Poll: Faults and Genetic Disorders

Faults are an integral part of showing - or at least trying to avoid them is. So are genetic disorders and possible bad personality traits that would have a slight negative on showing.

As it is only conformation ratings can have a possible negative effect along with happiness - I think it'd be a good idea to have at least one other possible negative.

I was originally considering adding in "bad" personality traits, though the discussion in the other topic brought up one more: genetic disorders. This lead me to also add in the possibility of faults.

Faults are things that'd cause cats to lose a few points in their show scores - tail kinks, eye colors that are the wrong shade, etc. I wouldn't add anything in that'd cause the cat to be disqualified, though I would add in genetic possibilities for some things that'd cause a slight detriment in showing. It wouldn't be enough to make it impossible to show them but it'd make it so you'd want to try to breed to avoid them.

Since it'd be a big change I'm putting a poll up.

Please post a reply and tell me any reasoning behind your votes on whether or not to add these things.

Litters will be implemented before any of these possible things would be implemented. You'd be able to check for defects in each kitten and choose the right one. The lab would likely be used to test.

And I am sure the faults would be recessive and thus a bit easier to avoid.

In theory bad personality traits would be harder to "breed out" of your lines since they can be passed directly from parents to kittens without any genetic influence. Faults would be easier to weed out should they crop up and would not be devestating if they arose - it'd provide a slight negative to show score.

Tests for cats would be nice.

I voted yes because I think it will add a challange to breeding and choosing the right kittens etc. I also love the bob tail gene haha and if I could get that on my EM's that would be lovely as long as it doesnt effect them in shows...since only pure bred cats with no genetic defects can enter in real life. Will this be a problem?

I know I won't be adding in the bob-tailed gene (or at least I don't think I will.) Currently it's just assumed to be there on breeds with bobbed tails and is assumed not to be there in other breeds.

Faults would not include bobbed tails. I am thinking there will be genes coding for "faults" in each of the conformation scores. Depending on where they show up will depend on the actual fault. IE an ear fault in a Scottish Fold may be that the ears are not as tightly folded as they'd like. A penalizing fault but not a disqualifying fault.

My only issue at this point is how to integrate this into the current "strengths" system we have. If a cat has a fault in Head conformation and yet also has a Strength there - it doesn't make sense.

My solution? Strengths and faults go hand in hand as genetically motivated. Faults are recessive, strengths are dominant. The more dominants, the better a cat will do point-wise in that particular conformation point. Too many faults and they'll visibly show up and cause a negative affect on the show score or something.

Still ironing details out so I'm not going to work on adding yet - I am slogging through breeding still.

^ That's cool.

I vote for yes, simply because I think it would add a interesting and deeper look into the life of really breeding and showing cats. Of course, I'd like to be able to genetically test too as the others mentioned to rule out "bad seeds", but I truly love the idea of adding in negative traits and genetic disorders. It brings another level to the gameplay, if you ask me.

So, as I said, yes.