WITH adorable, fluffy faces and celebrity fans including Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian, Persian cats have long been desirable feline friends.
But owners here are waking up to the common health issues afflicting the breed that cost “many thousands of pounds” to treat.
That is on top of up to £2,500 that breeders are charging for kittens.
Experts say the animals are “innately unhealthy” because the extreme flat-faced features that make them so popular — including large, round eyes and short noses — are the result of breeding cats with skull deformities.
It impacts their ability to breathe, eat and clean themselves and leaves them prone to eye problems and “debilitating” dental disease.
Rescue centres across the country are being inundated with Persians, with the RSPCA reporting a 92 per cent increase in the breed being abandoned from 2018 and 2022.
The charity’s animal welfare expert Esme Wheeler tells us: “The way they are bred can cause disease, ill health and suffering.
“It’s putting an animal in a body that isn’t fit for purpose and prevents them from living a happy, healthy life.
“Persians cost a lot of money to buy despite the way they are bred, which is with a selective emphasis on short and flat faces, known as brachycephaly.
“This causes a lot of health issues.
“They sometimes need treatment to help with their weeping eyes and, in very extreme cases, they may even need nostril surgery to help them breathe.
“These cats require regular grooming as their coats can become easily matted, especially for those that struggle to groom themselves properly due to their small mouths.
“For some potential adopters the cats’ problems mean they may require too much time, money and resources to care for them properly.”
Furthermore, the RSPCA says they are the most commonly overlooked rescue pets, taking an average of 68 days to rehome, compared with 29 days for a “moggy”.
Among them is seven-year-old Molly, surrendered after her owner was “no longer able to cope with caring for her”.
She has been with the RSPCA for 111 days so far.
Molly was described as having “incredibly raspy” breathing, an “extensive history of repeated eye problems” and difficulty eating due to her flat face.
Dr Dan O’Neill, from the Royal Veterinary College, worked on a 2019 report that revealed nearly two-thirds (64.9 per cent) of Persians suffer at least one health disorder.
The highest was hair coat disorders, affecting one in eight (12.7 per cent) Persians compared to one in 40 for other breeds.
Dr O’Neill tells us: “Some people may think they look beautiful but the animals have really thick coats that are hugely problematic because they get heavily matted, dirty and with faces stuck in there.
“Because of their flatter faces it is harder for them to lick their coats . . . some are unable to clean themselves and need to be put under sedation to deal with their fur.”
The other most prevalent problems were dental disease, affecting 11.3 per cent, overgrown nails for 7.2 per cent and eye discharge at 5.8 per cent.
Dr O’Neill explains that Persians are “very prone to eye problems” such as conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers, which are “very painful”.
It is due to them having shallow eye sockets because of their flatter faces, which makes their eyes bulge.
As a result, their eyes dry out, causing inflammation and infection.
Dr O’Neill says some can have “neurological problems” because their skulls are “misshapen, causing the brain to bulge out of the cranial cavity”.
Some females will also face “a real difficulty giving birth” due to their kittens having such rounded, flattened faces.
The RSPCA claims an increase in “impulse buying” is part of the problem and many unsuspecting owners pick the pets for their “cartoonish, baby-like features”.
It says some online breeders are “unlikely” to disclose possible health issues nor details about the breed’s “complex needs”, including regular grooming and the need to clean their eyes and faces.
There are believed to be around 100,000 Persian cats in the UK and some have cost thousands of pounds.
Among the highest fees seen by The Sun was £2,500 for one kitten.
Others were being flogged for around £1,000 each.
Flat-faced felines surged in popularity after a Persian mix nicknamed Grumpy Cat went viral in the 2010s then featured in TV ads.
The pet, real name Tardar Sauce, was renowned for her gloomy expression, caused by an underbite and dwarfism and was snapped with stars including singer J-Lo and model Georgia May Jagger.
Social media platforms including TikTok are full of videos featuring the breed.
