1) to collect current information on Manx litters, including morbidity and mortality data;
2) to provide information to breeders to assist them in their breeding program;
3) to help compare Manx kitten data to that collected for other breeds
Read the notes from a lecture on the kitten projects presented at the University of California, Davis Feline Genetics Extravaganza, July 2003. And see the poster presented at the Tufts' Canine and Feline Breeding and Genetics Conference, October 2003.
Participating breeders from around the world will enroll in the Project by filling out a cattery enrollment form. Breeders will submit data in a confidential manner to the project manager (Dr. Little). The raw data will only be viewed by Dr. Little and will not be housed on the internet. Summaries of the data collected, with no identification of individual breeders, will be made available on this website as the project progresses. Quality of the data submitted will be important and this will be monitored by Dr. Little.
A project mailing list has been set up for participants to discuss issues relevant to the project.
Data Collected:
The data will be collected using a simple web-based submission form. The type of information collected will include (but is not limited to):
- the number of kittens per litter
- kitten birth weights
- male/female gender ratio
- the length of pregnancy
- rate of stillbirths
- congenital defects
- kitten illnesses at two time points: up to 1 month of age; by 6 months of age
- kitten mortality at the selected time points
Please read the Tail Length Definitions used for the project carefully:
Project Dates:
The project will collect data on Manx litters born from December 1, 2004 to Nov. 30, 2005.
If you would like to participate in the project, or if you have questions about the project, please contact the project manager: Dr. Susan Little
