Manx (cat)

The Manx cat, in earlier times often spelled Manks, is a breed of domestic cat originating on the Isle of Man, with a naturally occurring mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. Manx cats come in all coat colours and patterns, though all-white specimens are rare, and the coat range of the original stock was more limited. Long-haired variants are sometimes considered a separate breed, the Cymric. Manx are prized as skilled hunters, and thus have often been sought by farmers with rodent problems, and been a preferred ship's cat breed. They are said to be social, tame and active. An old local term for the cats on their home island is stubbin. Manx have been exhibited in cat shows since the 1800s, with the first known breed standard published in 1903.

Manx cats have been exhibited in cat shows, as a named, distinct breed, since at least the late 1800s. In that era, few shows provided a Manx division, and exhibited specimens were usually entered under the "Any Other Variety" class, where they often could not compete well unless "exceptionally good in size and markings". Early pet breeding and showing expert Charles Henry Lane, himself the owner of a prize-winning rare white rumpy Manx named "Lord Luke", published the first known breed standard for the Manx in his 1903 Rabbits, Cats and Cavies, but noted that already by the time of his writing "if the judge understood the variety" a Manx would be clearly distinguishable from some other tailless cat being exhibited, "as the make of the animal, its movements and its general character are all distinctive." Not all cat experts of the day were favourable toward the breed; in The Cat: Its Points and Management in Health and Disease, Frank Townend Barton wrote in 1908: "There is nothing whatever to recommend the breed, whilst the loss of the tail in no way enhances its beauty."

The Manx was one of the first breeds recognised by the Cat Fanciers' Association, which has records on the breed in North America going back to the 1920s.

Manx are small to medium-sized cats, broad-chested with sloping shoulders and flat sides, and in show condition are firmly muscular and lean, neither bulky nor fatty. Lane reported the original, native, naturally occurring pure breed as ranging typically from eight to ten pounds for males and six to eight pounds for females, with many smaller examples but only rare ones larger. The hind legs of Manx are notably longer than the fore legs, causing the rump to be higher than the shoulder and creating a continuous arch from shoulders to rump giving the cat an overall rounded or humped appearance, though the breed is comparatively long when stretched out. The fore legs are strong and straight. The shape is often described as rabbit-like.

Manx cats' heads are rounded in shape, and medium in depth with a long neck. The face is often very expressive, with a small nose. The upright, round-tipped and front-facing ears are largish. The eyes are large, rounded and prominent, with their outer corners higher than the inner ones. Absent any bloodlines with a dominant alternative eye color, Manx often have some hue variant of yellow eyes, and for show purposes follow the eye colour standards of the same coat colour/pattern in non-Manx short-hairs.

As with all cat breeds, the cat fancy has arrived through observation at a variety of generalisations about the Manx breed as a whole. No scientific studies have yet been done to prove these assumptions, even on average, but they are widely held. The Manx is considered a social and gregarious feline, and very attached to humans, but also shy of strangers. The breed is said to be highly intelligent, playful, and in its behaviour reminiscent of dogs. For example, like some Maine Coons and a few other breeds, Manx cats often learn to fetch small thrown objects. They may also follow their owners about like puppies, and are believed to be better able to learn simple verbal commands than most cats.

Many of these views of the breed are not known to have a very long pedigree. Lane's early and experienced account of the temperament of this "variety, which is quaint and interesting" is simply that they are "docile, good-tempered and sociable", and that a prize specimen should be "an alert, active animal of much power and energetic character."

Manx are prized as hunters, known to take down larger prey even when they are young. They have long been sought as mousers by farmers. A strong preference for them as ship's cats is thought to be responsible for the world-wide spread of what originated as a very limited, insular breed.

Although all cats, including the great cats, may use both rear legs simultaneously to propel the body forward, especially when moving quickly, Manx cats are often said to move with more of a rabbit-like hop than a stride even when not running.

The Isle of Man has adopted the Manx cat as one of the symbols of the island nation and its unique culture. On Isle of Man currency, Manx cats are the subject of the reverse of three special commemorative crown coins. The first two, issued in 1970 and 1975, are stand-alone releases in both copper-nickel and silver proofs, while the third in 1988 inaugurated an ongoing series of annual cat coin issues that have also been produced in gold in various sizes; an almost-hidden Manx cat appears in the background on each of the 1989-onward releases featuring other breeds. A Manx cat also appears on the island's 1980–83 penny. The breed figures on numerous Isle of Man postage stamps, including a 2011 series of 6 that reproduce the art from Victorian era Manx cat postcards, a 1996 one-stamp decorative sheetlet, one stamp in a 1994 tourism 10-stamp booklet, a 1996 five-stamp series of Manx cats around the world, and a 1989 set of the breed in various coat patterns, plus two high-value definitives of 1983 and 1989. The cat appears prominently as the subject of a large number of tourist goods and Manx pride items available on the island and over the Internet, serving as an emblem of the Isle of Man.

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