Where Does the Cabbit Myth Come From?

The classic version of the cabbit myth goes something like thus: Anyone who owns rabbits will know that they are incredibly cute, but not exactly exciting or affectionate and their housetraining can leave much to be desired. A company in America has developed a hybrid animal which, they claim, combines the best qualities of both the rabbit and the cat: cute, affectionate, active and very, very clean. Male rabbits are famed for their willingness to attempt sex with any female animal of approximately the same size, regardless of whether it is a rabbit or not. By coincidence, cats and rabbits share the same number of chromosomes and a similar gestation period. In addition, female cats will happily raise the young of other species alongside their own kittens. All of these factors have combined to help animal breeders develop a brand new pet. Called a "racat" (although some breeders are pushing for the more attractive term of "cabbit") the animal can be ordered from almost any large pet store but may take some time to arrive in stock due to the almost legendary laid-back natures of both the cat and the rabbit. The Spanish version of the myth calls the creatures gatonejos (gat = cat, conejos = rabbits). In French they are "lachat" or "chapin."

We've only recently started to understand genetics. Before scientists starting working out how genes are inherited and how they affect us, there were dozens of superstitions. For example, if a baby was born with a hare-lip (a birth-defect), superstition said it was because the mother had been startled by a rabbit or hare while she was pregnant. Likewise, when people saw a tailless cat with longer than average back legs, they believed that one of its parents was a rabbit. They didn't have any other way to explain these things, so they invented explanations which were plausible at the time.

The First Written Accounts of the Cat-Rabbit Myth

1712: John Morton, in "The Natural History of Northamptonshire" (1712) wrote: That Two Brute Animals of different Species do sometimes join in Copulation and that a Mongrel or spurious Beast partaking of the Nature of both the Parents, is begot betwixt them, every body must own, who knows any thing of the Generation of the Mule; but then it is to be observed, that this happens only between Animals of Kinds near of Kin to each other, as, e. gr., the Horse and the Ass, between whom the Mule is engendered. For this Reason I suspected the Story rife in almost every bodies Mouth about Two or Three Years ago, that at the Cross-Keys Inn in Northhampton, they had a Creature in the Fore-part of it a Cat, in the Hinder-part a Rabbet, that came of a She Cat, which had coupled with a Buck-Rabbet at a neighbouring House. The Rabbet and Cat do indeed agree in this, that they both are multifidous [many-toed, as opposed to hoofed]; but in other Respects, especially in the Shape of the Head, in the Fashion and Number of their Teeth, in their Manner of Living and Temper, do so much differ, that tis scarce to be imagined there should ever be any such Intermixture. But however, that I might satisfy my self more fully in the Matter, I went to view this so much talk d-of Monster, which to me after all appear d to be only a common Cat with a bobb d Tail, and somewhat more bushy than ordinary, and with blunter Claws! Things that may easily be accounted for. And it had the same way of squatting down upon its Tail, that Rabbets have; which no doubt it was taught. The Vulgar may still, if they please, believe that Relation; but I would not have it impose upon Persons of better understanding. (Morton, The Natural History of Northamptonshire, 1712, pp. 445-446.)

In 1754, in "History of the Royal Society of London", Thomas Birch (p 393), Secretary to the Royal Society, wrote that in 1664, Sir Robert Moray related that he had heard from Dr. Hinton of a copulation of a male rabbit and a female cat, which produced monsters whose foreparts were like a cat and the hinder parts like a rabbit, and that those monsters had reproduced more complicated monsters." This information was 3rd hand.

1834: This account of a mi-chat mi-lapin comes from Du Pouvoir de l'Imagination sur le physique et le Moral de l'Homme (The Power of the Imagination on the Physique and Morals of Man) by J.-B. Demangeon, published in 1834. The account is in Chapter VII, p. 474. Which includes Monstrosities -their characters and varieties [including] Cat-rabbit.
The following account has been published in several newspapers, notably in the Gazette of Health, April, 1806, written at that time by Dr. Marie de Saint-Ursin.

"The defenders of the belief that a mother transmits her perception of objects to the foetus, and that what she sees can be impressed as characteristics or impressions upon the latter, frequently cite Jacob s sheep. A recent instance supports this theory. There is a hairdresser, Michalon, living near the Opera, who is also a skilful artist of hairpieces and who also creates life-sized plaster busts. There is a cat who has spent her whole pregnancy among some plaster rabbits crouching with nodding heads - which are seen by the fireplace. She amused herself by patting their heads with her paw, and gazing for hours at them. She has produced a cat which has absolutely the same head-nodding movement and also the hind-quarters of a rabbit not just the legs and tail, but also the gait and the crouching posture and with the gentle nature of a rabbit.

This is a great argument against Cartesianism, or at least a new reason for doubting credible physiologists, whom we usually take at their word because of the college they studied at, or the Society they belong to. Should we always accept their opinions and discussions in good faith (without even suspecting it) ?

I admit that, having visited M. Michalon's a few days after the report of this phenomenon was published, and having examined it with an open mind and careful attention, the cat described as an extraordinary marvel, that I didn t see anything peculiar about it except for its cropped or naturally short tail, its fawn and white colour, especially at its hind end, almost like its mother, and that being blind it has white eyes and walks more hesitantly than sighted cats. The head-nodding did not occur on the day I examined it, and moreover, did not prove by such movement to be the same as that of the claimed prototype of plaster, but could be a weakness of muscles and nerves as found in elderly people without any help from maternal impression! Madame Michalon, who satisfied my curiosity with all possible honesty and amiability, told me of other curious things about the same mother cat and her descendants. She told me that because this kitten was sick she did not want to knock it on the head. The mean woman! Attentive readers will have doubted, like me, that this is physiological marvel from the way it is described. It is hard to understand how the allure of a crouching plaster rabbit could have so shocked the mother cat that she transmitted it so precisely to her offspring. I find it astonishing that an animal so dedicated in her affections and so constantly amused by the plaster rabbit would miss the more visible front part of the model, and not transmit the shape of the head that she watched for hours, yet transmitted the impression of the hind-leg and tail, and the hindquarters in general, so perfectly. Moreover, their crouching posture was somewhat out of sight. But if I could not admire a cat which, at the age of eleven months, had taken such a long time to arouse curiosity, supposing that it had been something remarkable, I could at least admire some articles of hair very finely worked by M. Michalon, and among other busts, a life-sized one of Bonaparte, with a very good likeness.

Perhaps it was because of that extraordinary artist that Dr. Marie de Saint-Ursin s imagination had made a wonderful cat out of an ordinary cat, assuming that his account was not based on what he was told by others, for he had certainly not been able to convince himself of most of what was said about the pregnancy. I asked to see the model, but did not have it and had possibly never had it. I can t imagine, in view of the single uniform colour of an ordinary plaster rabbit, that the one which supposedly so shocked the mother cat and her offspring had a variety of colours, unless she had been commanded by an assortment, from which we conclude, like Porta, that generation is fashioned by statues rather than by origin.

There was an awkwardness, which you don't generally see in someone being deliberately deceitful; for after the birth of the marvellous cat, if there had been a plaster model of a half-cat-half-rabbit (mi-chat mi-lapin) it wouldn t be possible to challenge the power of the maternal imagination. Hence a little refinement of the deceit would have become irrefutable proof for many people that there was no deception. Sometimes a falsehood hidden among truth is also taken as truth.

