| Tail Docking |
| By Shauna Toller of Baylynx Pixie-Bobs Winter 07' |
Pixie-Bobs, like other short-tailed breeds of cats, are bred to have a short tail. Unfortunately, the short-tailed gene
itself is a randomly occurring gene in all short-tailed breeds except Japanese bobtails. No one can predict how many
short/long tailed kittens will be born in a litter. It is common to have varying lengths of both short-tailed kittens and
long-tailed kittens in one litter even if both parents, grandparents etc., have short tails. A few breeders will leave the
tails long while others will dock the tails.
Docking is a fast sterile surgical procedure carried out by a Veterinarian when the long tailed kitten is between 2-3
days of age. The procedure causes no more than momentary discomfort since the neonate kitten does not have a
fully developed nervous system. There is little to no bleeding, because the veins aren’t fully developed.
When the kitten is placed back with its littermates, it quickly falls asleep or starts feeding again. This is in contrast to
a kitten in pain, who would exhibit continuous crying, restlessness, crawl around in pointless circles and fail to suckle.
This practice is done in every short tailed breed of cat, except the Japanese bobtail.
There are different ideas behind tail docking. Most of them attempt to assure that a kitten can find a home and
remain safe.
One of the issues is appearance. Families looking for a short-tailed breed of cat want a short-tailed cat. It can be
more difficult to place a kitten with a long tail thus giving it a tougher chance of finding a loving forever family. It isn’
t possible for the breeder to house every long-tailed kitten born at his or her cattery. Cleanliness must be
maintained, over crowding must be avoided, as it causes undo stress and poses a much higher risk of disease.
Another reason is price. While most dock-tailed kittens are sold at a reduced price, they may still cost a little more
than a long-tailed kitten. I know some people may be infuriated by this concept, but a breeder does need to maintain
some level of income to help provide outstanding nutrition, facilities, health care and all of the other aspects of
owning a cattery. Most catteries do not make a profit, most run in the negative due to creating and running an
outstanding cattery. This goes for most breeds of cats. I will go over this in a future article.
More importantly, tail docking helps breeders insure that their kittens won’t be the victims of misguided, or sick and
twisted pet owners. There have been reports of abandonment, and even in-home docking!! For instance, this type of
person will find a long-tailed Pixie and at the time they may or may not care if the Pixie-Bob has a long or short tail.
After a while this person changes their mind and takes the cat in to get it docked only to find out that no Veterinarian
will dock an animal older than 2-3 days of age. The person then attempts to dock the cat themselves, the cat either
bleeds to death, dies from infection, or manages to survive the ordeal, but has gone through an excruciating recovery.
There is only so much a breeder can do to screen potential pet owners. Reputable breeders put their heart and
resources in to raising perfect, affectionate, healthy kittens for families to love for many years to come. That is a
HUGE, if not The MAIN reason why good breeders are in this business. Many love to see that they can bring much
joy in to the homes of families; money is usually not the reason at all. Lets face it; reputable breeders don’t get rich
at this. They are in it to make families happy and to help preserve, protect, and promote the breed. You’d be
surprised at the number of prospective owners that are declined because the breeder didn’t think that their kitten
would have a happy and safe life with that person.
Another major reason that docking is done is to help keep the number of Pixie-Bobs entering pounds and rescue low
AND, in the case one does, they are easy to identify. I’ve noticed that the majority of Pixie-Bobs showing up in
pounds and rescues are long- tailed. Who knows, perhaps in certain cases if the Pixie-Bob was docked, this may not
have happened.
Trying to ID a long-tailed Pixie-Bob in a shelter may be more difficult than you think. Depending on whether or not
they came from a back yard breeder, ignorant on the proper traits to breed for, or they happened to be born from
highly reputable breeders, some Pixies can resemble your average looking tabby cat, especially to the untrained eye
of a shelter worker.
However, if the cat has a short tail a red flag goes up. They start to think, “Hmmmm, maybe there is more to this cat
than we think” and they start calling up the different short-tailed breed rescues to come pull this cat out of the pound
or rescue to avoid euthanization. These cats have a much higher chance of being saved and placed in to a loving
foster home to live until the perfect family comes along and adopts the Pixie.
There has been an increase of microchipping so, thankfully, this does help with the situation. However, there are new
reports of microchips being linked to cancer in pets. which we will go over in our health and nutrition section.
Even though many breeders dock, it doesn’t mean that they like the necessity, or that they love their cats any less.
