From: joe@sfbooks.com 
  
 Newsgroups line snipped.  I remember Kay Shapero from the debate 
 mentioned below, and am inclined to assume she's reading this thread 
 from news.groups; I'm quite sure the person she quotes is.  alt.cats 
 is not carried by Panix, so I don't think I can post to it. 
  
 A post that looks off-topic, but surprisingly enough, isn't entirely. 
  
 In article , 
 Kay Shapero   wrote: 
  
 > In article  100000@lab.oregonvos.net>, mmontcha@OregonVOS.net says... 
  
 > > Cats should be bred for strength, and resistance to germs. 
  
 > I know someone who's doing that - and also for intelligence and, 
 > lately, one of the polydactyl traits.  (Intelligent cats with 
 > thumbs...)  See my sig for some of the stories she's told me... 
  
 My mother bred for polydactyly, along with tiger markings.  But her 
 life was far too chaotic to even take the first step toward what 
 she sometimes said her goal was, establishing an actual breed. 
 More often she referred to it as a genetics research project done 
 cheaply; she had been a geneticist until about the time DNA was 
 decoded, and had never adapted to the union of genetics with 
 biochemistry that followed.  In reality, I think she just liked 
 having kittens around.  We gave most of them away at shops and kept 
 those who weren't taken. 
  
 I was the last in the family to keep a cat of that line; she died 
 late last October.  She had neither polydactyly nor tiger markings. 
 She was also neither as stupid as some of the cats in the line (her 
 grandmother was profoundly stupid, including but not limited to 
 abandoning both the litters she bore) nor as smart as others (her 
 mother, for example, was fairly bright).  Just to complete the set, 
 I'll note that she was presumably germ-resistant (she died of 
 hyperthyroidism, and I don't remember any infections despite, among 
 other things, two or three periods of flea infestation), but not 
 especially strong.  Oh, and contrary to the ignorant assumption of 
 someone up the thread in a cross-post I don't want to perpetuate, 
 she was, like me, both unusually small and unusually reserved. 
  
 I have the strong impression that this post will lead at least one 
 person to flame my mother, and perhaps also me.  Amusingly, both 
 the cats I've ever kept have been, arguably, rescue situations:  the 
 older, from my mother's house and its fleas; the younger, as it turned 
 out, only briefly, while my landlord adapted to the idea that he was 
 stuck with half a dozen cats courtesy of his daughter (if I remember 
 right).  (He took that cat back when he evicted me, six years back, 
 and put her in his shop, where she was perfectly happy the last time I 
 saw her.)  I mentioned this in the debate that led to the creation of 
 rec.pets.cats.rescue and I was praised for it, which was somewhat 
 preposterous, so I guess it's only fair that flamage come my way now 
 so as to zero the karmic balance.  But of course if it *does* come my 
 way, it'll serve as additional evidence of why this group might be a 
 good idea, and some hint as to whether it need be moderated. 
  
 Joe Bernstein 
  
 -- 
 Joe Bernstein, writer                                  joe@sfbooks.com 
                   At this address, 
 personal e-mail is welcome, though unsolicited bulk e-mail is unwelcome. 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)