If such an account in the Gazette of Health, or in any other journal , went unchallenged, then after a period of time, credulous physiologists interested in the account would propagate the error, and it would be confidently copied in newspapers and books, while those who knew better did not do their duty to debunk the tale. This also applies to similar beliefs which have been passed down to us, both before and after the invention of printing, by ignorant persons, or by those who had studied at schools where circumspection, and philosophical doubt, the only saviours of the truth, were not taught. The fable I have spoken of, along with many similar ones that are classed as scientific, demonstrate the degree of credibility of ancient and modern wonders that are eagerly and confidently received by those who wanting to legitimize their own prejudices, though the fables themselves are usually transmitted by authors who may not intend to propagate errors, but aren t sufficiently bothered about preventing them.

Back in the mid-1800s, the superficial similarity between the Manx cat and the rabbit inspired writer Joseph Train of Castle Douglas, Galloway to include the cabbit myth in his book "An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man" (1845). He stated that Manx cats were truly the product of matings between female cats and buck rabbits. His book included a somewhat grotesque engraving of a Manx cat, distorted to look like a cat-rabbit hybrid. We probably have Joseph Train to blame for the popularity of the cabbit myth which persists in spite of modern science. In his book, Joseph Train wrote:

"My observations on the structure and habits of the specimen in my possession, leave little doubt on my mind of its being a mule, or crosses between the female cat and the buck rabbit. In August, 1837, I procured a female rumpy kitten, direct from the Island. Both in its appearance and habits it differs much from the common house cat: the head is smaller in proportion, and the body is short ; a fud (Scut?)or brush like that of a rabbit, about an inch in length, extending from the lower vertebra, is the only indication it has of a tail. The hind legs are considerably longer than those of the common cat, and, in comparison with the fore legs, bear a marked similarity in proportion to those of the rabbit. Like this animal too, when about to fight, it springs from the ground and strikes with its fore and hind feet at the same time. The common cat strikes only with its fore paws, standing on its hind legs. The rumpy discharges its urine in a standing posture, like a rabbit, and can be carried by the ears apparently without pain. Like every species of the feline, it is carnivorous and fond of fish, and is an implacable enemy to rats and mice. My opinion, as to the origin of the rumpy, has been strengthened by a coincident circumstance connected with this district. A few years ago, John Cunningham, Esq., of Hensol, in the stewardry of Kirkcudbright, stocked a piece of waste land on his estate with rabbits, which multiplied rapidly. In the immediate neighbourhood of this warren rumpy cats are now plentiful, although previously altogether unknown in the locality. Not a doubt seems to exist as to the nature of their origin. I am afraid the known facilities which exist in the Isle of Man, for giving effect to this opinion as to the origin of the rumpy, may go far to dissipate the cherished belief of the Islanders, in its being a distinct genus. At the same time I am far from wishing my statements to be understood as settling the question. My opportunities of observation have induced this general opinion of their origin, but, as it is possible many local objections may be taken to its reception, I would willingly avail myself of any authenticated communication on this head, before the final publication of my work. I have no wish, apart from the discovery of truth, to deprive the Island of this, or any of its peculiarities."

On 20th July, 1849, The Lincoln Courier (USA) published this report, reprinted from the Columbia Telegraph: A Cross of the Cat and Rabbit. A staid and demure matron of the Cat species in this place has recently perpetrated a strange freak, by producing at one litter a Bona fide kitten, and two little specimens which can neither be called kittens nor rabbits partaking in a very great degree the peculiarities of both. The forepart is decidedly cat, with rabbit terminations. From behind the shoulders forward the distinctive traits of the cat are developed, the hindquarters in configuration, fur and tail are those of the ordinary brown rabbit. Their attitude and movements partake of the character of their mixed descent, for odd as it may appear, they are the progeny of a male rabbit and female cat. These hybrids are now about six weeks old, well grown, and quite frisky, and apparently pleased to see company. They may be seen at Mr. Hitchcock s Livery stable and such a curiosity not being accessible every, Naturalists should take some trouble to see them. This is the first cross between these natural enemies have ever heard of - the rabbit usually being the prey of the cat. The father is not known, but the presumptive proof establishes the paternity.

1853: The New York Herald (Morning Edition), November 5th, 1853: On Exhibition Can Be Seen for a few days at COSTAR s rat, cockroach etc exterminator depot, 448 Broadway, a chicken that stands and walks perfectly straight; also a half cat half rabbit. Admission to exhibition 6 and a quarter cents.

1873: Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Volume 16, October 15, 1873: Mr. S.H. Scudder described a cat and kittens which he had seen at Plymouth, New Hampshire, supposed to be a cross between the rabbit and the cat. The animals had a short rabbit-like tail, long haunches, and a rabbit s gait, but in other respects were feline. The owners of the three specimens were all earnest in their declaration of the rabbit-cat ancestry of their pets. Mr Scudder could not believe in the possibility of a cross between animals so far apart in the natural system, and asked for information from those present. [81 were present] -- Mr. R. Bliss, Jr., said he had seen similar cats, for which a like pedigree was claimed, in Middleton, Connecticut. -- Mr. F.W. Putnam thought a cross between two animals belonging to two different orders, the carnivore and rodentia [note: now lagomorpha], impossible, and that the case would no doubt turn out to be the same as with the racoon cat, which had been discussed in the American Naturalist . He believed such forms to be accidental monstrosities, like the famous Ancon sheep.

The Tarborough Southerner, November 19th, 1875: A Curious Cats. Our neighbour Jones the Postmaster has quite a singular half-grown cat, it is half cat and half rabbit. The head part is cat and the rear half is the shape of a rabbit. Milton Chronicle.

In 1882, Francis (Frank) Trevelyan Buckland wrote that all purported cat-rabbit hybrids were Manx cats with birth defects - "To Mr. [Abraham Dee] Bartlett [Superintendent of the London Zoo], are brought sometimes supposed hybrids between a cat and a rabbit. Our friend says a cat with a short tail will not prove the argument. He wants a rabbit with a long tail."

Omaha Daily Bee, March 15th, 1884: Mr. J.L. Brasington, of Camden, S.C., has a curiosity in the shape of a cat-rabbit or a rabbit-cat, being one half cat and the other half rabbit. The head and shoulders are those of a cat, while the hindquarters are those of a rabbit, the legs and feet also being shaped precisely like those of a rabbit. The tail is also short and white like a rabbit s. In moving about it jumps and squats like a rabbit, and has often been chased from the street because it was taken for one. It cannot climb a tree because only the forepaws have claws on them. It will devour anything that a cat or rabbit will eat. The monstrosity is now about six months old and is very docile in its habits. An old cat is the mother of this curiosity. Only one other kitten was born at the time, and it is a full-blooded, perfectly formed cat.

The Cecil Whig, March 22nd, 1884: The celebrated cat, half cat and half rabbit, owned by Mr. George Bennett, of this town, and which had attracted considerable attention, died suddenly in a fit last Tuesday. The cat-astrophe is the greater from the fact that he was about to send it to the Zoological gardens.

