Cymric

It is the semi-longhaired Manx. Longhaired kittens had always turned up in Manx litters, but they began to be bred as a variety in Canada and the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Some registries treat it as a separate breed and others as a variety of the Manx. It shares everything good and everything delicate with it: a compact body, long hind legs, a calm and loyal temperament, and the same TBXT mutation, with the risk of Manx syndrome. Its double coat gives it a rounded look, like a small ball of fluff. It usually gets on very well with children, dogs and other cats.

Brushing two or three times a week, daily during the moult, paying attention to the rear end, which tangles and gets dirty easily. The same precautions as with the Manx: watch for incontinence, constipation or hind-leg weakness in the first months, and buy kittens of at least four months from breeders who are open about health.

Manx syndrome (spina bifida, sacral fusion, incontinence, chronic constipation, megacolon), more common in rumpies. Arthritis at the base of the tail in stumpies, and hygiene problems around the bottom because of the long coat. Choose breeders who have the kittens' spines checked by a vet and hand them over at four months or older.