Clips captioned “flat face Persian cat” collectively had 1.5billion views and those with #FlatFace had 23.9million.
One clip, showing a flat-faced breed struggling to eat a piece of food no bigger than a pea, had been viewed 56,000 times.
Cats Protection is campaigning for breeding licences to be brought in for England and Wales in a bid to clamp down on the problem.
Scotland implemented one in 2021.
Elle Boden, from Cats Protection, tells us: “Something needs to be put in place to stop the extreme breeding of flat-faced breeds.
“It will also prevent owners from buying a kitten that has such a poor quality of life that a decision is made for it to be euthanised.
“Euthanasia isn’t something that’s regularly done at Cats Protection but in the veterinary community it’s happening more often due to these cats being so unwell that they are unable to breathe or eat.”
Other animal charities urge buyers to carefully consider whether they can take care of a pet that could end up having “complex needs”.
Dr O’Neill warns there needs to be a greater focus on breeding Persians without such extreme features, to avoid the regularity of “innately unhealthy” cats.
He says: “Persian cats have been bred for extreme conformations, which is a change in its natural body type, for mankind, and has led to a lot of health issues.
“We have selected mutations in the cat’s skull that make them very flat and different from wild cats.
“We can row back these extreme conformations.
“We can return them to looking closer to a wild cat and close to how they evolved in nature.”
SEVEN kittens and an adult male, believed to be the animals’ father, were rescued by Bradford Cat Watch Rescue & Sanctuary in July.
Katie Lloyd, 45, from the charity said they were “reluctantly surrendered” due to their ill health, which had already cost nearly £6,000 to treat.
She tells us: “It was probably the worst breeding situation I’ve ever come across.
“They were also emaciated and malnourished.
“The kittens were so flat-faced that they could barely eat and had to be syringe fed.
“Due to having such small noses they struggled to breathe and had to use their mouths instead of their noses.
“They were exhausted all of the time.
“Their nostrils were the size of a pin-prick, which didn’t allow enough air to sustain life.
“One of them died, we believe it was due to brain damage from the lack of oxygen.”
The remaining six needed resection rhinoplasty surgery, which involves cutting a wedge from each nostril to make the nasal cavity wider, and costs £600 each.
The health of all but one kitten, Liberty, above, has improved since.
She is still under the charity’s “intensive round-the-clock care”.
Katie says: “I’m very concerned breeders are creating these designer cats that have countless health problems.
“It’s not fair on the cats.
“We’re taking on more Persians than ever before.
“If you ask a breeder why they are doing it, they will tell you it’s because they can sell them for £1,000 a kitten.
“Persian cats 20 years ago didn’t look anything like they do now.”
JANICE, 13, was abandoned by her owners in January and described as having “one of the flattest noses vets had ever seen”.
Lea Coulson, 22, from Coulson Family Rescue, in Walsall, West Mids, took in the sickly Persian, which was found in “heartbreaking circumstances”.
She says: “Janice was left in a shed by her owners when they moved away.
“Because of her small mouth she couldn’t groom herself and was covered in her own waste and riddled with fleas.
“It was horrible.
“She also had tumours at the back of her head and in her throat that had become infected too.
“The vets told us she had one of the flattest noses they had ever seen and it was making it very difficult for her to breathe.”
Lea believes the Persian’s health issues, including cancerous tumours in her throat, contributed to the cat being abandoned.
She died a month after being rescued.
LADY LOLA, three, was surrendered to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, in South London, after a “change” in her owner’s circumstances.
She’s now looking for a new home but, like many other Persians, battles ongoing eye infections due to how she was bred.
Laura Bates, a veterinary surgeon from Battersea, says: “Lady Lola contracted conjunctivitis due to her breed traits, as her eyes protrude more than the average cat, which makes her more susceptible to eye infections.
“We treated Lady Lola with antibiotic eye drops and the infection has now thankfully cleared up and she is ready for her new home.”