From 1886, there is the following brief item: Jacob Ruebsamen s menagerie now consists of a cub bear, a South American monkey, an alligator, the cat-rabbit hybrid, prairie dogs, guinea pigs and coons. The Decatur Herald, Sunday June 27, 1886

The Sydney Morning Herald, August 31, 1886 printed an article about Cats and Rabbits : Recently there appeared in a Victorian journal called the Wimmera Star, a paragraph stating that two animals, the progeny of a tom cat and a black rabbit, and partaking of the natures of both parents, were born about 10 months ago on the farm of Mr. Rankin, of Salt Lake, Victoria, and were now the property of Mr. Thomas Turner, of Wilson-street, Horsham. Noticing this, and recognising its importance in relation to the liberation in some of the rabbit-infested districts of New South Wales of large numbers of cats, in the hope that they would destroy the rabbits, Mr. H. C. Taylor, officer in charge of the rabbit branch of the New South Wales Department of Mines, sent a telegram on the 9th instant [this month] to the Under-Secretary for Lands in Melbourne to ascertain if there was any truth in the published statement.

The second officer, Mr. E. J. Nuzum, land officer, Horsham, states in his report that he is informed that the animals were obtained from Mr. Rankin, a farmer, at Toolongrook, and that the parents the cat and the rabbit, the latter being the male, were frequently seen together. The young doe, he proceeds, is a black one, and resembles the rabbit, while the other, a male, is tan coloured, and similar to the cat. The forepart of each is of the resemblance of the cat, the front paws having the cat claws, and the hair being similar. The hind part has the fur of, and the legs are the same as, the rabbit. They are very docile, and not afraid of being handled, climbing and jumping like a cat. The style of walking is peculiar, sometimes moving like a cat and at others hopping like a rabbit. Turner informed me they are 10 months old, and that they enjoy grass, cabbage leaves, &c equally as much as meat. It has been suggested that they are ordinary cats, and that the tails were docked when very young, and the hind legs partly hamstrung; but I doubt it.

Daily Public Ledger, September 26th, 1892: Cambridge, O., has a freak in the way of a half rabbit and half cat. The fore-part of the animal is like an ordinary house cat, while the other half is shaped like a full-fledged white rabbit.

Pester Lloyd, 29 December 1894: A gift from the Archduchess Klotilde to the Menageri [Thiergarten]. A rare specimen of an animal has come into the possession of the menagerie (Thiergarten). This is a play of nature which has come from crossing a domestic cat with a hare, half-cat-half-hare, this came into the possession of Archduchess Klotilde from an Osuer woman. The Archduchess presented it to the Thiergarten.
(Pester Lloyd, 29 Dezember 1894. Lokal-Nachrichten. Ein Geschenk der Erzherzogovin Klotilde an den Thiergarten. Ein seltenes Exemplar eines Thieres ist in den Besitz das Thiergartens gelangt. Es is dies ein aus det Kreuzung einer Hauskatze mit einem Hasen hervorgegangenes Naturspiel, halb Katze, halb Hase welches von einer Osuer Frau in den Besitz der Erzherzogin Klotilde gelangte; die Erzherzogovin schenkte das Their von dem Thiergarten.)

The Times (USA), May 1, 1898: A REMARKABLE ANIMAL. It Resembles Both Rabbit and Cat and is Probably a Cross Between the Two. From the Chicago Chronicle. - Dr. O. F. Hall, of Hartford City, Ind., has in his possession an animal which is a puzzle to students of natural history. The creature is half cat and half rabbit, and as it partakes of the characteristics of each, its appearance is remarkable. It has the head and forequarters of a cat and the remainder of its body is that of a rabbit. Its mother was an ordinary Maltese cat which made her home at the Sneath glass factory, bordering on a forest infested with rabbits. It is thought the animal is the result of a cross between this cat and an ordinary gray rabbit.

The kitten owned by the Crimmel family takes its food in its front feet and places it in its mouth while it sits on its hind feet. It has tried to sip milk from a pan, but has never succeeded in doing so. Its fur is blue In color, but like a rabbit's, and is shed easily. The feet are long and narrow, and the ears are much larger than those of the average cat. All the other kittens of this cat died. Neither the mother nor its kittens will allow anyone to touch it. Dr. Hall has received many letters from naturalists and others who have heard of this remarkable cat, and he has also had offers of fancy prices for it, but he does not care to part with it, nor will Crimmel sell his. Dr. Hall says he intends to breed his hybrid cat and a tame rabbit and see what the result will be. Naturalists say that a cross of this kind is unusually rare.

The San Juan Islander, December 6th, 1900: Half Cat, Half rabbit. The Payette, Idaho, Independent tells of family there that claims to have a bunch of kittens that are half rabbits. The story does not say whether there are some cats and some rabbits, but infers that the case is one of cross blood.

The Manning Times., February 27th, 1901: A Queer Animal. A dispatch from Tamaqua, Pa., says: Richard Miller of Hauto has a curiosity in the shape of an animal that is half cat and half rabbit. The front portion of the creature, with the exception of its red eyes, is that of a cat, while the rear half is that of a rabbit. One half of the animal s body is covered with the white hair of a cat, while the remainder of its body is covered with the reddish brown fur of a rabbit, ending in a short, bushy tail. It moves about with half run and half hop, and is very tame. It lives on vegetables and milk, and has no use for meat. It is about one-half the size of a full-grown cat.

The Lexington Dispatch, July 3rd, 1901: Mr. N.H. Williams, says he has a curiosity at his house in the shape of [an] animal which is half rabbit and half cat. The fore part is like a cat and the hind part looks like a rabbit. It is about six weeks old, and he supposes it to be the result of tame rabbits and cats breeding together.

The Minneapolis Journal, January 27th, 1903: (Minneapolis Poultry and Cat Show) The general exhibit includes poultry, homing pigeons, pet stock and cats. Two rare exhibits are a pair of silkies (hens) and a hybrid which is half cat and half rabbit. On Sunday a $25 Angora cat [will be given away]. Each person who buys a ticke will place his name and address on a card in churn and the first name drawn will get the prize.

In her 1903 book "The Book of the Cat", Frances Simpson alluded to Joseph Train's hybrid and wrote "A lady friend of mine, who was brought up in the Isle of Man, has told me that she always understood that Manx cats came from a cross with a rabbit, but if this supposition is correct it seems too strange to be true that cats and rabbits should only form matrimonial alliance in the little island off our coast! It would appear more probably, therefore, that a foreign breed of cat was brought to the island". Victorian breeders frequently described the Manx cat as "rabbity" in appearance and gait, or as having a soft "rabbity" coat, which added to the myth!

The Springfield Missouri Republican of, October 14, 1905 gives us Cats With Cotton Tails. Two half-grown cats, clearly marked as hybrid cat and rabbit, are freaks of nature owned by Henry Johnson (colored), a Chesterton (Pa) merchant. One of the cats is black, the other maltese gray. Both have short cotton tails and the conformation of rear feet and legs is exactly similar to that of a rabbit, while forward parts and head are that of a cat.

The Inter Ocean, March 4th, 1906 had this report: Is Half Cat, Half Rabbit. >Australian Hybrid Mews and Eats Both Grass and Meat. LONDON, March 3. For the many who dispute the existence of the cat-rabbit hybrid I am prepared (writes a correspondent of the Sydney Bulletin) to land one in Sydney for the modest sum of $20. Its body, head, and fur are those of a cat, and it also "mews" and eats meat. On the other hand, it has bunny s legs and a peculiarly stumpy tail, about an inch long. It sits in an upright attitude on its hind quarters, and runs along rabbit fashion and eats grass as well as meat.

