Size-Structure part 2

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Size - Body structure - Structure - Type
Part2

What is the structure of a cat?
Are structure and body-built, boning the same?

The word "structure" is used with different meanings in the standards.
There are many questions, which remain unanswered. One will read little or almost nothing about the boning of a breed.

Breed	CFA	TICA	FIFe	CCA	WCF
Abyssinian	The word does not appear in the standard, but one may find the word "conformation". BODY: Abyssinian conformation strikes a medium between the extremes of the cobby and the svelte lengthy type. One gets to know only here, that the Abyssinian is in the middle of two extremes, between a cobby type (meaning seems to be : short and sturdy), and a svelte, more longer type.	The word does not appear in the standard. But one may read here, that the Abyssinian has a foreign type, that females have a finer bone structure, and that males are proportionally larger: The Abyssinian/Somali is foreign in type. Males proportionately larger than females, the female being finer boned and usually more active than the male.	Body: Structure: medium built, medium long The word "structure" is used here also, when describing the body and the coat.	The word does not appear in the standard. But one may find the word "conformation" here. BODY/CONFORMATION: The conformation projects a balance between American and Oriental types. One gets to know, that the Abyssinian is between the American types and the Oriental types.	The word does not appear in the standard. The cat is medium in size and elegant. The body is of medium length, firm, ... Type, body, tail: 25 points
Questions	What does conformation mean here? The structure of the body? And another new word, which is not explained: What is the meaning of type here?	But the bone structure receives 5 points, without any explanation, how the bone structure should be. How large are Abyssinian? How is the bone structure of the Abyssinian now? And what is a foreign type?	When the body shall be built medium, is the bone structure then also medium? What is the meaning of "medium built"? Does medium also include, that the Abyssinian is medium in size?	What is the American type? How is the structure of the body actually?	Medium in size, medium in length, firm: How is the structure of the body now? What is the type?
Birman	The word does not appear in the standard. But, interestingly the word can be found in the faults: PENALIZE: Delicate bone structure.	The word does not appear in the standard. But one may find the word "boning" (=bone structure?). Bone structure receives 5 points, and is described to be heavy compared to size.	The word appears twice: Body: Structure: slightly long body. Coat: Structure: description of the coat	The word does not appear in the standard, but one may find the word "conformation" here. It is also interesting, that the bone structure (boning) is described here: to be "heavy".	The word structure does not appear in the standard. The boning is described to be strong.
Questions	How the bone structure shall be, cannot be found in the standard!		What is meant with structure of the body, if it is not described? Has the word structure the same meaning, when used at the body, than when used at the coat?	What does conformation mean, when used together with the body?	Does a solid bone structure also mean, that the Birman has "heavy" bones?
British Shorthair	The word structure is used once at the head: HEAD: Round face with round underlying bone structure Otherwise one gets to know only some general things about the breed: GENERAL: the British Shorthair is compact, well-balanced and powerful	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But at the bone structure, one can find: BODY: Boning 5 points Boning: Substantial. PENALIZE: light delicate boning	The word structure appears only at the coat and n the scale of points as bone structure.	The word structure is used once at the head: HEAD: Good breadth of the skull with round underlying bone structure.	The word structure does not appear n the standard.
Questions	What is a round bone structure? Is the meaning, that the bones are rounded, in contrast to square bones? Or is the meaning, that the bones of the skull form a rounded shape? From the words compact, well-balanced and powerful one can nothing deduct for the bone structure!	Does substantial also mean heavy?	How is the breed built? Which bone structure does the breed have? One cannot deduct anything from the size "large to medium" concerning the bone structure!	What is a round bone structure? The word "conformation" is used in the title BODY/CONFORMATION, but it is not further detailed or described in the following text of the standard.	The breed is medium to large in size. All parts are somehow sturdy, massive and broad. But, how shall the bone structure of the breed be?
Cornish Rex	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But on can find interesting statements about the weight and the bone structure. GENERAL: It is surprisingly heavy and warm to the touch. BODY: Bone 5 points BODY: Hips and thighs muscular and feel somewhat heavy in proportion to the rest of the body. BONE: fine and delicate	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But one can find the boning. BODY: Boning 8 points BODY: Boning: Very fine.	General: It is surprisingly heavy due to its strong muscle tone. Body: Structure: Delicate bone structure.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But one can find the word "conformation" again. The fine bone conformation (of the Cornish Rex) is covered with firm muscles so, when handling, it feels hard and surprisingly weighty. BODY/CONFORMATION: Slender and fine boned but still hard and muscular. The word "type" is used together with head.	-----
Questions	In the general description one can find that the breed is surprisingly heavy. Neither at the body, nor at the bone structure one can find anything that the breed is surprisingly heavy. What is surprisingly heavy, are the hips and the thighs! How does that fit together? The bone structure is fine and delicate, but the cat is surprisingly heavy. Is the cat so muscular, that it is surprisingly heavy? One can only find a general phrase that the rump is well-muscled, under condition one can read that the cat is muscular. How does that fit together? What does get the 5 points: the fine, delicate bone structure?		How is the bone structure now actually?	The word "slender" is coupled with the word "and" to the fine bone structure, as if the cat would be slender due to its fine bone structure. One has to ask an interesting question: Do also slender cats exists, which have a solid bone structure? Is type only reduced to the head?	One cannot find anything about the bone structure!
