Genetic Pressures

Genetic mutations are always occurring. In the wild, where survival of the fittest determines who will and will not breed, the beneficial mutations are retained while less successful ones die out.

The progenitors of the Maine Coon, and the Norwegian and Siberian Forest Cats had to survive cold winters and capture rabbits or hares as well as rodents to survive. These needs predisposed to the genetic adaptation of long, dense coats.

When we intervene in cat breeding, we influence genetic pressures as surely as we do with antibiotics and bacteria. Breeding to pedigree standards accelerates evolutionary change.

If a small population of cats is used for breeding, deleterious genetic changes in the nature of disease can also occur: recessive genes for medical problems such as kidney failure or cataracts may become concentrated in a single line, and spread through the breed. This has already happened in several breeds.