Half-hare, half-cat. Austrian Land Newspaper, 24 March 1906: At the edge of the Stempten, a farmer had lost his housecat. After a while, however, she suddenly came back to the house and brought two youngsters with her. But these were half-hare and half-cat. While the anterior part completely resembles the cat, the posterior part was distinguished by being purely lagomorph-like. The very rare animals were purchased by a museum. (Halb Hase, halb Katze. sterreichische Land-Zeitung , 24 M rz 1906. In der R he von Stempten war einem Landwirt die Hauskatze abhanden gekommen. St rzlich kam sie aber pl tzlich wieder in das Haus und brachte noch zwei Junge mit. Dieselben waren aber halb Hase und halb Katze. W hrend der vordere Teil ganz Katzen hnlich gebildet ist, zeichnete sich der hintere Teil durch rein hasenartige Gelente aus. Die beraus seltenen Tiere von einem Museum angekauft warden.)

Los Angeles Herald, March 25th, 1906: Monrovia Has Animal Freaks. Half Cat Half Rabbit is the Latest. Monrovia apparently holds the championship for wonders, for among its animal denizens are to be found a cat which is half rabbit; a fox terrier which looks like a coyote and has a good many characteristics of one, and a macaw which is treated as a pet and lives free in the open air. The cat, which at present is owned by C.F. Marshall, has a head and forefeet like any feline, but its tail is only an inch long and its hind feet are bent like a rabbit. When you see it running across a field you couldn t distinguish it from a rabbit on account of the way it hops, but the neighbors can all testify that at night it fully lives up to the reputation of a cat. Its fur is white with a few black spots and it eats just as any other cat, although it seems to have a special fondness for grass. The rabbit-cat is half-blood Manx, from which it gets its stubby tail, but there seems to be no blood in it which would warrant the form of its hind legs. The Manx cat came originally from the Isle of Man. Many a tourist has called; Bunny, Bunny, after the retreating form of this freak of nature and has emitted a gasp of astonishment when the animal turned around an uttered a plaintive meow.

Richmond Planet (Va), April 14th, 1906: London. For the many who dispute the existence of the cat-rabbit hybrid, I am prepared (writes a correspondent of the Sydney Bulletin) to land one in Sydney for the modest sum of $20. Its body, head and fur are those of a cat, and it also mews and eats meat. On the other hand, it has bunny s legs and a peculiar stumpy tail, about an inch long. It sits in an upright attitude on its hind quarters, and runs along rabbit fashion and eats grass as well as meat.

The Myth Continues

Some folk are still convinced that there really is such a creature which is a cross between a cat and a rabbit. The front half looks just like a normal cat, but the hind end looks like that of a rabbit with a high rump, long back legs and either no tail or a little stumpy tail. The animal hops like a rabbit. Another cabbit with a stumpy tail was spotted in 1917 in Texas.

The Plymouth Tribune, January 6th, 1910: Harry Fryen, George Fryen, Arthur Fryen and Karl Fryen, who have been spending a few days hunting near Lawrenceburg with friends, have returned to their home in Indianapolis with several valued trophies of their trip. They bagged 120 rabbits, 61 quails, a red fox, a small black eagle and a queer freak of nature, which is believed to be half cat and half rabbit. The freak was shot on the farm of Mrs. Marry A. Harrison, in North Hogan creek, by harry Fryen.

The Plymouth Tribune, February 24th, 1910: William Ned Harmon, living west of Owensville, has offered a reward of $5 for the capture of a strange animal that has been prowling through his premises. The animal is half cat and half rabbit. It first appeared at the home of James Land. The animal has a head resembling that of a common house cat. It has cat claws, but its legs and tail are like those of a rabbit. The strangest thing about this creature is that it runs like a rabbit and makes a noise like a cat.

The Herald and News, May 31st, 1921: Half Rabbit Half Cat. We have seen and heard of different kinds of mixed breeds and grafted things, but never before of cat and rabbit. Mr. J.W. Hodge, driver of a transfer auto in Newberry, has shown us a living curiosity in the shape of a half rabbit and half cat, which is a freak of nature. The thing came from Spartanburg, and if you don t believe it is what we say it is (it is hard to believe it off hand) get Mr. Hodge to show it to you. Being so unusual it is an interesting object to look at. This rabbit cat or cat rabbit has puzzled us since seeing it, and you don t know what to call it but call it by any other name and it is not as sweet as a rose, although some girl wanting it for a pet might call it cute. It is a strange looking animal, from its bunny cotton-tail and rabbit like hind legs to its cat like fore part and head. In worry over this misfit we have tried to be helped out by reading an article on Blood Human and Ape, first appearing in the Atlantic Monthly, by Vernon Kellogg. He speaks of the structural evidence of ancestral relationship between the anthropoids and man being added to by several other well known kinds of likenesses, physiological, psychological and even ecological. Further on Mr. Kellogg speaks of the dog and wolf and other animals, but does not mention rabbit and cat, which leaves us in the dark, and we grope around not knowing anything about what he calls the precipitin reactions. In the researches of science all sorts of prehistoric races are being heard of, and it may be that this rabbit-cat in the possession of Mr. Hodge can furnish, in the language of Mr. Kellogg, a notable modern addition to the biological evidence of anthropoid and some other relationship; and his study of certain highly specialized external insect parasites may yet give a solution to this question in Newberry, as the scientist adds that these parasites are related to the kinds characteristics of the other quadrumana.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Tuesday December 12, 1922: Hybrid, a Cross Between Cat and Rabbit, Exhibited. This hybrid, said by its owner, Mrs. Edmond Devos of Omaha, Neb., to be a cross between a cat and a rabbit, was on display at a cat show recently held in Omaha. Its tail and method of locomotion are those of its rabbit father.

According to Cat Gossip, 5th June 1929, How some make a song and dance about nothing (whilst others pass blindly by really wonderful matters) is exemplified in a cutting from an American paper sent by Major Woodiwiss. It is entitled A Problem for Zoologists; Half Cat, Half Rabbit. It purrs like a cat, has a short tail, will not chase mice, and hates all other cats, also it hops. Alas, the picture shows but a very obvious cat cat in every way, with deformed front legs, apparently bandy. A very similar specimen, English, was portrayed a while back in Country Life, this one was reported to eat lettuces in the garden. Many cats will not chase mice, possibly its deformed legs make this useless; possibly also its peculiar appearance have caused other cats to be unkind and made it hate them. The deformed front lwgs might also cause it to hop. The suggestion that the animal is a half rabbit" is as far-fetched as if one were to publish the picture of a hunchback as being half man, half camel.