Maine Coon	The word structure can be read in an interesting context. DISQUALIFY: delicate bone structure.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. BODY: Boning 7 points Boning: Substantial.	The word structure is used more than once. General: Appearance: solid bone structure Body: Structure: substantial bone structure Faults: Body: fine, light bone structure	The word structure can be read in an interesting context. OBJECTIONS DEDUCT Delicate bone structure 3-7 The word type is also used in an interesting context. BODY/CONFORMATION type should not be sacrificed for size HEAD TYPE	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But it is interesting, how the structure of the bones is mentioned: Faults: Fine boning prevents from awarding CAC.
Questions	The bone structure is not described and does not get any points. But, nevertheless fine boning is a reason for disqualification.		Is the bone structure solid or substantial or both?	A fine bone structure is a fault and a reason to deduct a noticeable amount of points, but the bone structure is not described in the description. The word type is used confusingly in different contexts: Once for the type of the structure of body, and once for the type of the head.	The structure of the body is not described in the standard. But, however, a fine bone structure is a reason to withhold the CAC. What is meant here, the structure of the body or the bone structure?
Norwegian Forest	The word structure is used twice. BODY: substantial bone structure DISQUALIFY: delicate bone structure BODY: Boning 5 points	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But boning seems to be very important. BODY: Boning 7 points BODY: Boning: Substantial GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A Norwegian Forest is large to medium-large size overall and strongly built. PENALIZE: Too small and finely built cats.	When this standard is compared to the TICA-standard, it must be noticed that solid bone structure is not as important as in TICA. Body: Structure: strongly built; solid bone structure Faults: General: too small and finely built cats	Standard not available.	The word structure appears at the body in the standard. Body: long, solid body with solid bone structure.
Questions	Is it not remarkable that bone structure in Norwegian Forest cats receives points, whilst it does not receive any points in Maine Coon?		Does the TICA-standard not emphasize more that this breed is a forest cat, which has to survive freely in nature, in the Norwegian woods in rough climate? Is that not really remarkable?		It is interesting that too small and fine built cats are not listed amongst the faults.
Persian	The word structure is only used at the head. HEAD: Round face with round underlying bone structure. But we learn a new word: Refinement. Refinement: 5 points GENERAL: the ideal Persian should present an impression of a heavily boned, well-balanced cat Interestingly one can find the body type here: BODY TYPE 20 points	The word structure does not appear n the standard. But boning gets a remarkable amount of points. BODY: Boning 10 points of an overall 35 points. BODY: Boning: Heavy, sturdy and in proportion GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The ideal PS/HI/ES is a strong cat with excellent boning and musculature	The word structure can only be found in the coat structure and in the scale of points as bone structure.	The word structure can be found in the faults. OBJECTIONS DEDUCT Delicate bone structure 1-5 Concerning the boning one can find: BODY/CONFORMATION Short body that is heavily boned Also the legs must be heavily boned.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. About the structure of the body one gets to know only something via inductive conclusion. Severe faults: too fine built or long in body
Questions	Refinement and boning are not further mentioned or detailed in the following description. What is the type in contrast to refinement?	Even boning gets 10 points, nothing can be found amongst the faults.	Concerning structure of body or bone structure one does not learn anything about it!		The bone structure is not described. Can one draw the conclusion that a fine body also has a fine bone structure?
Siamese	The word structure can be found n an interesting context, and it receives relatively many points. BODY: Structure and size, including neck 12 points Concerning the boning one can read the following: BODY: A distinctive combination of fine bones and firm muscles.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. When compared to the CFA-standard, boning (structure?) does not get any ppoints. BODY: Fine-boned.	The word structure can be found at the body, the coat and in the scale of points as bone structure.	The word structure is used at the body. Generally, Siamese have fine classic bones BODY/CONFORMATION BODY: Overall, the body structure should be somewhat fine boned.	The word structure does not appear n the standard.
Questions	What is meant here with structure, the bone structure or the structure of the body?	It is interesting that the musculature receives 10 points, like in CFA. But, bone structure dos not receive any points.	How the bone structure shall be, one cannot find here! How the structure of the body shall be, one can also not find here.	What are classic bones?	How bone structure and structure of body shall be, one will not find here.
Sphynx	The word structure does not appear n the standard. The bone structure is described sparsely: BODY: Boning is medium.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. BODY: Boning: medium. PENALIZE: Body that is delicate or fine-boned.	The word structure is used at the body, but the structure of the body or the bone structure are not further described. One can find something about the bone structure by inductive conclusion: Faults: Body: delicate or fine boned	Standard not available.	The word structure does not appear n the standard. Body: yet comparatively fine boning.
Questions	What is the meaning of medium? If something is medium, is then in the middle of 2 things?	May the boning also be heavy?	How shall the bone structure be?

