Abyssinian
Description
The overall impression of the ideal Abyssinian is a medium-sized, colorful cat who is lithe, graceful and regal in appearance. The head is a modified, slightly rounded wedge shape without flat planes, with large, alert, pointed ears and large, expressive, almond-shaped eyes. Eyes are accentuated by a fine dark line, encircled by a light colored area. The muzzle is neither sharply pointed nor square. The Aby’s body is long, hard and muscular, with slim, fine-boned legs and small, oval, compact paws. Males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds.
The Abyssinian’s defining feature is a ticked or agouti coat pattern, characterized by alternating bands of color on the hair shafts. The coat should be long enough to accommodate two or three bands of ticking. The classic tabby M decorates the forehead, but other tabby markings are a fault. Four colors are accepted by all U.S. cat associations:ruddy, red (called cinnamon or sorrel in some associations), blue and fawn. Ruddy is the most common color (ruddy brown ticked with shades of darker brown or black); red is second in popularity, followed by blue. Fawn is the least common. Silver Abys existed in England in the late 19th century, according to Harrison Weir, widely considered the father of the cat fancy. In his writings he mentions silver Abys as a new variety, although they are only recognized by three of the nine cat associations: TICA, AACE and UFO. The color is controversial[while some fanciers believe the gene responsible for the silver effect will cause no problems, others feel it may adulterate the other four colors. In some European countries, however, silver and a number of other Aby colors are accepted. In the silver varieties, the alternating color is icy white, giving an overall sparkling silver effect.
History
The Aby, as the breed is affectionately known by fanciers, is undeniably one of the oldest known breeds, but where it originated is unknown. Some believe the Aby’s ancestors came from Ethiopia, formerly called Abyssinia-thus the breed’s name. An Abyssinian named Zula was transported from Abyssinia to England at the end of the Abyssinian War in 1868, according to Dr. Gordon Staples in his 1874 book, Cats: Their Points and Their Characteristics, but whether Zula was actually native to Abyssinia is subject to debate. Others think the breed originated on the coast of the Indian Ocean and in parts of Southeast Asia. Still others believe the Aby was recreated in England from existing British Bunny cats that have Aby-like ticking.
However, the tale that’s most often told is that the Aby is a descendant of the sacred cats worshiped by the ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years ago. The Abyssinian resembles the cats depicted in Egyptian murals and sculptures, but so does the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the species from which experts believe domestic cats arose and that is known to have been mummified by the ancient Egyptians.
Wherever the breed originally came from, the Abyssinian was entered in the first modern-day cat show held in 1971 in London’s Crystal Palace. The show was staged by Harrison Weir, a cat expert and ailurophile whom many regard as the father of the cat fancy. The Abyssinian placed third out of approximately 160 entries, demonstrating that even at the cat fancy’s beginning the Aby was appreciated for its beauty and grace.
The Abyssinians who became the foundation of today’s North American breed were imported to North America from Britain in the 1930s. The Aby gained popularity as cat lovers became familiar with the breed’s remarkable traits. Today, the Abyssinian is one of the most popular shorthairs.
Personality
Life with the active Abyssinian is never boring. You won’t find better entertainment than the rough and ruddy Aby. This is a breed with an agenda—to convert cat loathers into cat lovers with its lively and affectionate personality.
Extremely active and high spirited, these dynamic couch cougars warp into light speed the moment they awaken. Abys are natural athletes and have agile paws and inquiring minds. If there’s a way to the top of the tallest book shelf or the highest window treatment, they will find it. Abys delight in elevated locations and often enjoy taking in the sights from your shoulder. They also have a more than generous dose of curiosity and show interest in everything, particularly anything in which you are involved. Your Aby will tap-dance across your keyboard and head-bump the phone when you’re trying to talk. Abys have an insatiable need to play that continues well into adulthood—it seems to be a basic need of the breed, almost as important as full food dishes and loving caresses from their favorite humans. Provide a cat companion for your Aby if you’ll be away for many hours a day earning the cat food.
Abys aren’t usually lap cats; they prefer to sit beside you rather than on you. Nevertheless, they are affectionate, devoted and loving companions. They follow you from room to room to keep an eye on what you’re doing. Vocally, they tend to be quiet, but purr with great enthusiasm, particularly around dinner time.
The overall impression of the ideal Abyssinian is a medium-sized, colorful cat who is lithe, graceful and regal in appearance. The head is a modified, slightly rounded wedge shape without flat planes, with large, alert, pointed ears and large, expressive, almond-shaped eyes. Eyes are accentuated by a fine dark line, encircled by a light colored area. The muzzle is neither sharply pointed nor square. The Aby’s body is long, hard and muscular, with slim, fine-boned legs and small, oval, compact paws. Males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds.
The Abyssinian’s defining feature is a ticked or agouti coat pattern, characterized by alternating bands of color on the hair shafts. The coat should be long enough to accommodate two or three bands of ticking. The classic tabby M decorates the forehead, but other tabby markings are a fault. Four colors are accepted by all U.S. cat associations:ruddy, red (called cinnamon or sorrel in some associations), blue and fawn. Ruddy is the most common color (ruddy brown ticked with shades of darker brown or black); red is second in popularity, followed by blue. Fawn is the least common. Silver Abys existed in England in the late 19th century, according to Harrison Weir, widely considered the father of the cat fancy. In his writings he mentions silver Abys as a new variety, although they are only recognized by three of the nine cat associations: TICA, AACE and UFO. The color is controversial[while some fanciers believe the gene responsible for the silver effect will cause no problems, others feel it may adulterate the other four colors. In some European countries, however, silver and a number of other Aby colors are accepted. In the silver varieties, the alternating color is icy white, giving an overall sparkling silver effect.