Also in Cat Gossip, 5th June 1929, was this anecdote from Moira Meigh (Mrs. Twigg): "[She] sends us this amusing anecdote, reminding us of the early Manx kits which were sometimes in all good faith announced as cat-rabbit hybrids. In this instance the young animals what a misfortune they were not preserved how stupid people can be! must have been a malformation of some kind: During the war I went in for breeding rabbits, and gained a reputation amongst the Soldiers and Sailors Families wives as an authority on 'Rabbitry. One day a very small and stuttering boy arrived to ask me: Please, M m, our Susan's had kittens, and mum says what about it? Is it our George s fault, because it can t be anyone else s. Susan was a Belgian hare that the boy-s mother had bought with a view to mating her with my buck as soon as she was old enough, and George was their young Tom cat who had become such friends with Susan that he always insisted on being hutched in with her at night. Unfortunately I was not able to go round and inspect the kit-rabbits that day, and two days later they were dead and buried. The woman vowed they were quite different to the solitary offspring that inherited rabbit looks and lived several days, and that there was not the slightest possibility of Susan s having mated with another rabbit. From her description the youngsters were short-eared, long-tailed kittens with rabbity legs. After the cat with wings, illustrated in Cat Gossip. nothing in the way of freaks would surprise us from the cat, but in this place the dam was a rabbit, and a long-tailed rabbit is surely something quite new.

An account of a supposed Rabbit-Cat called "Swamp Angel" was published in an American cat care book of 1936. Swamp Angel was found by artist Charles Perry Weimer during a hunting trip along the margins of the impenetrable Great Swamp. Mr Weimer found a nest of kittens, one of which was coal-black and tailless. He took the tailless one home to hand-rear. Swamp Angel puzzled Chatham people due to his long, limber hind legs and his trick of standing erect on them, his lack of a tail, and his soft, thick fur. Many who saw him were reminded of the black jack rabbits found in the Great Swamp. Newspapers printed stories and pictures of him, and he became quite a celebrity. He did not miaow like a cat, but he had a musical purr. He had claws on his forefeet but none on his hind feet and could not climb. Swamp Angel had a rounder head, a blunter nose, and a more amiable gaze than most bobtail cats known at that time (Malay cats), but cat writers of the time identified this alleged hybrid as nothing more exotic than a nice bobtailed cat.

Another woman wrote during the early 1930s "No scientist could convince me that there is no such animal. I know I could swear to one. Twenty-two years ago, at Winthrop Rifle Range on the Potomac River, I saw an animal that had the general appearance of a cat but many of the characteristics of the rabbit. Its front legs were so short that it ambled rather than walked, and it would sit up any old time on its queer little bunny tail. Its fur was shorter and softer than a cat's, its jaw was not shaped like a cat's, and it made a sound quite unlike a miew. No-one who saw it had any doubt that its mother had met a rabbit in the woods."

The Greeley Daily Tribune of July 30th 1930 carried this article under the headline Freak Of Nature Appears To Be Cat-Rabbit Hybrid : Chicago. Motorists stopping at Ed Wesemann's filling station in Udina, a small hamlet four miles west of Elgin, look at his three-months-old pet and ask in astonishment, What is it? Ed shakes his head, admits he*s puzzled and then says he guesses it is a cross between a cat and a rabbit. Ed, Jr., twelve years of age, has adopted the strange animal as a pet. It was found hopping about the prairie by some other children. The front quarters and head of the animal are those of a tabby cat; the rear those of a rabbit. It has the forepaws of a kitten and the long-jumping hind legs of a rabbit. It walks awkwardly, but hops about like a bunny. Mrs. Wesemann says the pet meows like a cat and drinks milk, but also relishes lettuce and cabbage. It is white with yellow spots and a cotton tail.

This snippet is from The Tatler, 25th April 1934 and describes a kitten in England. It appears that the writer had either seen a runty kitten with birth defect where the back end was malformed, or had unknowingly seen a kitten sired by a Manx cat. Here is a little bombshell which has arrived to me concerning the mating of two distinct species. My letter is from Mrs. N.M. Smith of Murray, King s Ash Hill, Paignton, and is as follows:- I have seen and handled a very small kitten that was an undoubted cat-rabbit hybrid. The mother was the half-wild farm cat type and she lived about the out-houses, attached to the house below mine, and used to hunt my spinney for the baby rabbits that swarmed there. All the other kittens in her litter were normal, but this one had an ordinary kitten s forequarters but an unmistakable rabbit s hind-quarters and feet and the equally unmistakable little white cotton tail bunny scut. There was no mixing of the types it was a pure half-and-half. The cat s owners moved away soon after so I never heard whether the mother reared her freak or whether she ate it! '

In the Culver Citizen of August 22, 1934, an article by Samuel E. Perkins III (formerly president of the Indiana Audubon Society) described three strange kittens born to a cat who liked to go adventuring in the fields behind the Morgan County farmhouse where she lived. "One would guess that she had been wooed there by a gentleman cottontail rabbit. Three of the kittens had rabbit tails. I felt the tail bone of one, a tawny male, and it had three vertebrae, each one-fourth of an inch long. It curved upward, hidden in a ball of fur. The kitten's back was arched like a rabbit's, and he used his hind legs as a rabbit does, hopping toward his saucer of milk. I suggested a Manx father, but no one had ever seen or heard of a Manx cat anywhere thereabouts. And in the Manx cat there is no tail at all, and no ball of fur such as these kittens had." Perkins, for all his knowledge of nature, was unaware that the Manx trait ranges from taillessness through varying degrees of short tail to fully tailed. Films and snapshots were taken of Perkins' kittens. He wrote to Dr HE Anthony, curator of mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, about them and a queer kangaroo-like cat he had seen in Indianapolis. Dr Anthony discounted the hybrid theory: "So far as we are aware no such animal could exist. It is possible that your specimens are of the peculiar types of cat which appear unexpectedly, and are well known to students of genetics, though puzzling to the layman." In addition, Clyde E Keeler, of Harvard University, explained that "rabbit cats" were cats with bobbed tails due to exostoses (bony distortions) of the vertebral column. "These distortions [...] characterize many Siamese cats, the Manx cats, and the bob-tail which is so often erroneously called rabbit-cat. In inbred stocks a particular grade of exostoses will become characteristic of the strain."

In 1938: "A Cabbit? We are indebted this week to a charming lady secretary for the story of a natural phenomenon which, we venture to assert, may yet make the name of Three Rivers [Trois-Rivi res, Quebec, Canada] and Cape Madeline resound throughout the world. It seems that a lady resident of the cape has a cat which, not long ago, added to the feline population in a big way. Amongst the number of her progeny was one animal whose front section is reported to be catlike in every respect though its rear portion is pure rabbit. Moreover, this strange animal does not miaouw like a real cat (though it purrs) and it has seven toes on each foot. It shows a fondness for hay as an article of diet and has a fuzzy rabbit-like tail which indicates that in this or preceding generations one of its ancestors contracted a m salliance with an enterprising jackrabbit. This column intends to pursue its investigations further. In the meanwhile we suggest that the animal should be called a cabbit with buncat as an alternative. It all sounds very intriguing and if we can get pictures and data we may yet be able to produce a local rival to the quints. " (St. Maurice Valley Chronicle, January 20th, 1938.)

