Technical Breeding Tips and Advice

[dakillakm Resident]

(09-15-2012 01:13 PM)Tad Carlucci Wrote:  Example.

Take two cats. One shows Bengal Sorrel. The other shows Cream Tabby.

For the "pure" squares we need to know that the Bengal Sorrel hides Burmese Blue and the Cream Tabby hides Abyssinian Lilac.

Make a 2x2 square. Label the columns Bengal Sorrel and Burmese Blue. Label the rows Cream Tabby and Abyssinian Lilac.
For each block in the square, check Saga's chart. In that block, the Dominant row or column name hides the Recessive column or row name.
So you get the top row (Cream Tabby) with one block "Bengal Sorrel hiding Cream Tabby" and the other "Burmese Blue hiding Cream Tabby"
and the bottom row (Abyssinian Lilac) with one block "Bengal Sorrel hiding Abyssinian Lilac" and the other "Burmese Blue hiding Abyssinian Lilac"
Count the results. You get that for that pairing, you have 50% (2 in 4) odds the offspring will be Bengal Sorrel and 50% (2 in 4) odds the offspring will be Burmese Blue.

The real power of this sort of analysis is when you have multiple offspring and/or multiple parents and don't know what the hidden values are. By using the rules (simple: dominant shows, recessive does not), you can often work out what one, or even more, of the hidden values MUST be.

While it can be instructive to do it on paper until you're comfortable with it, many of us do all this in our heads when reading a Pedigree page. We often can't tell exactly WHAT those hidden values are, but we usually can determine the upper-limit (which is why you often see me saying "or better" to indicate I'm not sure of the exact value, but know it can't be more dominant than what I say).

You'll want to be able to do this sort of analysis quickly because, many times, you'll see a claim that a specimen carries a certain trait (without the "or better" qualification) when, if you know how it works, and can see the Pedigree, you can plainly see the claim is false.

An example of a false claim would be a Bengal Sorrel named "Seal Lynx Offspring" where Grandmother on Dad's side actually was a Seal Lynx, Grandfather on Dad's side was Bengal Sorrel, and Dad is a Bengal Sorrel. Mom is Cream Tabby. Mom can NEVER have passed Bengal Sorrel, so that must have come from Dad. That means Dad (who definitely hides Seal Lynx, or better) CAN NOT have ALSO passed Seal Lynx. The "Seal Lynx Offspring" might be technically correct, but is a FALSE CLAIM because it is IMPOSSIBLE to obtain Seal Lynx from the grandchild Bengal Sorrel box being offered for sale. The correct claim for this box would be "Hides Cream Tabby, or better." If this is your box and you're looking to pass the Seal Lynx (or better) you can clearly see Dad has, turn the Bengal Sorrel grandchild in for the store credits .. you want to see a Cream Tabby offspring .. it will be "Cream Tabby hiding Seal Lynx, or better" and you can PROVE it!

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Which brings to mind a real tip:

Pay attention to the ages.

If you see a box offered for sale and think it might hide something interesting, look at the parent's ages and even the grandparent's ages. If that thing you're looking for was introduced into the game AFTER the parents, or grandparents, were born, it's extremely unlikely (even, often, impossible) for that thing to be present.

An example would be a new eye trait introduced for, say, Halloween in a Special Collection Cat. It's Christmastime and you're thinking you'd like to try to get that new eye trait. Look at the Pedigree. If you can see one of those Special Collection Cats, it's Possible. But, you don't see that. What you see is the parents are young enough, but all four grandparents ages indicate the MUST have been born BEFORE the Halloween Specials appeared. So, even though Grandma's name indicates she's a Halloween Special offspring, that's clearly a false claim because she's too old!

In reference to Tad's last point: It would be enormously helpful if there could be a thread or a chart or something for us newer breeders that shoes what came out around what time. I have actually had this thought considering a certain cat, trying to figure out what it could hide, and unsure of when certain traits came out. Just a slightly unrelated request