"When Mother Nature saw fit to remove the tail of the Manx, she left, in place of the tail, more cat."  --Mary Stewart

"The Manx is a huggable, lovable imp with a silken purr, an almost inaudible meow and a naughty twinkle in its eye.  It spends every waking moment investigating its world.

A Manx will gravitate to the center of your home and insist upon being one of the family.  It possesses an uncanny ability to adapt itself to the psychological needs of its people.  In a home with children who have been taught gentle animal care, they are often found in the children's playroom, actively supervising the movement of dump trucks and doll carriages.

Vagary Ion

Characteristics of the foundation animals seen in the Manx breed today include a plush double coat; ears that are medium to medium small in size and are set far to the sides of the head (viewed from behind, the ears resemble the rocker on a cradle); and a roundish head slightly longer than it is wide, with a strong muzzle and chin, a sound, normal bite and prominent cheekbones.

All of these characteristics, combined with large eyes set so the outer corners are higher than the inner corners, give the Manx a look of gentle, serene intelligence.  That look, however, disguises the cat's true mischief-making self.  Manx are active, fun-loving cats that remain playful well into their later years.

Personality...

Some owners have suggested that Manx babies need to be sold with warning labels attached.  The owners know firsthand that love for the Manx can be contagious.  Many times, for example, a wife drags a disinterested husband along to a cattery to see a litter of Manx kittens.  The husband waits politely, obviously bored, while his wife selects a kitten.  A week or two later, the Manx breeder is amused when the wife calls to complain that the husband has been charmed by the beguiling Manx kitten, and now the wife needs another kitten so she can have one too!  (The Manx has been called, apparently correctly, the Man's cat that women love.)  As a result, few Manx-owning households contain only one Manx.

Vagary Gamine 

The Manx kitten's fascination with water has surprised many a new owner who has found his or her little friend sitting in a bathtub or sink with water spray bouncing off its fur as though the kitten were meant to be a tub toy.  Don't let this mislead you to believe, however, that your Manx will enjoy a bath.  Like children who beg to play in the rain but must be forced to take baths, your little Manx will not have the same feeling about its bath water that it does about your bath water!

The Breed...

The Manx was one of the first breeds to be recognized for championship competition in the United States by all cat-registering bodies.  Considered unique from the beginning, the show Manx has evolved slowly.  Major changes in the standard related to body size and head shape have come and gone according to the needs or desires of Manx breeders at a particular time.  Most registering associations recognize the Manx in all colors except the Burmese and Siamese hues.  When choosing your Manx kitten, however, coat color should not be an important consideration.  Whether selecting a Manx for a companion animal only or for championship competition, the Manx look and personality are far more important considerations than the color.

Considerations...

Usually Mother Nature is believed to possess infinite wisdom, but once in a while she seems to have failed to use her full quota of common sense.  When she gave us this unique animal with heart and beauty, soul and intelligence, she somehow found it necessary to leave up to chance the amount of tail each Manx was born with.  Life would be so much simpler for both the Manx and the Manx breeder if this were not so.

Vagary Frosty Blue

Only those Manx who are visibly tailless can be shown in championship competition.  As one might guess, this makes the visibly tailless kittens more valuable to breeders and leads to the availability of more pet-quality kittens for the public.  Unfortunately, the home-providing public, for the most part, refuses to want Manx that are fully tailed.  On the other hand, the public will provide loving, lifelong homes to Manx kittens truthfully acknowledged as having docked tails.  Hence, most fully tailed Manx kittens are docked at birth.

Choosing...

As when selecting any companion animal, choose the person from whom you obtain your Manx with care.  All Manx kittens should come to you with health guarantees.  Any well-raised, properly handled Manx will adjust to your home with little effort.  Age is not an important factor unless you adopt a kitten that is too young and has not received enough nurturing from its mother.  A baby Manx receives its best education in the "catly arts" from its mother, not from you.

Vagary Kelly

The American-bred Manx of today is little changed from the natural mutation of yesterday.  Beneath the dense, hard, short double coat of the most magnificent of today's grand champion Manx beats the heart of the original mousetrap!

Yet this cat, with its lovely eyes, its wide-set ears and its serene, intelligent look, is capable of extreme gentleness  and will serve as a loving companion to young and old alike.  The Manx is both a pleasure to the eye and a comfort to the soul. What else could you ask of a companion animal?"
--Mary E. Stewart

Loving...

Although I love almost any kind of animal, I find it hard to think of a better companion than a Manx.  I hope, after reading this, you can understand why.  Manx kittens or cats are not easy to come by, but it's well worth the wait to get one of your very own.  As with all pet animals, be sure to act responsibly and neuter or spay your new kitten, he or she will be much better off and you will have a much more devoted friend.  The other thing to remember about cats is that they have claws - if you can't deal with that fact, you need to select another kind of pet.

Vagary Beret

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Copyright August 2001 E-mail to: Gale Thomas-Goodman