In 1947: "Animal is Cat or Rabbit; All Depends on the Line of Vision. West Palm Beach, Fla., Aug. 16 Stewart Morgan has a cat at least it s a cat when viewed from the front, but take a look at from the rear, and it s a rabbit. Morgan says the animal, promptly named Cabbit, is jet black, has the head, shoulders and forelegs of a cat, but just below the shoulder joint the spinal column does a squads left and presto the cat becomes a rabbit. The hind legs are like those of a rabbit and operate kangeroo-fashion. Even the fur, said Morgan, is only cat fur about halfway, and the rest of the body covered with fur like that of a rabbit. The tail is nothing but a boneless tuft of black fur. Neighbors suggested that the creature was nothing but a manx cat, but encyclopedias while acknowledging the similarity don't say a word about the hindquarters hopping around like a rabbit. The cabbit has a normal feline appetite. He eats meat and drinks milk, but ignores such rabbit delicacies as lettuce and carrots. The fact, he might pass off as a cat, if he'd stop the kangaroo-jumping with his back feet. As for its ancestral origin Morgan said he didn't know. It was just a stray, he explained. " This appeared in multiple US newspapers via AP, August 1947.

In the 1950s in Ermelo, Transvaal, South Africa, zoologist Dr Maurice Burton became interested in an unusual rabbit-like cat. He learned from Prof J W Groenwald that it was in fact a Siamese-Manx cross bred by H E le Tendresse of Arcadia, Pretoria and sold to a Mr D Patterson in Ermelo. It seems that Dr Burton was unfamiliar with Manx cats.

In 1953: "CABBIT Mrs. Norm Weiler of St. Petersburg, Fla., has a new pet, but she s not sure what it is. The animal has the head and shoulders of a cat, and the body of a rabbit, while its voice is half growl, half meow. Mrs. Weiler, who adopted the creature when it wandered into her yard recently, calls her new pet Cabbit. She says it hates fish, loves cabbage and roast veal." (Multiple US papers including The Times-News - May 22nd 1953) The photo very clearly shows a cat with radial hypoplasia (now know as RH cats or "Twisty" cats.).

There was response on the letters page of The Times Standard, May 20, 1953: Dear Sir, I was quite surprised to note the picture and publicity that you gave the pet cat owned by Mrs. Norm Welter, St. Petersburg, Fla. So called "cat-rabbit hybrids are an old and oft repeated hoax which should not be given the dignity of news space. Surely anyone who has even casually sat through a high school biology class, realizes that it is impossible for any carnivorous animal to mate with any herbivorous animal and produce progeny. As for the probable background of this particular cat no doubt it is a combination of two or more breeds, indiscriminately alley bred. Sam, - on Don - McNeil's Breakfast Club said, Some cats have pedigrees, but most cats have kittens!"

Siamese, Burmese, Abyssinians and Russian Blues, are all short hair breeds that have long hind legs. Of course the Manx breed, which not only has long hind legs, but an open double coat as well, would be a possible ancestor of this particular part-breed. This would be particularly likely considering the stub-tailed condition herein found, a characteristic common in part-Manx cats. The pure specimen should be absolutely tailless. Manx are bred to have long hind legs and high round rump so that they will have the "rabbit gait characteristic of the breed. Let us hope that in the interests of printing only the truth, while quelling fables and hoaxes, that any future fantasies are checked with some competent authority. I am sure that if you were to ask any science instructor in one of our schools, they would be delighted to give you their opinions on such matters and the reasons therefor. Sincerely, Antoinette Sexton (Mrs. W. E. Sexton), May 14, 1953.

Hopping Cats Won t Eat Meat, Milk; Shows Signs Of Rabbit Ancestry The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, Maryland), October 1st, 1953 claimed Fluffy looks almost like an ordinary cat while in repose, and this newspaper isn't equipped to publish motion pictures yet, so you ll have to read the story to find out why there seems to be rabbit blood somewhere in her ancestry. There's a cat on the Middleburg Pike whose ancestry can't be traced but she acts suspiciously like a rabbit. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Poe acquired the cat Sunday, which looks pretty much like a cat but certainly doesn t act like one. The people from whom they obtained the pet had found her wandering around aimlessly.

Aside from these peculiarities, Fluffy has made a good pet this week. She likes to play, is only slightly afraid of the family dog the feeling is mutual and is getting used to the harness which her owners force her to wear outdoors, because of the way the cars zip by on the Middleburg Pike. The cat-rabbit or rabbit-cat is mostly white, with some patches of dark gray and an indescribable shade of brown.

In his book Just Cats (1957), French cat-fancier Fernand Mery wrote Then there is that other scientific fantasy according to which the Manx cat is descended from an astounding match between a female cat and a rabbit.

In 1977, Val Chapman found a curiously formed cat in New Mexico and exhibited it in Los Angeles. Its hindquarters resembled those and Chapman claimed that the "cabbit" was the result of breeding a cat with a rabbit. Los Angeles zoologists said this was plainly impossible. The cat appeared to have a deformed pelvis forcing its legs out and back. Spinal and pelvic deformities are sometimes seen in Manx cats (and in Cymrics, which are Manx Longhairs). According to Wanda Wayne, in 1977 she lived in Farmington, New Mexico and Chapman at the local shopping mall mall who had a cabbit on display. Wanda claims this was half rabbit and half cat and not a defect, but a cross-breed that had shown up on the owner's property outside Farmington. Wanda believed it was true because she had both cats and rabbits. The alleged cabbit was full-grown with soft, white fur (like a rabbit's fur, although many cat breeds have fur with the texture indistinguishable from rabbit fur), long hind legs, rabbit-like tail, cat-like head, pink eyes and it didn't meow. The pink eyes mark it out as an albino which is uncommon in a cat. This owner apparently later appeared on the Johnny Carson show in 1977/78 with the alleged cabbit. Had this been a genuine crossbreed its publicity would not have been restricted to a chat show - it would have been hot scientific news. The description is that of a pink-eyed albino cat, either Manx-type or bobtailed. Evidently the botailed conformation became established in the region - the American Bobtail breed was developed from a cat discovered in neighbouring Arizona. A similar white "cabbit" was shown on a Discovery channel pet programme in 2008, and was revealed to be a young white Manx.

Just 2 months later, Marian Pitcher, of Greenfield, Indiana also believed she had a cabbit - the product of a cat-rabbit mating. Zoo officials laughed when she told them of her cabbit purring at one at end and hopping at the other. In contrast to the opinion of his colleagues, Dr David Osgood, Professor of Vertebrate Anatomy at Butler University, Indianapolis, declared that it would not be impossible for a cat and rabbit to produce offspring, but said that it was "almost beyond comprehension for a biologist to imagine that it could happen." More recent genetic knowledge has shown it to be impossible for viable offspring to result from a cat-rabbit liaison.

With more owners and their Manx-type or Bobtail-type cats jumping on the cabbit bandwagon, cabbits appeared in the 1977 spoof talk show "Fernwood Tonight" aka "Fernwood 2Nite" (set in Fernwood, Ohio). This aired during the summer of 1977, and had a second season as "America 2-Night" (set in Alta Coma, California). The show satirized Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, and other big names of American 1970's Talk TV. The 1977 Fernwood Tonight cabbit sequence went: "That is not his cabbit - it's my cabunny!".

