Many times in my articles I tried to raise awareness in owners of purebred dogs and cats about hereditary and genetic pathologies they can suffer from.
Purebred dogs are more exposed to hereditary illness than mongrels. Some breeding made specific couple in order to modify specific and aesthetic characteristics but it can provoke severe chronicle pathologies and cause a painful life. For example some purebred cats like Persian or Himalayan or Scottish have more different shape of cranium than years ago. Eyes are bigger and head is more round, they are cuter but the consequences are very serious.
In some cases nasal bone is reduced and causes displacement of mandible and appears some skin folds between nose and eyes that provoke the turning inward of the eyelid and excessive tearing that can cause corneal inflammation. The tearing and the skin folds create a serious dermatological problem called facial intertrigo with dark sticky materials.
This is very painful for the cat that will try to clean himself with paws. An aesthetic request like a round and sweet muzzle can have serious and severe consequences for other organs. Because of the displacement of mandible the cats have difficulties eating food and chewing. The reduced nasal bones could request chirurgical operation to open occluded nose.
This modification of aesthetical features is called a genetic abuse, breeders and owners must be conscious of the responsibility of having animals with those characteristics that can compromise their health.
Remember that if you adopt purebred dogs or cats of breed with those characteristics, you force him to live a painful life and you will have massive medical costs that will not solve the problems that natural selection had already cleverly solved.
