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Thanks for the update Connie. I'm sad to hear the star-gazer hatchlings didn't survive. At what age did you begin to notice that feeding problems were occurring?
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They were a few months old, the noticeably weakest ones fading before the ones that were robust and growing.
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Sunkissed are such beauties too. It's such a shame that the isolation of this gene and all the efforts/time put into this project has proven to have this down-side...the discovering of this defective gene.
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I doubt the gene has anything to do with sunkissed in particular, it just happened to appear in that line and because of selection pressure to recapture the sunkissed gene, that gene was recaptured as well. This gene will spread due to ignorance of carriers and it will not be limited to sunkissed lines, that much is a certainty. Testing these guys out and getting clean lines to continue projects seems to be the most logical course of action.
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Is this something that occurs right out of the egg? Can you immediately see after the hatchling emerges that it will be a star-gazer? If this isn't possible at what stage is it first noticeable?
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Yes, it's noticeable right out of the egg, if you stimulate them. If they're out exploring on their own they're quite normal other than some head swaying periodically. If you scare them or interest them in food, the signs are accentuated. Signs never seemed to progress, at least the coordination aspect. They stayed the same from hatch to death, pretty much, non-painful, normal mentation, just uncoordinated, much like cerebellar hypoplastic cats. I'm interested to see where the problem localizes out to.
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I applaud you for your dedication to this project. Do you think it is possible to eventually 'control' (I use that word for lack of a better one at the moment) and elimate this defective trait thru selective breeding measures? Seems to me that with so many Sunkisseds and their hets being in the hands of breeders who do wish to work with this gene, that we all need to identify if the sunkisseds we have are also carriers. To not do so, really is just allowing that possibility of producing star-gazing offspring to keep re-occurring in our population of Sunkisseds.
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If this truely is a simple recessive gene, it should be able to be tested for and carriers eliminated from the breeding pool to give us lines known to be clear of star-gazing. It's not going to happen across the population because there is no way that everyone will test cross all breeders and cull all carriers. The best we can hope for (and the ACR may be a big help with this) is to test within our own breeding colonies and clear our own lines.
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Were there any other visual signs that you noted as they deteriorated other than their decline in appetite? I agree that pathology would definitely help us understand the anatomical effects this trait has, and it would be, from a scientific point of view, informative to understand the process, but if the decline is rapid then it would seem almost that these hatchlings would have to be sacrified in timely intervals so that the stages can be documented.
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The only sign of decline was failure to grow in the weakest ones and non-feeding progressing to wasting in the strongest ones. Neurologic signs remained the same. I believe there's a portion of the brain that doesn't form correctly, most likely the cerebellum, but pathology will tell us more.
Hopefully other breeders will also join in and provide data to help along with this worthwhile project.
You have given me much food for thought. I have been maturing a pair of '05 Sunkissed with the hopes of producing some multi-hets for future breeding projects. I also have a pair of CCCorn's multi hets from your '05 breeding of Zamboni x Gonzo. Perhaps proving whether they carry the trait recessively should be my first step in my planned projects rather than be faced with the possibility that this defect occurs in year's to come. As with any recessive trait/defect, 'knowns' can at least be channelled into other projects and then disappointment is adverted in having them suddenly show up when you least expect it.
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Zammy has not been tested yet, but she will be and probably next year. If she clears, you may not need to test them. Gonzo has no reason to be carrying it. We'll soon know (over the next few years) which of ours carry and which don't. That will be a big help. Hopefully people will be open and outcoming with information so we can all learn and work to remove the gene from our breeding pool.
Thanks for the comments, I'll keep you up to date on the progress.