Shortly afterwards, another cabbit turned up in Pennsylvania. Harry Goodwin, of Lower Swatara Township had always thought his peculiarly shaped pet was a Manx cat, but this didn't stop him from joining the cabbit "flap". Apparently his local vet was not too sure what a Manx looked like! Goodwin s cat had ears slightly larger than a domestic cat, and longer whiskers, but it had rabbit-like hind legs and heavy mottled fur. Goodwin claimed to have owned a tame rabbit and remembered that a cat used to "play around" with it. "Some people say there is no way a cat and a rabbit can cross " Goodwin said, "but I say look at it and be your own judge. It hops like a rabbit, looks like a rabbit, and has fur like a rabbit." In all likelihood, the cat was a Manx or part-Manx as Goodwin had originally thought (before cabbit footage became valuable).

A cat breeder told me the following tale. "If you spoke to my grandfather he would tell you his story about working at the local gasworks where he saw a cat that had the body of a rabbit. He swears to this day(in fact is quite passionate about his story)that he saw a half rabbit half cat. I have been hearing this since I was young and he was too (40's maybe?) so he wasn't senile and he's not a drinker."

In fact, what these folks had seen were tailless cats with an odd mutation of the skin around the back legs. The classic tailless cat is the Manx cat though there are several other cat breeds which have bobtails. Not all Manxes are tailless, some have bobtails, somewhat like a rabbit's scut. The mutation which causes the Manx effect also affects the backbone, pelvis and legs. In severe cases it can cause spina bifida and lethal defects affecting the nervous system and skeleton. Normal Manx cats have short backs, long hind legs and a rounded rump which is higher than their shoulders. Some are completely tailless while others have bobtails or short tails. Sometimes these various factors combine to make the cat move with a bobbing gait, known as the 'Manx Hop', though this is undesirable in show quality cats.

Usually a cat (any breed) has loose skin folds around the belly and haunches so that you can't properly see the shape of the haunch. Occasionally a genetic mutation means that the skin does not have enough folds and is 'tucked up' at the belly and hips. This exposes more of the haunch and makes the back legs look longer than they really are. Most cats occasionally 'bunny-hop' (move both back legs at once). Cats with a cabbit-type deformity may look like they are hopping, but it is an optical illusion caused by their bobbing gait. The 'tummy tuck' is a deformity which makes the already long hind legs resemble a rabbit's hind legs. No-one is sure if the tummy tuck deformity is harmful on its own, but so-called cabbits get their looks from a variety of deformities, some of which are serious or crippling so that the cat should not be bred from. The following demonstrates what happens when Manxes with these problems are bred together.

Michael Mastro wrote in 2002 that a few years earlier one of his clients had owned two cats that she had purchased from a breeder in California. She called them cabbits. One cat was tabby, the other was all black and both weighed almost 30 pounds. They had long hair, long floppy ears and "the unmistakable hind legs of a rabbit". They were also apparently unbelievably affectionate. Michael asked his vet about them and was told that cats and rabbits will mate (which is true - they will go through the motions of mating, but they can't produce offspring). The question was - what were the animals? With no information about what they ate and exactly how long (and what shape) the ears were, a likely answer is a large rabbit breed (for example the Flemish Giant). The tabby pattern may have been a brindled pattern rather than stripes. The weight may possibly have been over-estimated and long hair can give the impression of a much weightier animal.

In April 2003 I received an email from a person in Cyril, Oklahoma, USA who had seen"cabbits" in Elgin, Oklahoma. The animals' owner claimed they had come from Washington state. She did not know what sort of cats they were (the correspondent believes them to have been Manxes) and had a male and a female which she bred. The kittens resembled the mother and as they grew older, their spines displayed a distinct twist and they began to limp. Eventually all of the kittens were destroyed due to the deformity and obvious pain. In this instance, both parents were described as being rabbit-like and the kittens would have inherited a double dose of the genes causing these problems.

In July 2003, Trevin Edgeworth claimed to have seen cat-rabbit hybrids (gatonejos) in Morovis, Puerto Rico during 1996. A local woman called Maria apparently bred the hybrids from a parent cat and rabbit she owned. He described some "hybrids" as having the heads of rabbits and tails of cats, while others had cat heads with rabbit tails. The fur was described as being half soft rabbit fur and half coarser cat fur (for some reason writers assume that cats have coarser fur than rabbits - perhaps they are unfamiliar with the soft fur of Angora and Ragdoll cats). In addition, Maria's father ran a burger stand which made excellent burgers, possibly because they used the hybrid cat/rabbit meat. Apparently no-one considered the animals at all unusual! It is most likely that this was an inbred population of bobtailed cats, which would account for the variable tail lengths described.

In 2005, Manuel Ortiz from New York recalls seeing alleged cabbits on the Primer Impacto show on the Spanish network Univision at the end of the 1990s or beginning of the 2000s. The show featured a report, apparently from the Dominican Republic, regarding "gatonejos" (gato = cat, conejos = rabbits) . The gatonejos (8 were shown) had the front half of a cat and the hind legs of a rabbit and ate carrots. My best guess is that it was a hoax news article aired for fun. Animal hoaxes are not unusual in newspapers or on TV. Most televised cabbit claims are Manx cats and the claim of eating carrots is false (some cats enjoy the occasional vegetable snack, but they eat regular cat food the rest of the time). .It is also possible that they were a breed of rabbit with relatively short ears.

Another correspondent reported that in 2007/8, a Georgia woman attempted to sell "cabbits" for $1000 each. The correspondent was intrigued enough to have a look at the animals, intending to send a hoax alert to the local paper. The "breeder" had caged cats and rabbits together along with some bobtailed cats and kittens that she claimed were hybrids. When challenged over the purported cabbits being cats, the woman became defensive and angry and the would-be investigator had to leave due to the threatening behaviour. This is believed to be a moneymaking scam.

In March 2012 on the US show "Headlines", Jay Leno featured a classified advert from someone who was offering Cabbits for sale and proclaimed that he had never heard of a cabbit. Whether the advert was a hoax, a scam or a misunderstanding was not clear.

While some take cabbits at face value and base their belief on the cat's resemblance to a rabbit, the feline geneticist Roy Robinson wrote that there is no way to determine whether a cat is a hybrid simply by looking at it as cats can be quite variable in their looks. Admittedly Robinson had written about domestic/wildcat hybrids - no geneticist of world renown would take a cat-rabbit hybrid seriously. Despite this, there are websites claiming to offer cabbits for sale, these being bred from male white rabbits mated with female domestic cats. The cabbit offspring move with a "stumbling gait" and appear to be another form of the infamous Twisty Cat.

Manxes as Cabbits

Bobtailed and tailless cats account for many cabbit sightings. The mutation that causes taillessness can also cause skeletal and/or nerve abnormalities that result in the cat using a hopping motion. The relatively long hind legs of the Manx, combined with taillessness or a very short, scut-like tail, give the impression of a rabbit. This led to Joseph Train's belief in cat-rabbits mentioned in "An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man" (1845).

In 1947, Grace Cox-Ife wrote in "Questions Answered About Cats" (1947): There are several points about a Manx that make it anything but ordinary. The chief one is, of course, its taillessness; but this is not quite the whole story. Not only must a Manx have no tail but it should really be a further joint or more short on the spinal column; that is to say there should be a hollow where the tail would normally begin. Then there is the gait - a rabbity hop rather than a walk- which is caused by the height of the hindquarters: according to the Manx Cat Club these "cannot be too high, and the back cannot be too short, while there must be great depth of flank. The head should be round and large, but not of the snubby or Persian type."

