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland (henkl@aft-ms)
Date: Wed 08 Jun 1994 - 12:20:35 EEST



SYS_RSH%PV0A@hobbes.cca.rockwell.com (Scott Haney, aka The Lotus Jukebox):

>Probably not. It's much more difficult to breed traits into cats
>than it is for dogs. Dog chromosomes are a lot more...hmm, pliable
>than cat (or just about any other animal) chromosomes. Also, dogs
>aren't as far removed from wolves as we like to think (although
>breeding has changed them greatly).

The simplest explanation I've ever heard about the difference between dogs and wolves is that dogs have been bred 'not to grow up'. A full-grown dog behaves like a wolf pup throughout all of its life.

>It *is* possible to train a cat, if you have a lot of patience and an
>agreeable kitty (I've done it), so I wouoldn't rule out all training
>of cats.

I did that, and trained our cat to jump through an embroidery hoop, amongst other things. This was pure necessity, as he was a single cat, who needed lots of attention. He was one smart cat.

He wasn't easy, but I miss him. He must have fled from the house on the night of 1 Sep 1992, as we missed him the next morning. He never returned, and we later heard a rumor that he was killed by a neighbour's dogs.

--

Henk	|	Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM - Disclaimer: I don't speak for Sun.
oK[]	|	My first law of computing: "NEVER make assumptions"

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