Tail Length

Short Tail (Variant 1)

Alternative Names: Manx Bobtail, Bobtail, Tailless

Short Tail (Variant 1) Photo

Short Tail (Variant 1) is associated with a naturally short "bobbed" tail and was first discovered in Manx cats.

More Info

Did you know?

The Manx was one of the original cat breeds premiering in some of the world’s first cat shows during the late 19th century. Manx litters can produce tail lengths ranging from full tailed to longy, stumpy, rumpy riser, and rumpy.

How it works

One copy of this Short Tail variant will result in a short to completely absent tail. Other variants are also known to cause tail shortening in cats.

Health implications

Cats with this variant may also display “Manx Syndrome,” which is a term used to describe a range of disorders that affect the development of the spine and spinal cord. The various forms of this syndrome can prevent normal behaviors, induce incontinence, cause partial paralysis, and lead to painful infections. As all tested cats with this variant are seen to carry only one copy, it is presumed if two copies of the Short tail Manx mutation are inherited that it will cause early fetal death and resorption. Two cats mated together which have the Short tail Manx variant will have smaller litter sizes and some normal tailed cats may be produced.

Technical Details

Gene T
Variant Deletion
Chromosome B2
Coordinate 152,019,393

All coordinates reference FelCat9.0

References & Credit

Credit to our scientific colleagues:

Buckingham, K. J., McMillin, M. J., Brassil, M. M., Shively, K. M., Magnaye, K. M., Cortes, A., Weinmann, A. S., Lyons, L. A., & Bamshad, M. J. (2013). Multiple mutant T alleles cause haploinsufficiency of Brachyury and short tails in Manx cats. Mammalian Genome, 24(9–10), 400–408. View the article