I WAS saddened to read the letter “Plea to breeders” by E. Chapman in OUR CATS, 25 March 05 issue.

Firstly, I do know how one feels when one hears the news that a much loved cat has Polycystic Kidney Disease. I was present at the scan on one of my cats and saw the ominous cysts appear on the screen. My cat (Persian Self) was neutered a few days later - that was five years ago, and he celebrates his seventh birthday next week. Fortunately, he shows no outward symptoms whatsoever of this problem, and currently he is a happy, robust cat with a lot of spirit.

Secondly, I could understand the breeder’s feelings of wanting to give up because of this. The letter doesn’t state whether the breeder had had her cats scanned and then made her decision because of the extent of the PKD. If this was the case, my sympathies go to this lady and my admiration to her for putting an end to the affected breeding lines.

However, if the breeder’s cats were not scanned, I hope she will think again and arrange to have them scanned - kittens born from a positive/negative mating may prove to be negative. The chances are 50/50 and she may find that she has some negatives with which she can continue her hobby. I am very fortunate in so much as one of my cats from such a mating has proved negative.

Yes, I am a Persian breeder, now only breeding from cats that hold FAB PKD negative certificates, and I know that a great number of Persian breeders are likewise. When I sell a kitten for breeding, it leaves my home accompanied by copies of the relevant FAB certificates.

My first experience of PKD was some 16 years ago when a friend and I bought, in partnership, a rather expensive female kitten. She failed to grow at a satisfactory rate, and we advised the breeder who asked us to keep in touch with her on the kitten’s progress. At just turned ten-months-old the kitten died in her sleep. We had an autopsy carried out and the findings were that the kitten had Polycystic kidneys. At no time did anyone advise us that this was hereditary. Shortly afterwards the breeder concerned gave us a replacement kitten and PKD went out of our minds.

It was a number of years after that event that articles started to appear in magazines and papers highlighting PKD as a hereditary problem. As our stud cats were at closed stud and we were in touch with most of the people who had bought kittens from us, we decided we had no grounds on which to base the necessity of scanning.

We were quite happy in our decision until one day someone wanting to buy a kitten from us stated that due to a lot of past problems she had had, buying kittens that subsequently had PKD, she would not buy our kitten unless the parents scanned negative.

I turned to the Internet and downloaded everything I could find on PKD, and made an appointment with Langford, Bristol University, to have the parents of the kitten scanned. I knew at the time that if the sire of the kitten scanned positive then the Persian Brown Tabby, with its already small gene pool, would almost disappear from the scene. I was lucky, he was negative, and so was the dam.

Subsequent scanning of all my cats showed that, apart from the now neutered self coloured male mentioned in the second paragraph of this letter, all my cats were negative. I considered myself to be very lucky.

PKD scanning is still very much a personal choice, it is also very emotional. It does occur in other breeds, although it has been more prevalent in Persians. Hopefully, scanning/DNA testing will soon become the norm for breeders, and PKD can be eradicated.
Rita Quick, Jayjon Persians