IRISH SHORT-EARED CAT

Described in a light-hearted book depicting cats which had been "painted" with vegetable dye (in fact all painted cats were photo-manipulations), the Irish Shortear is a mutant-eared cat that never was. This footnote has been included because people have asked where to find an Irish Shortear!

The book in question was the spoof "Why Paint Cats" and the fake breed among genuine breeds was the Irish Shortear. It was described as Burmilla x Scottish Fold with large protuberant eyes, short ears and very relaxed nature due its excellent vision. The photo was that of a Brown Burmilla which was been edited to give the cat larger eyes, narrower chin and short ears (the original ear tip had been photographically enlarged and grafted back onto the face). The face was then grafted back onto the image of the cat's body. One giveaway was that the facial area had a "floating effect", which is common in photo-composites. A Scottish Fold would have given folded not shortened ears. In addition, the partial-dominant "macro-retinal" gene mentioned in the text is fictional (and it should have been a macropthalmia gene since the retina is the back of the inside of the eye).


Found here:

http://www.messybeast.com/foldear-cats.html