Dear

There is a woman in Texas, Ms. Vickie Ives Speir, 7925 US Highway 59 N, Marshall, Texas, phone number 903-935-9980, who has bred what she terms "Twisty Kats". These cats were INTENTIONALLY bred to increase the probability of live births of kittens with partially missing forelegs. Some also have, according to Ms. Speir, twisted forelegs and/or shoulders. This causes these cats to have to "hop", rather like a kangaroo.

While any reasonable person would feel extreme compassion for a kitten born with such a deformity, I cannot help but believe that anyone would also feel nothing short of outrage toward a person who would intentionally attempt to produce such a deformity.

A mailing list has been set up at twistyban@onelist.com to attempt to inform the public regarding this practice. There is also a Twisty Kat Awareness site at https://www.angelfire.com/yt/twistykats/.

Ms. Speir had a webpage at GeoCities where she had numerous pictures of these kittens and cats. Whether by her own choice, or by the request of GeoCities, that site is no longer accessible. A copy of that site has been posted, however, in order to show the public exactly what this person has been doing. That site can be seen at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/8772

Ms. Speir insists that these cats and kittens are not in any pain. I find it extremely difficult to believe that a deformed, weight bearing limb, would not be painful, however, as I am not in the medical field, I will leave that determination to a reputable, qualified vet.

I sincerely hope the [ENTER GROUP NAME HERE] will join in our efforts to stop this person from being able to intentionally breed cats "for" such deformities. I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,