Definitions of Breed

What is a breed?

1.      “A breed is a group of domestic animals, termed such by common consent of the breeders, ... a term which arose among breeders of livestock, created one might say, for their own use, and no one is warranted in assigning to this word a scientific definition and in calling the breeders wrong when they deviate from the formulated definition. It is their word and the breeders’ common usage is what we must accept as the correct definition.” (‘The Genetics of Populations’; Lush, 1994)

2. “A breed is a group of domestic cats (subspecies felis catus) that the governing body of CFA has agreed to recognize as such. A breed must have distinguishing features that set it apart from all other breeds.”

3. “Animals that, through selection and breeding, have come to resemble one another and pass those traits uniformly to their offspring.”