Animal behaviour experts have warned against prioritising aesthetics over health when it comes to purchasing ‘fashion’ felines like so-called ‘XL Bully Cats’.

You may already be aware, but since February, it has been a criminal offence to own an XL Bully dog in both England and Wales without an exemption certificate following numerous attacks over the UK.

The 2024 ruling, filed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, saw 61,000 exemption applications being submitted through the UK government’s portal before the deadline, as per BBC.

But you may be surprised to hear that the breeders have now created a cat counterpart to the prohibited canine, which has continued to raise the hackles of animal behaviour experts.

The Telegraph reports that these kitties have been reproduced by mixing the gene that causes hairlessness in the popular Sphynx breed along with the gene responsible for the short legs of Munchkin cats.

The RSPCA has also warned these ‘exaggerated’ bullycats, which feature ‘excess skin folds’, are vulnerable to adverse skin conditions and that they could suffer from intense joint strain, as per The Independent.

‘Bullycats’ are rising in popularity (Instagram/@bullbinos)

“Bullycats are likely to suffer similarly shortened lives to those reported from a recent RVC VetCompass paper in Sphynx cats that lived just 6.7 years compared to an average of 11.7 years in cats overall,” Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor of Companion Animal Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), said to Naturewatch Foundation.

“The advice to anyone thinking of acquiring a cat or a dog is to always put the welfare of the animal first and to stop and think before acquiring an animal with an extreme and unnatural body shape that does not exist commonly in nature.”

Dr Grace Carroll, who specialises in animal behaviour and welfare at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Psychology, also stated that prospective pet owners need to be aware of the risks associated with this popular Munchkin-Sphynx breed.

The feline has the hairless gene from a Sphynx cat (Getty Stock Images)

“Consumers hold purchasing power,” she began. “We can discourage breeders from prioritising aesthetics over the health and welfare of the animals by refusing to buy breeds with extreme traits.

“A fashion toward ethical breeding could ensure future cats are healthier, happier and free to enjoy natural feline behaviour like climbing, jumping and lounging in the sun. We should let cats be cats.”

A 2018 study conducted into mutation breeding by Marjan van Hagen and Jeffrey de Gier, animal welfare and reproduction experts at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, found that it can put cats at a disadvantage in fights.

They also found that like the Sphynx, the cats lack whiskers, which most breeds rely on for communication, navigation and for gauging spatial dimensions, writes The Conversation.

They also have the short legs from Munchkin cats (Getty stock image)

The Cats Protection charity has added that the legs Munchkin cats boast are a ‘genetic defect’ which can lead to ‘painful arthritis and cause problems with their general mobility’.

“Bully cats, being both hairless and short-legged, may face twice the number of challenges encountered by sphynx and munchkin breeds.” echoed Dr Carroll.

Due to the rising popularity of the ‘bullycat’, the RSPCA has issued a statement urging ‘fellow cat lovers’ to adopt a feline in need, rather than buy the mutant breed.

“We understand that their emerging presence on social media may fuel a demand for these kinds of cats but we would urge fellow cat lovers to consider adopting the many rescue cats in our care instead of buying from a breeder,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

“We would also urge breeders to prioritise the health and welfare of any animal over the way they look.”

Dan Richards was left paralysed from the neck down after suffering a ‘freak accident’ while cold water swimming on New Year’s Eve.

The 35-year-old day is an experienced swimmer but tragedy struck at the end of 2023 at Langland Bay, near Swansea, after he dived into a wave while swimming.

He told Sky News that the force of the wave ‘just rotated me’ and the back of his head hit the sand, he remembered a ‘loud noise’ and a ‘very bright light’ before opening his eyes underwater.

Having been cold water swimming hundreds of times before, he knew immediately that something had gone wrong.

Dan explained that he could see his limbs but not move them, so he held his breath.

Anna Thomas/GoFundMe

According to his partner Anna Thomas, a wave turned him so he could shout for help.

Anna, her mum and their friend were able to pull Dan from the water and he was airlifted to Bristol Southmead Hospital, where it was determined that he’d been paralysed from the neck down.

Dan has since been moved closer to home and faces a long and difficult journey of rehabilitation ahead of him.

It’s for this reason that Anna has set up a GoFundMe in the hopes of raising some money to go towards supporting Dan and giving him ‘the best quality of life possible’.

Anna wrote that one of Dan’s goals was to ‘continue to be the best dad’ for his three-year-old daughter Hailey and while they don’t know exactly what his rehabilitation will look like, the help that can be provided is much appreciated.

GoFundMe/Anna Thomas

Dan’s partner wrote that they’ve identified a private rehab facility in Bristol that will be able to help the 35-year-old.

Seeking to raise £50,000 on the fundraising website, Dan’s appeal is more than halfway to the goal after over 1,000 generous donors put together more than £32,000 in an attempt to help.

On 26 January, an update on Dan’s condition let donors know that the 35-year-old was able to move his toe, with Anna writing that it was ‘positive progress’ even if it seemed like a small development.

The couple have said that the support they’ve been shown has been ‘overwhelming’, with one of the people donating being ‘a gentleman on a ward upstairs that has heard about our story’.

The money donated in the GoFundMe set up by Anna will ‘contribute to Dan’s ability to access the best rehabilitation to meet his needs and alleviate financial worries’.

You can donate to the GoFundMe here.

The case of Rom Houben is something which has stunned the medical world for the last few decades.

After a near-fatal car crash in 1983, doctors believed the Belgian native was comatose and in a vegetative state – meaning he was alive, but unable to communicate, move, or think for himself.

He was said to have spent 23 years imprisoned in his own body, unable to do anything except listen, in a case eerily similar to that of Martin Pistorius.

