About Our Napoleon Cats

These are my cats that have been shown "Ollie, Thea and Cheesey" All tree were produced by Annie and Neko (different litters). All three have short hair (easy to groom) which makes the perfect little cat!

Minuets formerly know as Napoleons are a cross between a Munchkin and a Persian or an Exotic.  I prefer to call them Napoleons. My cats are not Munchkins, they are called Minuets because they are from this cross breeding and each new breed gets a separate name from the original breed. So these are short or normal legged cats with traditional or doll-face Persian type faces. What we mean by this term is that the cats nose is semi flattened but not as flat as ordinary Persian faces. TICA calls them Minuets and they are now allowed to be shown in championship for titles for the first time in 2016. These cats are registered as Napoleons in CFF because some breeders did not want to give up the Napoleon breed name. Occasionally I will have Persians, Exotics (both long hair and short hair) and Selkirk Rex available adults or kittens available for adoption. Some of my older cats or kittens may be pre-altered, some may not be. All of these factors do affect the price of the cats that are available for adoption. Some of these cats or kittens may be offered with or without registration papers. Please go to my Available Adults page to see if I have any of these cats available for adoption. 

 Controversy over the health of the Munchkin has stuck with this breed since it was first  discovered in 1983. 

Some people think that the dwarf gene causes several health problems in the Munchkins. According to geneticist Dr. Lesley Lions this dwarf gene is neither the one in humans nor in dogs. This is a totally separate gene that has not shown any health problems since the Munchkin breed came into existence. The dwarf gene is a naturally occurring spontaneous autosomal dominant mutation that does one thing only. It causes the long bone in the cats leg to be short. It is believed that the condition the Munchkin has is either hypodrolagisim or psuedoplagisim. Munchkin cats do not have the dwarfism gene called Achondroplasia. For more information about this gene go to
 https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/achondroplasia. For more information about Dr. Lyons study go to this page http://felinegenetics.missouri.edu/feline-research-projects/dwarfism. The short legs do not hamper the cat's ability to survive, jump, play, run, and there have been feral Munchkins for many years. The two feline geneticists Dr. Lesley Lions at Missouri University has been working to gain more information on the dwarf gene and she has shared what she knows about this breed so far. Dr. Solveig Pflueger had run many tests and taken many x-rays when the breed was first introduced and all the years following. She was not able to find any health problems in this breed. Dr. Solveig Pflueger also kept and bred several Munchkins herself over the many years.

There is also a possibility that the Munchkin gene may be lethal when an embryo receives two copies of the dominant form of the breed. The embryo reabsorbs back into the mothers body and the litter may be a bit smaller. There is no proof that this does occur in the Munchkin breed. This is only suspected to be true. We are still waiting to see Dr. Lions final analysis of what she knows to be true about the breed. As breeders and Mentors our breed group discourages breeding short to short breedings and we have vowed to breed our Naps to as many Persians or Exotics as possible while the gene pool is still young, small and new.

As Napoleon breeders our goal to outcross breed as much as possible and test all our kittens or cats for PKD that has either a Persian or Exotic in it's pedigree. Breeding short to short or dwarf to dwarf is highly discouraged and the reasons have been made known why we pledge not to do this. This is the best we can do and if a breeder does decide to do this type of breeding on their own, that is solely their responsibility. Note: PKD is a kidney disease passed down from the Persian breed lines and is being eliminated by having our cats tested for the disease. Only cats that are negative for this kidney decease are used for breeding purposes. Always ask for proof your Persian, Exotic, Selkirk Rex, Napoleon or any other breed with a Persian pedigree- kitten or cat is PKD negative before you put a deposit on it. I use UCDavis vgl labs and the cost of the test is $40 each at the present time. All my kitten buyers are given proof that the parents of all my kittens have been tested PKD negative

The Munchkin breed should actually be a very healthy breed due to hybrid vigor. The Munchkins only outcross are Domestic cats. Since Domestic cats have such a wide gene pool this makes these cats the healthiest breed of cats because there is no possibility of inbreeding or line-breeding. Bringing in a new breed or line is what prevents bad recessive traits from showing up in kittens. The breed was first discovered  in 1983 when two pregnant females were discovered under a truck.  One of these females named Blackberry and her son Toulouse were used to create the breed.

