It was not actually my intention to start a panic over mysterious whiskers. And yet, it's still true: we're drowning in white mysterious.
Morgan Wrote:I have been trying to get my kittens up to 9T with cool furs and eyes, but I had no idea that whiskers were so important. Sigh....all those White/Mysterious mistakes in my cattery! Thanks for the rant though..now I can learn to improve! Are there any other traits I should be avoiding (other than Genesis)???
Whiskers aren't necessarily so important to most people. Furs and eyes are what come first for the vast majority of people. And the next priority - for most people - seems to be getting the cat to 9T no matter what else. But there are lots of levels to KittyCatS. Whiskers are a Refinement. They show that the breeder is really looking at the cat and what traits really go with what other traits, and prove that the breeder can Make that Happen. And Oselkhandro has started a new thread on traits to avoid, so I suppose this discussion can go over there. I know Beryl wanted this to be a thread about retired traits and I seem to have hijacked it.
Breehid Wrote:Hmmm, FOUR LETTER WORD! It is so hard to get cats without those white mysterious whiskers! Kudos to those super breeders who have managed that feat. The whiskers always seemed so innocuous to me..and white usually blends well..so all those pretty cats need to be redone with something different.
Yes, it is hard to get cats without those white mysterious whiskers - and that's part of the problem. But the solution will snowball - the more people who take up the whisker challenge, the more variety of whiskers will be available in the markets. I had to specially advertise in the forum to get some chocolate whiskers. I do think that this will change.
But juggling more traits is more tricky, and I now, on account of hiddens on a cat, have a bunch of foxie soft blacks with chocolate whiskers - which doesn't go at ALL, but may be useful for breeding. We may see breeders begin to specialize in certain whisker/fur combos that work in order to make the juggling easier within their catteries. At least I would expect that would be the way it would work.
Retired Traits? Any Interest out there?