That was until Rom met Dr Steven Laureys, who diagnosed him with locked-in syndrome (LIS) in 2006.

Rom Houben was involved in a near-fatal car crash which left him comatose and in a vegetative state (MICHEL KRAKOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

For those who don’t know, this is a rare neurological condition where a person is conscious but unable to move or communicate verbally, except via eye movements.

The medic, who was a part of the University of Liege’s Coma Science Group, explained that he had made a major breakthrough after conducting numerous tests to determine Rom’s brain function.

Speaking to CBS News in November 2009, Laureys said: “When we put him in the PET scanner and the fMRI, we saw his brain was functioning normally.

“So he was not vegetative, definitely not.”

The neurologist believed that Rom’s case proved that thousands of patients who are classed as being in a vegetative state are misdiagnosed, pointing out that the ‘stamp of unconsciousness’ is hard to shake off.

Following the supposedly good news, Rom’s mother Fina Houben said that she had always believed that her son could still communicate with her, explaining that she was able to tell when he was in a ‘bad mood or when he was in pain’.

“He is not depressed, he is an optimist,” she told the BBC in 2009. “He wants to get out of life what he can.”

And so, arrangements were made to allow Rom to do just that.

While remaining in hospital in his home country, he was given a specially trained assistant who helped him with ‘facilitated communication’, which is also known as supported typing.

This technique involves the facilitator picking up on ‘micro movements’ which the patient makes, before they help guide the person’s hand to point to letters, pictures or objects on a keyboard as a form of communication.

The Belgian began ‘speaking’ with the assistance of a facilitated communicator after 23 years (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Rom, a former martial arts enthusiast, apparently had a lot to say after he started working with speech therapist and facilitated communicator Linda Wouters.

He was said to have typed out a series of messages with the aid of a computer, explaining that he had screamed ‘but there was nothing to hear’ throughout the 23 years doctors thought he was in a coma.

“I dreamed myself away,” he said. “I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was really wrong with me. It was my second birth.”

Rom was also supposedly writing a book about his experience thanks to the technology.

But after video footage of him working with Linda began to circulate, skeptics raised concerns about the facilitated communication method – and later, Dr Laureys was also forced to admit it was not effective.

Dr Steven Laureys believed Rom was a lot more conscious than medics had initially thought (JULIEN WARNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

In a bid to dispel speculation, Dr Laureys – who is an expert researcher in the field of brain function and vegetative states – conducted a series of tests on a group of coma patients, including Rom.

Participants were shown a series of objects and words while their facilitated communicators were not present, before being asked to relay what they had seen or heard when the facilitators returned to the room.

Rom failed all 15 questions of the test, according to local media outlet Der Spiegel.

“It’s easy to watch the video and say this method is not valid, but to prove that it is not true is actually very difficult,” Dr Laureys told the BBC while discussing his findings.

Rom pictured with his mother in 2009 shortly after his ‘second birth’ (JULIEN WARNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

“The story of Rom is about the diagnosis of consciousness, not communication,” Dr Laureys said.

“I hope Rom and his family will stay as an example of how hard it is to pick up the signs of consciousness.

“Even when we know that patients are conscious, we don’t know if there is pain or suffering or what they are feeling.”

The neurologist maintained that the Belgian man was still a lot more conscious than doctors had previously believed and added that he believed Rom’s work with the Linda was genuine.

Revealing his findings to researchers in London, according to NPR, Dr Laureys said: “We presented three cases after traumatic brain injury. Two failed the test. And that was including Rom.”

He explained the tests had been repeated multiple times with Rom’s facilitator, but the results were always inconclusive.

Tragically, what was supposed to be a medical triumph – and a personal one for Rom – turned out to be hugely misguided.

Usually if we feel a ‘crackling’ in our ear, it’s probably our earphones having a moment.

We wouldn’t expect it to be something alive inside of us. And yet for one mum, it seemed to be an actual spider’s nest.

Lucy Wild had already pulled a spider from her ear three weeks before.

The 29-year-old kept having this ‘scratchy’ pain. She originally thought it was just a build-up of wax, but decided to use an earbud camera to have a look.

Sending in a Smartbud, Lucy made the gross discovery. Watch the clip here:

The mum from Cheshire said: “It was like something out of Stranger Things. It looked like you were going into the upside down.”

Lucy’s ear was cleared out by doctors but now she’s paranoid there’s still something in there.

“I don’t know what it left in my ear that was black but maybe it cut my ear – I know some spiders have babies on their legs and back,” she said.

“I was very confused as to how it even got in there, how does spider get in your ear and you not know about it – I was petrified thinking there might be another one.”

SWNS

She’d used the Smartbud the first time when she found a spider ‘the size of a baby fingernail’ was living in there which she flushed out with olive oil.

But after feeling pain for weeks after, she sent the camera in again to discover the inside of her ear was covered in a black substance.

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Referred to the ear, nose and throat (ENT) department, a specialist apparently suggested it was a spider’s nest and suctioned it out in a painful procedure.

Lucy said: “I actually vomited while he was doing procedure it was that painful – it was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt.”

And even added: “I’d rather go through childbirth or a c-section again.”

SWNS

After getting home from her procedure, she had another look and claims she ‘can still see a bit in there’.

It’s been swabbed though, and Lucy will get results after two weeks to determine just what has gone on inside her ear.

The mum also recommends other people ‘invest in a Smartbud’ as she claims: “You need to know what’s going on in your ears.”

A spokesperson for the British Arachnological Society said: “Everything is so blurred I really couldn’t say.

“While some structures could be legs that’s as far as I am prepared to go.”