There are no breed specific health problems in the Munchkins. So the only health problems Munchkins get are general feline health problems. Many breeds use the Munchkin in their breeding programs to get those adorable short legs on their new breed. The Napoleons cross the Munchkins with the Persian or Exotic shorthair. There are more dwarf breeds and this info will be at the Dwarf Breeds page. The website address is listed below in the Dwarf cat paragraph. If you need further proof that this info is correct, do a search for these two Dr's website information. Terri Harris was the leader who brought in several of her cats as well as others to be tested by Dr Lions. Contact her for more information on the breeders participation in the current program headed by Dr Lions. So I do ask that all of the people who are making claims about this breed to provide proof from a feline geneticist that their accusations are true. I will let you know when Dr Lions final analysis has been published. I believe that only Dr Lesley Lions can ultimately provide the truth about the speculations regarding the genetics and health about the Munchkin breed because she is the only one who has done the tests necessary to provide this proof. So any accusations anyone who wants to attach to this breed will be unfounded until her final analysis is complete. Go to http://felinegenetics.missouri.edu/feline-research-projects/dwarfism for more information.
 
The Napoleon Cat Breed Standard is below. It is a description of what the Napoleon should look like to be a perfect show quality cat. If any of the kittens in a litter do not meet this standard, they are usually sold as pets. This does not mean the cat is sick in any way.  Usually the kitten has a minor fault such as it's bite may be off or it has a kink in it's tail or that it's ears are too big. We all know that there is no perfect cat of any breed. The breeder/exhibitor is supposed breed for a cat that is the closet to that as possible or to aim that goal.  A lot depends on how good an exhibitor is so groom the cat so that it the cat looks it's very best. 

Personality
After breeding Napoleons (Minuets) for over 3 years now I feel comfortable enough to really put myself out there and make a guarantee. "I guarantee that my Napoleon/Minuet kittens and cats that come from my breeding and raised by me are always extremely affectionate! (unless I state otherwise)" The Napoleon breed's personality is never aggressive  in any way. These kittens or cats do not ever show aggression, and will never bite, scratch or grow. They may be afraid of something and struggle to try to get away from it or a person and in doing so you may get scratched but that would be an accident and a sign that the kitty's nails might need to be clipped. Of course I can not make this guarantee for my cats that may have been living with someone else for any period of time. 
My room mate is also interested in breeding Minuets but his mane interest is rescuing cats. He may produce an occasional litter of kittens and  I will help him sell his kittens.  And of course he is being mentored by me. 

On occasion my cats have shown to be a bit timid and sometimes they will run and hide from something that frightens them but I have never seen any of my cats start any disagreements with any other cats or dogs and especially not humans in my home. Since I do not have small children I can not make any guarantees how one of my kittens or cats might react to being handled excessively by a small child so I do recommend adult supervision when a small child is interacting with any kitten or cat.
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Tearing
A downfall of having a semi flat faced cat is that the eyes may tear. This breed does have an issue with tearing. The reason for this is that they have Persian or Exotic in their pedigree. The amount a cat tears depends on several factors. It depends on how flat the face is, the kitty's immune system, stress and how many vacs the cat has had so far. Once the cat has left the multi-cat environment they have been living in, the tearing should subside some also their tearing can be related to their amount of stress they are feeling. I recommend wiping their face with a damp cloth everyday and putting the cat on a treatment of antibiotics. The tearing is most obvious on lightly colored or white cats. This is the same as the white Poodles or Bichon Frise tear red staining from their eyes and it can turn a crusty black color. You can use the same products that people use for these dogs on any cats. I also shave most of my long haired cats to make grooming them much easier for me.

All Weather Coats
The short hairs are my preference and are much easier to groom than long hairs. This has been my preference for years while I bred Persians and Exotics. The Persians can and often times do have a thick cottony coat that can mat easily. I do not have the time or desire to spend on grooming coats. Many times if I have a long haired cat or kitten available it may be or has been shaved down. Shaving a cat will not harm the cat or it's coat in any way. This is just an easy way for me to deal with these coats and is a common practice among cat breeders. The long hair Naps or Mins have a coat we call an all weather type coat. This type of coat is not thick or as fluffy as a Persians coat. I will let you know if a cat has a thick fluffy Persian coat and what type of grooming that will be involved when adopting that cat. 

