History and Origins
Country of Origin: Isle of Man (UK)/Canada
The Cymric cat breed is a semi-longhaired version of the Manx cat. Despite its name, which derives from Cymru the Celtic name for Wales, it originates from the Isle of Man. Tailless cats are common on the Isle of Man where inbreeding among the island cats allowed a naturally occurring tailess gene mutation to spread. As for the Manx cat, litters of Cymric kittens can have stumpy tails of various lengths (classed as rumpy-risers, stumpies, and longies) or no tails at all (rumpy). Breeding programmes in Canada in the 1960s lead to popularity of Cymrics in the USA where only completely tailless animals are shown.