These are only a few breeds. And, yet several discrepancies can be seen in the table above, and one has to ask the following questions:

	Terms like structure, bone structure, type and musculature are used uncoordinated and are mixed with each other confusingly.
	Firm musculature is logically not coupled to the bone structure. It can also not be deducted logically, of a breeds is surprisingly heavy.
	Quite often points are awarded to the bone structure, but it is not further described then.
	The word "conformation" is used in a vague sense, and seems to be used synonymously with type and bone structure and structure of the body. Often the word "conformation" only appears in the title, in the following text the word is not explained furthermore.
	Bone structure and structure of the body are also used often synonymously.

What is the meaning of the words boning, conformation?
How can these words be interpreted?

Boning = bone structure or boning = structure of the body?

When browsing through dictionaries, one can find a different meaning for boning, as it is used in the American standards here.

Merriam-Webster

Boning is derived from the verb "bone"

"Main Entry: bone
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): boned; bon·ing
Date: 15th century
transitive verb
1 : to remove the bones from <bone a fish>
2 : to provide (a garment) with stays
3 : to rub (as a boot or baseball bat) with something hard (as a piece of bone) in order to smooth the surface
intransitive verb
: to study hard : grind <bone through medical school>"

The 1st meaning, to remove the bones from a fish, does not fit. The 3rd meaning to smooth a surface does also not fit.
The 2nd meaning to make something stiff with bones, for example cloths (like a skirt, a corsett) is already closer to the word, how it is used in the standards.
The meaning to learn hard does also not fit.

What is meant with boning?

	The bone structure, something like a structure?
	The built of the body, also something like a structure?