PKD
Another downfall from using the Persians/Exotics breeds (or any other breeds with Persians in the pedigree) as an outcross for the Napoleon breed is the PKD disease that can be carried from these two breeds. PKD is Polycystic Kidney Disease. This is a disease that can cause the cat to have kidney failure at an early age. For years the Persian/Exotic breeders have had to test for this disease and eliminate any positive cats from their gene pool. Napoleon breeders must continue to do these tests which can be quite expensive depending on how many breeder kings and queens the breeder has in their breeding program. So when looking to purchase a Napoleon/Minuet kitten make sure your kitten or it's parents have been tested negative for this disease. Munchkins do not need to worry about this disease. Only the breeds with Persian/Exotics in the pedigree must test for this disease, this includes Selkirk Rex as well. This is a genetic disease so it can be eliminated from the breed and it will not carry down to the kittens of a negative cat. You may adopt a kitten who the parents have been tested negative. Ask for proof that this cat or it's parents have been DNA tested negative. Ask me for proof too because if I have gone to the expense to have these tests done I might as well feel the pride that my cats have their proof of being negative as well. Please don't just take a breeders word that they are negative. If you are buying a kitten from them then you are paying for that too.

I  ship my pet kitten/cat to you in cargo by plane.

if you are looking to purchase a kitten from me, due to new government regulations I can ship a kitten to your Home address.

The new USDA/APHIS rules, effective November 18, 2013 have seriously impacted our ability as breeders to ship pet kittens but with the help of the VIP PET Courier Airline its easier. This means that we are able or willing to sell kittens to distant locations in the United States or across the world. It simply means that traditional methods of shipping that we have employed in the past will no longer be used.

Please contact us for more information on what will be the best means to get a kitten to you based on these new rules.

I prefer to ship kittens by plane that are intended to be pets. I feel that there should be enough kittens on our website https://napoleoncats.com/  that you should be able to find a pet kitten from one of those catteries. I have links to other catteries that breed Munchkin and Napoleon cats for you to search for a kitten more locally. Prices for shipping a kitten is usually about $300 or more.

There are transport services that can bring a kitten to you by land. There are addresses for these types of services on my links page for you to use or at least consider. If you would like the info for my personal transporter please let me know and I will give you her information.

Another method is to fly into Indiana International Airport and you come and pick the kitten up and take it back with you keeping the kitten in the cabin with you.  Shipping a kitten by air can be traumatizing for a young kitten or kittens. For more information do a search for the new APHIS regulations concerning breeders. If you need a transporter let me know and I may know of one I can refer to you. 

Here is a note from VIP PET COURIERS:
We do in-cabin airline pet transport for small pets. VIP Pet Courier will travel with your pet on board planes so that they will not have to deal with the stress and risk of flying in cargo. You can check out our website for details and testimonials. We are insured as well and can provide proof of insurance. Please let me know what breed and how much your pet weighs along with the major airports close by for pick up and delivery. I will give you a quote for a price if you are interested. Feel free to email me as well at airports@vippetcourier.com / www.vippetcourier.com

Colors of my kittens
Our cattery produces only Napoleons at present. We do not produce Munchkins. We presently only have one stud male which is a standard (short-legged) long hair Napoleon. He is a red tabby and white bicolor therefore we are only able to produce bicolor kittens at the present time. A bicolor is a  coat that is any color "and white". This includes other patterns too. For instance I often get kittens that are tabbies with white, point colored with white or shaded tabbies with white. A cat can have multiple patterns as well as multiple colors. Since my females are all some color/pattern of black, all of my female kittens have been some sort of calico.  

Bicolors include any color with white and any pattern and color with white. So Bicolors can also include variations of calico females, i.e. the chocolate group as well as tabbies, smokes, silvers, pointed, and other colors with white if those other patterns were introduced. At the present time I do not have any of those other patterns in my breeding cats except tabby.

