Cabbit

A cabbit is supposedly a cat-rabbit hybrid creature. Manx cats and other cats with tailless or bobtailed mutations account for reported cabbit sightings. Despite folk-belief in cabbits, it is genetically impossible to cross-breed the two species.

Cabbit is also a term that has been applied to 1/2 cat, 1/2 rabbit creatures in anime. It is derived from the words "cat" and "rabbit," a mixture used by fans to describe Ryo-Ohki in the series Tenchi Muyo The word was never used to describe Ryo-ohki in the series until the 3rd OAV, where presumably it was adopted into the series because of wide fan use.

The exact year of coinage of the term "cabbit" is uncertain, but the term was used in 1977 to describe a specimen found in New Mexico, featured on the Johnny Carson show and exhibited in Los Angeles.

1977 Talk Show Appearances

In 1977, Val Chapman found a curiously formed cat in New Mexico. This was the alleged cabbit that appeared on the Johnny Carson show in 1977/78. A similar white "cabbit" was shown on a Discovery channel pet programme called "Animal Crackers" in 2008, and though the term cabbit was used, it was revealed to be a young white Manx.

A cabbit sequence appeared on the 1977 spoof talk show Fernwood 2 Night which aired during the summer of 1977. 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!" Also, a well known trait of "Cabbits" is that they are biters.

Basis For The Cabbit Myth

The cabbit myth is based on the similarity between Manx cats and rabbits. The first printed version of the cat-rabbit hybrid myth was first documented by Joseph Train, stating that Manx cats were the product of matings between female cats and buck rabbits. Although the term cabbit had not yet been coined, Train's account is the first documented instance of the underlying myth.

Manx cats and other cats with tailless or bobtailed mutations incorrectly 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 of a very short tail, give the impression of a rabbit.

In 1947, Grace Cox-Ife wrote: 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, 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.

Rose Tenent wrote 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.

Occasionally the flap of loose skin from the belly to the haunches is absent, enhancing the visual similarity to a rabbit.

Cats with radial hypoplasia (abnormal short forelegs) may also adopt a rabbit-like gait.

Hybrids

It is impossible to actually produce cat-rabbit hybrids as they are genetically incompatible despite their similar number of chromosomes. Additionally, cats and rabbits have different habits. Female cats are induced to ovulate by the tomcat's barbed penis, which scratches the female's vagina as he withdraws. Male rabbits have smooth penises and are not able to cause a female cat to ovulate. Thus, even when copulation takes place, there would be no egg to fertilize.

See also

• Jackalope
• Manx

Bibliography

• Cox-Ife, Grace; "Questions Answered About Cats" (1947)
• Soderbergh, P M; "Your Cat" (1951) (using 3rd edition; 1959)
• Soderbergh, P M; "Pedigree Cats, Their Varieties, Breeding and Exhibition" (1958)
• Tenent, Rose; "Pedigree Cats" (1955)