When looking at CFA, if there is a list of used terms, one does not find such a list of terms. One can only find two articles dealing with structure:

	An Important Note on Feline Structure
	Feline Structure: Recognizing Normal and Abnormal

When looking at TICA, there is a list of terms (Glossary of Terms), but the word "boning" cannot be found in this list.

In FIFe there is no online list of terms, but such a list exists in the General part of the standard, which is not published online. But in this list there is nothing written about bone structure, structure of the body.

In WCF there is no such list of terms.

This word seems to be an artificial word used in the standards and seems to be used synonymously for bone structure or bones.

Conformation = structure (?) = constitution = built??

You can already see in this title, that the meaning of the word "conformation" cannot be easily explained.

When looking in German dictionaries for a proper translation, the word "conformation" is mainly used in context with chemical structures.

Meyers Lexikon online 2.0, Version of 27.02.2007

Konformation [Latin] the,
constellation, conformation isomere, chemistry: 3D structure of the atoms or groups of atoms of a molecule, produced by rotation around simple connections (isomeres).

In German Wikipedia the word conformation is also explained with the 3D structure of atoms of organic molecules.
But interestingly in the English Wikipedia the term "conformation" has a broader meaning:
"Conformation generally means structural arrangement. "
Conformation means in general the structural arrangement (of parts to each other).

The links provided here are remarkable: conformation show (in dogs), conformation point (how the dog corresponds in its phenotype to the standard), and equine conformation:
"Horse conformation refers to the correctness of a horse's bone structure, musculature, and its body proportions in relation to each other."

The last description comes very close, what can be found in Merriam-Webster's dictionary:
"Function: noun
Date: 1511
1: the act of conforming or producing conformity : adaptation
2: formation of something by appropriate arrangement of parts or elements : an assembling into a whole <the gradual conformation of the embryo>
3 a: correspondence especially to a model or plan b: structure c: the shape or proportionate dimensions especially of an animal d: any of the spatial arrangements of a molecule that can be obtained by rotation of the atoms about a single bond"

Definitions 2 and 3a-c are very interesting.

The word "conformation" has its origin in the Latin language and means: con = together, formare = to form something.

When we transfer that to the standards, and mainly on the CCA-standard, the word and its use gets a certain sense that a standard describes the shape and proportions of a certain breed.

Thus, we might also use for "conformation" structure of body, but also - as FIFe does it - simply the structure.

But also the word "constitution" has a similar meaning:

Meyers Lexikon online 2.0, Version of 27.02.2007

Konstitution [Latin language] the,
anthropology, medicine: the permanent physical appearance - and ...
1) Anthropology, Medicine: the permanent physical arrangement of appearance and functions of a human; also the physical condition and resistency.

When transferred to the cat, it would mean exactly the same.

Looking into Woxikon, the online dictionary of synonyms and foreign words, one will find a very similar meaning here:

Konstitution
type, built, arrangement, structure, organization of parts, construction, shape, physical condition, shape, figure

Questions, which have to be asked:

	Why are such important words, like conformation, structure, structure of body, bone structure, etc. not explained in a list of terms in the various organizations? Thus, one may understand a standard much easier, and multiple, ambiguous or subjective interpretations by judges and exhibitors would be avoided.
	These terms are used very differently, and often in confusing contexts, and often these words are not explained in the following description in the standards. How may a judge feel, when he has to judge according such a standard? How may a breeder or an exhibitor feel, who wants to have his cats judged according to the standard?

To be continued: Size - Body structure - Structure - Type, part 3: What is the type in a cat?

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Size - Body structure - Structure - Type Part2

What is the structure of a cat? Are structure and body-built, boning the same?

What is the meaning of the words boning, conformation? How can these words be interpreted?

Size - Body structure - Structure - Type
Part2

What is the structure of a cat?
Are structure and body-built, boning the same?

What is the meaning of the words boning, conformation?
How can these words be interpreted?