My particular line will also produce odd eye and blue eye bicolors which is rare. Since I had a blue eyed white Persian Caleb-Cats female, I was able to produce whites with either copper eyes, odd eyes and blue eyes. My cats do carry the pointed gene as well so I have produced several pointed with white kittens also.
 I mention Caleb-Cats because Brian Foster the owner of Caleb-Cats cattery has beautiful Persians and Exotics and he has become a good friend over the years.

Pedigree
My Napoleon stud male Neko is out of JudiesCuties cats which are out of Creators Cattery. These are some of the original breeders of the Napoleons. Neko's father was a Persian and Neko has been bred to only Persians except for the Non-standard Napoleon female I have that is from PawCity Napoleons. This female named Annie is a wonderful mom and is out of a Munchkin mother bred to a chocolate Caleb-Cats Exotic short hair male. She is the one who produces only short hair kittens. So she is what we call a homozygous for short hair. She has 2 genes for short hair and no matter which male she is bred to, she will always produce short hair kittens. 

Thus far I only have a blue shaded tabby female baby doll Persian to breed to Neko named Cloudy. I have found a Selkirk Rex female to breed him to as well. Those are my only Kings and Queens that I own as breeders at the present time.
I am looking for Exotic short hairs for breeders but I have not found any at a reasonable price yet. I would prefer to breed only short hair Naps and Exotic short hairs if I can find the cats at a reasonable price.
If you purchase a kitten from me and you want a copy of your kittens pedigree please let me know and I will be happy to provide one to you.

TICA versus CFF and Napoleons vs Minuets
It is very important that you know that our cattery only breeds Napoleons or AKA Minuets. This breed's name has been known as Napoleons for the last ten years. TICA has decided that the Napoleon breeders had to pick another name for this breed. As of January 24, 2015, forward the Napoleon breed will now be registered with the new name Minuet in TICA. TICA did not allow this breed to advance to championship so we can show our cats for titles. Some of the breeders including myself do not like that name and plan to continue to call this breed Napoleons and register our Napoleons in several other associations under that name. Several Napoleon breeders approached CFF and asked if they would accept our cats into their association with the name Napoleon. They welcomed those breeders with open arms and much understanding. We will be able to apply for championship status in 2016.

Napoleons vs Munchkins
Some people have never heard of Napoleons or Minuets and call our breed Munchkins. This is incorrect. There are comparison pictures Napoleons are a hybrid breed created out of a cross between the Munchkin and the Persian group breeds.  The Persian group breeds include the Persian, Himalayan, and the Exotic Shorthair.  Please go to my page called "About The Napoleon Breed " for further information. Munchkins are the original short legged or dwarf breed. Buyers don't seem to care if the cat they are buying is one or the other. They just want a short legged cat. We don't care if you call them Munchkins but i do make it clear upfront in case they get the papers on the cats and it does not say their cat is a Munchkin.

Dwarf Cats
The Munchkin is the original short legged or dwarf breed of cat  Joe Smith created the Napoleons many years ago with the intention that the non-standard kittens look like traditional or baby doll Persians. Some breeders have decided to crossbreed several breeds to the Munchkin to create new breeds like the Napoleons were created. Please go to The Dwarf Cat Association for more information about these breeds of cats at http://www.the-dwarf-cat-association.com/indexTDwarfCA.html . I also have a link on my links page for this website.

Lambkins
I have also obtained a Selkirk Rex (curly coated) to breed to Neko to produce Lambkins. Lambkins are a curly coated and short legged (standard) cats. Straight coated kittens and non-standard kittens can be in the same litter with the Lambkins.  I call these kittens Napoleons. These kittens can not be registered yet because they are too new as a breed. If you are interested in a Lambkin let me know as soon as possible because I will not get many kittens that will be both short legged and curly coated. It is very difficult to get a kitten with both traits at the same time. If you are interested in a Lambkin please let me know.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this website please send an email to me at napoleoncats6@gmail.com or contact me though the contact page form. Please do not copy any pictures or information on this website unless given express permission. Thank you.