Urgent action has been called for in Parliament to crack down on disreputable breeders who produce cats with agonizing deformities to sell as fashion items. The plea came from Tory peer Lord Black of Brentwood, who serves as patron for the charity International Cat Care, and demanded a prohibition on the practice. Drawing attention to the emerging trend of "XL bully cats" - named after the now-outlawed breed of dangerous dog and genetically engineered to be hairless and have stunted legs - Lord Black pushed the Government to take decisive action during question time in the upper chamber.
He said: "Does the minister agree that too many cats are being bred commercially without adequate safeguards to protect their welfare? Increasingly, unregulated, unlicensed, unscrupulous owners are raising cats with extreme, exaggerated features to sell as fashion accessories without any concern for the terrible harm to the animal. "So-called bully cats, for example, are bred without fur, which predisposes them to painful skin disease, and their genetically shortened legs can result in joint abnormalities and agonising arthritis. "Will she join me in condemning the practice of breeding for deformity, which causes unacceptable suffering and distress? Will she commit as a matter of urgency to regulating cat breeding in order to ban such activity?" Baroness Hayman of Ullock, the environment minister, replied to concerns by stating: "The licensing of activities involving animal regulations requir.
