Unraveling the Genetic Mysteries of the Cat: New Discoveries in Feline-Inherited Diseases and Traits

Abstract

The domestic cat is one of man's most beloved species, living in households as companions, working on farms for vermin control, and co-habitating in urban environments as semi-feral occupants. Advances in veterinary medicine provide health care and diagnostics for the domestic cat on a comparable level to humans. Fancy breeds result in the selection of aesthetically pleasing traits and, sometimes, undesired health conditions, both of which can be useful as models for human development, physiology, and health. Reproductive techniques have allowed research in the cat to expand into cloning studies and genomic tools are assisting the cat with the same research scrutiny as the more prominent research animal models, rodents and humans. This chapter explores the genetic mysteries of the cat and provides a current state of the union for cat genetic research. Cat \'kat\-a long domesticated carnivorous mammal that is usually regarded as a distinct species though probably ultimately derived by selection, among the hybrid progeny of several small Old World wildcats that occurs in several varieties distinguished chiefly by length of coat body and presence or absence of tail and that makes the pet valuable in controlling rodents and other small vermin but tends to revert to a feral state if not housed and cared for (Webster 3rd New International Dictionary).