The Manx cat originated on the Isle of Man of the west coast of England. These cats generally have an ordinary appearance except for one fact: it has no tail or an extremely short one. There is a misconception that that Manx cats have difficulty jumping and climbing; but this is not the case. The absence of a tail does not seem to hamper this feline's mobility at all. It is believed that a small mutation began in the cats genes about four centuries ago on the Isle of Man. As the cats continued to breed, there began to be more tailless cats than ones with tales. These felines did not escape the attention of cat fanciers around the world. Breeders began to be bread them in the 1800's and they started to appear at cat shows in the USA and Europe in the late 1800's. There are two Manx varieties: the shorthair and the semi-longhair. The short-haired Manx has a double coat that feels very soft and thick, because the soft short undercoat pushes up the medium long top coat. Common Manx colors are red, black and blue, possibly with tabby markings, also with white markings and pure white. The eyes can be green or yellow and shades of yellow-green. White cats may have blue eyes or odd colored eyes. Information taken from the Encyclopaedia of Cats by Esther J. J. Verhoef-VerHallen. © 1998