Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley for June 01, 2017

Bucky isn’t referring to Satchel’s age, but to his purebred genes.

Some people… (and cats, obviously,) think that because purebred animals are inbred,

they’re prone to genetic defects, and perhaps even madness.

You can see how that theory would appeal to a scrappy little mixed breed cat…

one flaw in Bucky’s reasoning, though, being that Satchel isn’t actually purebred.

His mother is a Shar Pei, his father a Golden Lab.

Susan S is correct. I had a purebred collie that was numb as a stump.

I dunno about that theory. While I believe it’s true relative to physical problems, it doesn’t hold true all the time. I’ve got a catahoula leopard rescue that’s sharp as a tack. Now it does hold true with the lab rescue that I have, but I think that’s just normal for that breed.

My purebred Shelties were definitely not dumb. Calculating and prone to subterfuge, occasionally, but never dumb. On the other hand, a couple of the purebred Siamese cats we had when we were growing up were missing a few braincells.

“We are Siamese if you don’t please!”

Purebreds that are a mix of unrelated pure bloodlines do not have problems. It is when the purebred parents are closely related that it can become an issue.