The devil you say! 
Posted on 03/24/2006 9:52:40 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Resident develops new breed of dog-like cat - the puppykat
By: JOSE CARVAJAL - Staff Writer
LAKE ELSINORE ---- It's not a dog; it's a cat that acts like a dog. Confused? Don't be. It's a "puppykat," a new breed of cat developed by Lake Elsinore resident Dawn Houston.
Houston says she stumbled across the puppykat seven years ago, when two wild cats she had rescued mated. Their offspring were very puppylike, she said, so she gave them the new moniker and began breeding more of them.
Three years ago, she said, she began breeding them full time.
Houston, who said she has rescued animals most of her life, has big plans for the puppykat.
Already, she has registered the breed with the Rare and Exotic Feline Registry.
And she plans to continue to breed and sell puppykats ---- she guesses she has already sold more than 40 of them in the last seven years for between $275 and $675 ---- so that she can raise enough money to fund future cat-rescue efforts. Those efforts include plans for responsible breeding education programs and plans to get lax breeding regulations changed.
The puppykat, Houston said, has become popular with people who like their pets to have certain traits more commonly found in dogs. Like their canine counterparts, puppykats are more social, curious and playful, she said. They'll even come when you call.
Their physical traits ---- mainly their folded ears and shorter tails ---- are also doglike.
"A lot of people that would have never gotten a cat are now open to owning a cat," Houston said.
Kent Broussard bought two cats from Houston about a year ago. One of them was a Manx, the other was a puppykat.
He said that, while the Manx is standoffish and tends be content on its own, the puppykat craves the attention of humans and is much more playful.
"She just has to be around people," the Laguna Beach resident said. "She loves being petted. She's a little sweetie.
"She definitely follows you in the other room like a puppy. That's a perfect name."
While the results may be adorable and Houston may have found a market for the puppykat, her breeding hasn't been received positively by everybody.
Breeders and cat lovers from across the country have sent dozens of e-mails and letters criticizing her for mixing the Scottish fold, Manx and polydactyl breeds, something they consider dangerous to the health of the cats.
But Houston asserts she's being responsible.
She takes great care to make sure the cats she uses in breeding don't carry the same dominant genes, she said, thus eliminating potential dangerous genetic threats to the cats.
Plus, she isn't doing what many breeders do, Houston said, in overbreeding their cats by inbreeding or by making individual cats have too many litters. Those can each have detrimental effects on generations and generations of cats, she said.
"If you do it wrong, it could be traumatic," Houston said.
Houston also shot back at the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose members have heavily criticized her the last several weeks after reading a news report about her breeding. They have sent dozens of e-mails and letters, she said, many of which have been less than pleasant.
PETA researcher Dan Paden said that his organization was contacted by more than 100 people who complained that, through her breeding, Houston is contributing to the overpopulation of cats.
The organization issued an action alert through its Web site, he said, asking people to contact Houston and ask her to stop the breeding. It also urged them to ask her to donate the money she has made through selling puppykats to spaying and neutering programs.
The alert calls Houston's plan of breeding puppykats in an effort to help rescue other cats the "most dim-witted idea ever." It states that breeders like Houston "have created a tremendous overpopulation problem that forces animal shelters across the nation to put millions of dogs and cats to death every year."
Paden said PETA has never before issued an action alert for a breeder like Houston.
"No one before has ever proposed that purposefully breeding animals is a good way to help fight the overpopulation crisis," he said. "It's unique in its irony. It's unique in our response."
But Houston said that those who have accused her of contributing to the overpopulation problem don't know what they're talking about.
There will always be people out there, she said, who prefer to buy cats from professional breeders instead of shelters. That market will always exist, she said.
More importantly, Houston said, every cat she sells is spayed or neutered before it is released to its new owner.
All the fuss raised over her puppykat breeding is much ado about nothing, she said.
"I know what I'm doing," Houston said.
Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.
To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.
Well, I guess the mystery of what a dog would do if he ever catches a car is solved!
Mark
These "puppykats" are apparently a mix of Manx, Scottish Fold and whatnot, from the article ... where do the "wild cats" (apparently she meant feral cats, unless she has a bobcat in the mix too!) come in? In any case, just mixing some purebreds together does not create a new breed. Has to be accepted by the CFA and so forth. These so-called puppykats are more like the "droodles" or whatever dog breeders are turning out these days - mixes of Lab and poodle and so forth. Unlikely that they'll ever be recognized as a separate breed.
As for PETA, what a bunch of maroons (as if we didn't know that already). This is no worse than what other breeders do. Get a grip. PETA won't be happy until every domestic animal on this planet has been "mercifully" allowed to go out of existence so that they won't have to (gasp!) co-exist with Evil Humans.
And you don't need a "puppykat" to have a cat that follows you around and is affectionate! You just need one that has been properly socialized to humans. Our cat John Carter (Warlord of Barsoom) was raised by us from the time he was 3 days old. Johnny's favorite thing to do is to get up on a table so he's close to your height, stand up on his hind legs and put his front paws around your neck, then "smooch" you until your glasses are totally smeared and you smell like tuna. THEN he's happy! LOL!
The devil you say!
I don't care who you are.....THAT was funny right there! LOL
BTTT
Looks like a cat to me.
That is so cute!
Oh No! Lol.
Also, my Maine-coon is about the most dog-like cat I've ever seen.comes when you call it, follows me around the yard, has NEVER scratched me (really! -even with some rough play), and I don't need a cage to take her to the vet, just carry her in....just doesn't hang her head out the window during the ride!
Well, the folded ears are a cute touch.
One of out two cats, a big male grey tabby, got rechristened 'puppycat' long before this story came out:
He goes on walks with you (though we've had very cat-like cats that do that);scratches at the door to be let in the way dogs do; watches what you are doing and your face, rather than sitting on your work; ticks on hard surfaces when he walks (his claws don't seem to fully sheath); watches television; communicates that he wants something by meowing and leading you to it--be it the door out, his food bowl, or his favorite spot for being brushed; and tends to track mud around.
His mother was all black, and siamese-build, so he probably has saimese ancestors (all black and all white cats are often 'defective siamese'), and probably got the saimese visual system (there are direct connections from the retina to parts of the brain in siamese not found in other breeds).
"I don't trust them, and nor do I trust cat people. There's something not wholly right about them."
Before the cat passed away, my 6 year old Beagle's best friend was a 21 year old Siamese. It was a symbiotic relationshiop. The cat would poop, and the dog would clean it up.
Fortunately, he doesn't lick people.
Case in point:
Our two cats were raised with two large dogs. They are trained just like the dogs-to come, stay, get off, etc. And they beg and cuddle just like two dogs. Really weird!
One of mine is part siamese, but the other is a calico.
"More importantly, Houston said, every cat she sells is spayed or neutered before it is released to its new owner."
Glad to see her doing that. Of course, that cuts down on anyone else coming up with a knock-off of her new "breed" so it also makes good business sense.
Two dogs, two cats in our household. The cats are very cat-like and the dogs are very dog-like, and it's a fairly Peaceable Kingdom. ;)
ack!!
Whoa, someone is tempting the almighty ZOT!
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