Twitching kitten

This kitten was found wandering in the street and taken to a vet by a member of the public under an RSPCA log number. She's very pretty and friendly but seems to have some kind of nervous system problem as she's unsteady and has trouble getting into her litter tray in a hurry. As the pic shows, there's nothing wrong with her appetite and the vets think the best plan is to wait and see whether the unsteadiness gets worse or better.

She was full of worms and fleas, which we've treated, so crossed fingers that an improvement in her general health will help with the other problems.

More genetics and animals

Studies of the damaging effects of small populations and loss of genetic variety in threatened wild animals illustrate why the loss of genetic variation in dogs is potentially such a serious welfare problem:



"Conservation genetics focuses on understanding the role and requirement of genetic variation for population persistence. Can extinction be explained by habitat destruction alone or is lack of genetic variation a part of the explanation? It is now more important than ever that we ask relevant questions about the evolutionary fate of endangered populations throughout the globe and incorporate our knowledge of evolutionary processes and the distribution of genetic diversity into effective conservation planning and action." (From the back cover).









And a cute and very readable history of genetics with special reference to tortoiseshell cats: