Desert Lynx vs. Highland Lynx

Highland Lynx, Straight Ears

I would like to explain the difference between the Highland Lynx and the real true original Desert Lynx.

Not every cat that looks like a Desert Lynx is a true Desert Lynx, with the beauty and temperament of the breed. Sometimes someone will claim to have a Desert Lynx when it is really a Highland Lynx. Here’s how that can happen:

In approximately 1996 a man named Joe Childers, owner of Timberline Cattery and the Rare & Exotic Feline Registry ( REFR) wanted to develop a new breed of cat with folded ears. He took the Desert Lynx and bred it with a Scottish Fold cat. That is where the name “Highland” came from, the Scottish highlands. The kittens with folded ears he placed in his registry ( REFR) ( Rare & Exotic Feline Registry) as a Highland Lynx, the kittens with straight ears he threw back in his registry and called them Desert Lynx. Any breeder will tell you that this is not an ethical practice. They should not have been registered as a pure bred Desert Lynx but a mixed breed and called some thing else other than a Desert Lynx as they no longer meet the criteria or rules of the Desert Lynx standard. This is the reason standards are set and must be fallowed in any breed.

Joe Childers went on to mix in the British Fold, Bengal, Calico’s American Folds, and so forth to develop the Highland Lynx. He did not deem any of these kittens right for his new breed (whether color, straight ears, etc.) they were again put in his registry as Desert Lynx. Again this is against the rules & why standards are important. Those resulting kittens whether straight eared or curled should have been given a new breed name with each additional breed he mixed in. Instead he broke the rules of the original Desert Lynx standard. Evidently he finally settled on the mixture of Jungle Curl along with whatever throw-away mixture he had developed over the years along the way and registered them as Desert Lynx, while developing his Highland Lynx breed. None of the breeds he used are excepted with in the true original Desert Lynx breed standard.

To put it in layman’s terms, you can not breed a Boxer with a Doberman and then register the ones that look like a Boxer with AKC as a pure bred Boxer dog. It is not, it is a mixed breed, the same way that the pups that may look like a Doberman can not be registered as a Doberman. To keep breeding different dog breeds with one of the mixes only further dilutes the original breed. If you then take these mixed breed pups and want to develop a new breed, you must then call it a new breed name, not sold as a Doberman or a Boxer. New rules and a new standard should be developed to except the new breed and perhaps called a Boxermen and drop the original breed name of Doberman or Boxer.

The temperament and personality of a true original Desert Lynx is vastly different than what has been developed by this unethical practice. The original breeds used to develop the true Desert Lynx were chosen to not only have the look of the bobcat, but when combined, have the wonderful dog like personality. The Desert Lynx breed has a standard. This standard was made 20+ years ago by ethical breeders and stands the same today with The International Desert Lynx Cat Association. None of the breeds used in the development of the Highland Lynx are allowed in the Desert Lynx breed. None of the breeds used to develop the Highland Lynx have the personality of a true Desert Lynx. What should have been done by Joe Childers while developing his new Highland Lynx breed is to have registered the kittens with straight ears as straight eared Highland Lynx, or given a new breed name, not register them as a Desert Lynx. The real Desert Lynx is registered with IPCBA, they are a ethical registry that verify the breed as to the standard created for it. Thus insuring that people get what they pay for and are not deceived.

So after many years and so many different breeds used to develop the Highland lynx, what other breeders are calling and selling as a Desert Lynx, is no longer anything like the original breed. I know that some breeders may be unaware of the fact that they do not have a real Desert Lynx, or even what the original standard rules are and were, so they continue to sell mixed breed kittens bred to Jungle Curl with straight ears as a Desert Lynx.

He also had many different breed names for kittens born to one litter. You can not make a breeding of a Poodle with a Lab and then have the puppies from that litter be one poodle, one Beagle, and 2 Labs, and a Pug! They are all Poodle/Lab mix or Laberdoodles.

Don’t be fooled, ask before you buy if the kitten is registered with the IPCBA or with REFR. If registered with REFR it is not a true Desert Lynx, it’s someones straight eared Highland Lynx mix … marketed as Desert Lynx.