Many consciences breeders don’t care for the practice, but do it for the kitten’s own safety. A reputable breeder
would absolutely hate to find out that any Pixie kittens have been maimed and have suffered do to a self-docking
owner or that are Pixie-Bobs languishing in rescue or pounds because they can not be identified as Pixie-Bobs. The
first and foremost thing on many breeders’ minds is the kitten’s safety, both now and in the future.
itself is a randomly occurring gene in all short-tailed breeds except Japanese bobtails. No one can predict how many
short/long tailed kittens will be born in a litter. It is common to have varying lengths of both short-tailed kittens and
long-tailed kittens in one litter even if both parents, grandparents etc., have short tails. A few breeders will leave the
tails long while others will dock the tails.
Docking is a fast sterile surgical procedure carried out by a Veterinarian when the long tailed kitten is between 2-3
days of age. The procedure causes no more than momentary discomfort since the neonate kitten does not have a
fully developed nervous system. There is little to no bleeding, because the veins aren’t fully developed.
When the kitten is placed back with its littermates, it quickly falls asleep or starts feeding again. This is in contrast to
a kitten in pain, who would exhibit continuous crying, restlessness, crawl around in pointless circles and fail to suckle.
This practice is done in every short tailed breed of cat, except the Japanese bobtail.
There are different ideas behind tail docking. Most of them attempt to assure that a kitten can find a home and
remain safe.
One of the issues is appearance. Families looking for a short-tailed breed of cat want a short-tailed cat. It can be
more difficult to place a kitten with a long tail thus giving it a tougher chance of finding a loving forever family. It isn’
t possible for the breeder to house every long-tailed kitten born at his or her cattery. Cleanliness must be
maintained, over crowding must be avoided, as it causes undo stress and poses a much higher risk of disease.
Another reason is price. While most dock-tailed kittens are sold at a reduced price, they may still cost a little more
than a long-tailed kitten. I know some people may be infuriated by this concept, but a breeder does need to maintain
some level of income to help provide outstanding nutrition, facilities, health care and all of the other aspects of
owning a cattery. Most catteries do not make a profit, most run in the negative due to creating and running an
outstanding cattery. This goes for most breeds of cats. I will go over this in a future article.
More importantly, tail docking helps breeders insure that their kittens won’t be the victims of misguided, or sick and
twisted pet owners. There have been reports of abandonment, and even in-home docking!! For instance, this type of
person will find a long-tailed Pixie and at the time they may or may not care if the Pixie-Bob has a long or short tail.
After a while this person changes their mind and takes the cat in to get it docked only to find out that no Veterinarian
will dock an animal older than 2-3 days of age. The person then attempts to dock the cat themselves, the cat either
bleeds to death, dies from infection, or manages to survive the ordeal, but has gone through an excruciating recovery.
There is only so much a breeder can do to screen potential pet owners. Reputable breeders put their heart and
resources in to raising perfect, affectionate, healthy kittens for families to love for many years to come. That is a
HUGE, if not The MAIN reason why good breeders are in this business. Many love to see that they can bring much
joy in to the homes of families; money is usually not the reason at all. Lets face it; reputable breeders don’t get rich
at this. They are in it to make families happy and to help preserve, protect, and promote the breed. You’d be
surprised at the number of prospective owners that are declined because the breeder didn’t think that their kitten
would have a happy and safe life with that person.
Another major reason that docking is done is to help keep the number of Pixie-Bobs entering pounds and rescue low
AND, in the case one does, they are easy to identify. I’ve noticed that the majority of Pixie-Bobs showing up in
pounds and rescues are long- tailed. Who knows, perhaps in certain cases if the Pixie-Bob was docked, this may not
have happened.
Trying to ID a long-tailed Pixie-Bob in a shelter may be more difficult than you think. Depending on whether or not
they came from a back yard breeder, ignorant on the proper traits to breed for, or they happened to be born from
highly reputable breeders, some Pixies can resemble your average looking tabby cat, especially to the untrained eye
of a shelter worker.
However, if the cat has a short tail a red flag goes up. They start to think, “Hmmmm, maybe there is more to this cat
than we think” and they start calling up the different short-tailed breed rescues to come pull this cat out of the pound
or rescue to avoid euthanization. These cats have a much higher chance of being saved and placed in to a loving
foster home to live until the perfect family comes along and adopts the Pixie.
There has been an increase of microchipping so, thankfully, this does help with the situation. However, there are new
reports of microchips being linked to cancer in pets. which we will go over in our health and nutrition section.
Even though many breeders dock, it doesn’t mean that they like the necessity, or that they love their cats any less.
Many consciences breeders don’t care for the practice, but do it for the kitten’s own safety. A reputable breeder
would absolutely hate to find out that any Pixie kittens have been maimed and have suffered do to a self-docking
owner or that are Pixie-Bobs languishing in rescue or pounds because they can not be identified as Pixie-Bobs. The
first and foremost thing on many breeders’ minds is the kitten’s safety, both now and in the future.
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