I have noticed an awful lot of stumpy tailed cats in Spain, even in litters where there's long tails there always seems to be one or two with half a tail... any ideas on the reasons for this.... inbreeding maybe??

Loads of those around here. Sometimes the end looks sore and red like it's an injury but they are born like it. Probably a genetic defect.

The lack of a tail is a recessive gene that became common on the Isle of Man because of inbreeding, hence they are called Manx cats. There's a Manx legend that the first tail-less cats arrived there from Spanish armada ships wrecked in the Irish sea, so you never know!

But if the stump still bleeding its more likely the tails were bitten off by stray dogs or even other cats. My friend works in an animal sanctuary in Seville and sees it all the time, unfortunately. They usually heal over OK because there aren't many blood vessels in the tail so they don't tend to become infected.

Ahh thanks for that... these poor creatures here don't half have a rough time of it don't they. x