After the long period of isolation of the Isle of Man ended and it became a center of maritime shipping activity, there’s little doubt that cats from other parts of the world arrived on ships that stopped at island.  These cats probably would have taken their “shore leave” on the Isle of Man and left behind their own genes in the form of litters of kittens born among the native cat population.  This combination of random occurrences more or less created the cat that we today known as the Manx.

 

Even with the varied genetic heritage that’s embodied in the Manx cat, there are a number of identifiers that mark at cat as a Manx. Click Manx Cat Breeders if you want more information.