Charity warning over flat-faced cats

A cat charity is calling on people to be careful buying cats with distinctive traits they have seen on social media.

Cats Protection said there had been a "huge increase" in people buying pedigree breeds in the past five years, but warned cats with traits such as flat faces, folded ears or no fur can come with serious health issues.

They said the rise was being driven by their popularity with celebrities and influencers, and fear this could lead to many of them being left at rescues when their owners cannot afford to care for them.

Nottinghamshire vet Janice Dixon said there was "nothing more depressing" than dealing with the consequences of a shortened face, such as breathing problems.

"These strange looking breeds, which you don't see many of, they're quite rare," she said.

"Things are rare for a reason and they quite often go wrong. When they go wrong, that leads to expensive vets bills."

At the moment, the Mansfield branch of Cats Protection is caring for a four-year-old exotic shorthair called Bun.

The charity said her flat face can cause acute breathing difficulties as well as problems such as conjunctivitis and ulcers.

Diane Armer, a cat welfare adviser for the branch looking after her, fears they could end up with many more cats like Bun in their care.

"About five years ago, about 21% of the UK cat population were pedigrees," she said. "We're now looking at 36%, which is a huge increase.

"And a lot of this we're seeing because of celebrity and social media influencers who are getting these cats, they're buying the pedigrees.

"Then they're showing them on their content and people are seeing them and thinking 'oh, that's a beautiful cat, I'll get that cat'."

According to a study of 2,000 owners by Cats Protection, ownership is growing fastest among affluent 18–34-year-olds

One in five cat buyers admitted their choice was influenced by celebrities.

Over half of those with Scottish Fold, Persian and Burmese cats said this had influenced their choice, compared to 7% of owners of non-pedigree cats.

The charity said selective breeding for features such as folded ears, flat faces, shortened legs or hairless bodies can lead to chronic health problems, including joint disorders, breathing difficulties and mobility issues.

Armer said: "Obviously the celebrities that are owning these cats, they can afford that.

"We're seeing potentially down the line, we're going to get a lot more cats of these type of breeds coming into care where the owners just simply can't afford to keep them."

Cats Protection is urging people to get advice from a reputable source before buying and "consider what's best for the animal - not what's popular online".

It has also called for the banning of breeding cats with extreme physical traits linked to poor welfare and tighter controls on breeders.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The government is working alongside charities, campaigners and breeders to improve compliance to existing rules on cat breeding and increase welfare standards.

"Anyone in the business of selling cats and kittens as pets should already have a pet selling licence and we are working with the sector to improve uptake of this."

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