Morpho-adaptive features of the skin of shorthaired breeds of Felidae representatives

The article presents a comparative morphological characteristic of the skin of representatives of short-haired feline breeds (Russian blue, Burmese) and mongrel cats based on a complex of macro- and micromorphological methods, including classical and fine dissection, light-optical study of histological sections, followed by micromorphometry and statistical processing of quantitative data. The morphological patterns of the skin of the studied cats, as well as the features of the structural organization due to the breed affiliation of the animals are presented. Mestizos reach the maximum value in terms of the total thickness of the skin, dermis and hypodermis, but shorthaired cats are ahead of mongrel cats in terms of the thickness of the epidermis. Bundles of collagen fibers of both layers of the dermis reach their maximum value in mongrel representatives.