In the late 1950s, PM Soderberg wrote The normal gait of the Manx is different from that of the ordinary cat, and in some respects is similar to that of the rabbit, but there is no truth in the statement sometimes made that this breed was originally the result of a cross between a rabbit and a cat. That is sheer nonsense. and the hind legs are longer than those in front. From this difference in length of leg the peculiar gait of the breed arises, and it is as a result of this that the Manx has been called the 'Rabbit cat'. On a number of occasions it has been stated with apparent seriousness that this variety was, in fact, first produced by crossing a rabbit with a cat, but any such statements can be regarded as sheer nonsense. (PM Soderbergh - "Your Cat" (1951) and "Pedigree Cats, Their Varieties, Breeding and Exhibition" (1958))

According to Katharine L Simms in "They Walked Beside Me" (1954): "An old Manx newspaper of 1808 described Manx cats as 'Rumpy cats'. In build he is higher in the rump than the ordinary cat, for his hind legs are longer than his forelegs. For this reason the Manx is sometimes called the Kangaroo cat, for he has the hopping gait of a kangaroo and a rabbit. This started the absurd story that he is the result of mating between a domestic cat and a rabbit. Such a cross between two entirely different species is, of course, impossible. He has, however, yet another likeness to the rabbit in the quality of his fur; a double coat, fine and loose above, and a very thick soft undercoat."

Rose Tenent wrote in "Pedigree Cats" (1955) No cat is more fascinating than the tailless Manx, with its rabbit-like hoppity gait [...] . The hind legs are considerably longer than the front ones, thus giving the cat its peculiar hopping gait; incidentally, also the reason for the ridiculous theory held in some quarters that the Manx cat is the result of a cross-mating between a cat and a rabbit.

Non Manx-Cabbits, Squittens and Kangaroo Cats

Manx cats are not the only bobtailed breed whose back ends resemble rabbits. There are several other bobtailed breeds whose tails vary from kinked through to pom-poms and rabbit-like scuts. These are detailed in Bobtailed and Tailless Cats. Similar mutations still occur - in the wild and in domestic cats - from time to time. The white bobtail cat in the photo is a feral seen in Kuantan, Malaysia.

In June 2002, I heard from Cindy S Boesing of Missouri who had actually seen a cabbit-like cat: " I don't know what they are. You can call them a 'cabbit' because they do look like they're half rabbit and half cat. But whatever they are, they are real."

Cindy first saw such cats in the 1970s in Arizona where she saw a mother and kittens, by a dumpster (UK "skip") at a filling station. She describes them as having a cat's head and a rabbit-like scut (which matches the tail-type of some Manx-type cats) rather than a bobbed tail. They had comparatively short legs and walked with a hopping gait, but ran in a typically feline bounding motion. Apparently they are seen elsewhere in Arizona which is not surprising -the American Bobtail breed comes from a foundation cat discovered in the 1960s in Arizona. American Bobtail is a dominant gene mutation with variable expression. A rabbit-like tail would be one expression of this gene. In addition to the rabbit-like tail, there may be tufted ear tips which make the ears look longer. A "bobcatty" look is favoured.

In 2002, Cindy saw a grey adult version in her yard in Cuba, Missouri on several occasions.  She described it as having ears slightly longer than the average cat's ears although I believe these may have been ear tufts. She described the look on its face as far from cute - possibly this means it was feral or that it had a bobcatty look about it. Cindy emphasised that it was not at all deformed, but healthy, strong, quick, and daring. I have no reason to doubt her - the bobtail mutation has occurred on numerous occasions and the rabbity tail does fall into the range of tail-types found in "bobtailed" cats.

There is another condition which causes a rabbit-like appearance - this is radial hypoplasia (RH, "Twisty" mutation). Because affected cats have greatly shortened forelegs but normal length hind legs, they often sit upright on their haunches looking like a rabbit or squirrel. Their shortened forelimbs are sometimes so short as to be useless for walking so the cat learns to move by hopping like a rabbit or kangaroo. Cats with RH often sit with their forequarters propped up on a step or cushion to put their head at the same height as a normal cat and to take the weight off of underdeveloped front legs. Unlike hopping Manx cats, RH cats often have tails, those with plumy tails may be called "squittens" suggesting that they were kittens born to a cat which had mated with a squirrel!

Another person who believes she has seen a cabbit is Terri from Maryland who was aged 4 years when the family's blind Siamese cat apparently mated with a jackrabbit (actual date not provided, ?1980s). The cat produced a single deformed, but nevertheless healthy and bright, kitten. This curious cat was with them for around 15 years. According to Terri the vet had a scientist run tests on the kitten and concluded that it was a hybrid, apparently even offering US$500,000 for her (this is unconfirmed). DNA tests would not have been performed 15 years ago and the conclusion would be based, unscientifically, on the cat's appearance and on circumstantial evidence about the jackrabbit. Terri's cat had front legs "bent like a rabbit and her hind legs also" and hopped around. Her face was cat-like, her body was, her legs were bent, but she had a normal cat's tail This description of bent front legs indicates radial hypoplasia (twisty cat) which can result in very bowed front legs.

El Ray, owned by Robert Lawrence, is the accidental offspring of a random-bred male longhair Dodge and another randombred cat called Princess, both formerly feral/stray cats. Princess gave birth to a very small kitten that seemed unlikely to survive. When he became mobile his owner noticed El Ray had an unusual conformation and hopped like a rabbit rather than running. His hind legs appear unusually long, partly due to his "tummy tuck" shape and partly due to his hips seeming to sit higher than his shoulders (his pelvis may be slightly rotated rather than normally built). His muscles developed such that he has the shape of a greyhound with thin legs, but large shoulder muscles. His tail is normal length. His belly tucks inward toward his pelvis due to lack of a loose apron of skin or fatty deposit. Overall, he seems to have more muscle tone and less fat to him than the other household cats. Though he walks normally, his stride appears different due to the long hind legs. When he trots or runs, both hind legs move together in a hopping gait. This suggests a slight abnormality with the nerves serving the hind legs so that the legs don't operate independently at high speeds. He is extremely fast and can launch himself long distances with his hind legs - in essence, instead of running he is jumping horizontally (cats can jump upwards a couple of times their own body length). It's not known if this is genetic or is due to non-genetic developmental issues.

Short-legged Munchkins also sometimes sit up on their haunches to raise their heads to a greater height and get a good look at things. Munchkins have all four legs shortened (achondroplasia) and move with a ferret-like gait, rather than a hopping motion.

Kangaroo cats which sit up like kangaroos have been reported from time to time and have either either radial hypoplasia or achondroplasia (the Munchkin trait). They are certainly not hybrids of cats and kangaroos - cats are placentals while kangaroos are marsupials!

With its pom-pom tail looking even more like a rabbit's scut than does the Manx's stump, the Japanese Bobtail cat is sometimes mistaken for a cabbit.  The bobtail mutation is totally different from the Manx mutation and does not cause spinal deformities or a "rabbitty" hopping gait. The only similarity is the rabbit-like scut.

Regardless of the genetic impossibility, it seems that people want to believe in cabbits (especially with the cabbit characters in popular Japanese anime) just like they want to believe in the Easter Bunny - and they will continue to believe in mythical creatures despite all evidence to the contrary.