Cross Breeds

I know it sounds crazy. Is it possible to cross-breed dogs & cats?

I mean cross-breed a dog & a cat to achieve a new creature.

Public Comments

1. no, it doesn't sound crazy. its not possible to cross breed species. its actually part of the definition of species.
2. Well they can not naturally intebreed because their genese are too different so the sperm cannot fertilise the egg. It is already possible to mix dog and cat genes using genetic engineering, but that is not the same as interbreeding and is limited at the moment to really bring across one characteristic from the other species.
3. No.
4. No.
5. No. In order for two different species to interbreed, they must be closely related. Generally, animals within the same genus can interbreed - for example, that most famous of hybrids, the mule, is a cross between a male donkey and female horse, both of which belong to the genus Equus (the offspring of a male horse and female donkey is called a hinny, incidentally). Depending on how closely related they are, species in different genera but the same family can sometimes interbreed too - for example, the puma and the leopard both belong to the family Felidae, but the genera Puma and Panthera respectively, and can interbreed to produce a hybrid known as a pumapard. Being closely related basically means that two species share a greater amount of genetic material with each other than with other animals. Beyond family level, two species cease to share enough genetic material for the egg and sperm to 'recognise' each other, which is why you can't breed animals from different families. Dogs and cats belong to different families, Canidae and Felidae respectively. A dog sperm simply wouldn't be able to fertilise a cat egg, and vice versa.