History
The Aby, as the breed is affectionately known by fanciers, is undeniably one of the oldest known breeds, but where it originated is unknown. Some believe the Aby’s ancestors came from Ethiopia, formerly called Abyssinia-thus the breed’s name. An Abyssinian named Zula was transported from Abyssinia to England at the end of the Abyssinian War in 1868, according to Dr. Gordon Staples in his 1874 book, Cats: Their Points and Their Characteristics, but whether Zula was actually native to Abyssinia is subject to debate. Others think the breed originated on the coast of the Indian Ocean and in parts of Southeast Asia. Still others believe the Aby was recreated in England from existing British Bunny cats that have Aby-like ticking.
However, the tale that’s most often told is that the Aby is a descendant of the sacred cats worshiped by the ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years ago. The Abyssinian resembles the cats depicted in Egyptian murals and sculptures, but so does the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the species from which experts believe domestic cats arose and that is known to have been mummified by the ancient Egyptians.
Wherever the breed originally came from, the Abyssinian was entered in the first modern-day cat show held in 1971 in London’s Crystal Palace. The show was staged by Harrison Weir, a cat expert and ailurophile whom many regard as the father of the cat fancy. The Abyssinian placed third out of approximately 160 entries, demonstrating that even at the cat fancy’s beginning the Aby was appreciated for its beauty and grace.
The Abyssinians who became the foundation of today’s North American breed were imported to North America from Britain in the 1930s. The Aby gained popularity as cat lovers became familiar with the breed’s remarkable traits. Today, the Abyssinian is one of the most popular shorthairs.
Personality
Life with the active Abyssinian is never boring. You won’t find better entertainment than the rough and ruddy Aby. This is a breed with an agenda—to convert cat loathers into cat lovers with its lively and affectionate personality.
Extremely active and high spirited, these dynamic couch cougars warp into light speed the moment they awaken. Abys are natural athletes and have agile paws and inquiring minds. If there’s a way to the top of the tallest book shelf or the highest window treatment, they will find it. Abys delight in elevated locations and often enjoy taking in the sights from your shoulder. They also have a more than generous dose of curiosity and show interest in everything, particularly anything in which you are involved. Your Aby will tap-dance across your keyboard and head-bump the phone when you’re trying to talk. Abys have an insatiable need to play that continues well into adulthood—it seems to be a basic need of the breed, almost as important as full food dishes and loving caresses from their favorite humans. Provide a cat companion for your Aby if you’ll be away for many hours a day earning the cat food.
Abys aren’t usually lap cats; they prefer to sit beside you rather than on you. Nevertheless, they are affectionate, devoted and loving companions. They follow you from room to room to keep an eye on what you’re doing. Vocally, they tend to be quiet, but purr with great enthusiasm, particularly around dinner time.
American Shorthair
Description
To those who are not familiar with the marvelous diversity of breeds available to today's cat fancier, some of our modern varieties might seem a tad—well, unusual. However, even the most uninitiated cat lover can relate to the comfortably familiar American Shorthair, with its sturdy, middle-of-the-road body style and average all-American good looks. Looks can be deceiving, though, because the American Shorthair is a pedigreed breed with as long a history of selective breeding as many of the cat fancy's more exotic felines.
A true breed of working cat, the American Shorthair is solid, muscular and medium to large in size. The overall appearance is of a strongly built, well-balanced, symmetrical cat with a conformation that indicates power, endurance and agility. The head is large, with a squared muzzle, strong jaws long enough to successfully grasp prey and a full-cheeked face that gives the impression of an oblong that's just slightly longer than it is wide. The chin is firm and well-developed and the neck is medium in length, muscular and strong. The nose is medium length and is the same width its entire length; viewed in profile, it has a gentle, concave rise from the bridge to the forehead.
Medium in size, the ears are slightly rounded at the tip and placed fairly wide on the head. The eyes are large and wide with the upper lid shaped like half an almond cut lengthwise and the lower lid shaped in a fully rounded curve. The outer corners are set very slightly higher than the inner corners. The eyes are separated by at least one eye width, and are bright, clear, alert and contribute to the sweet, open expression of the face. Eye color depends upon coat color and pattern.
The heavily muscled legs are medium in length and bone, and end with firm, full, rounded paws with heavy pads. The tail is thick, medium long, heavy at the base, and tapers to a blunt end. Fully grown males weigh 10 to 15 pounds; mature females weigh 8 to 12 pounds. However, quality is never sacrificed for size. This breed takes three to four years to fully mature.
This breed’s short coat is thick, even and hard in texture. Regional and seasonal variations in coat thickness are allowed. The coat is dense enough to protect the cat from moisture, cold and superficial skin injuries.
Any evidence of hybridization with another breed, including long or fluffy fur, a deep nose break, bulging eyes, brow ridge, kinked or abnormal tail, and the coat colors chocolate,sable, lavender, lilac, or point-restricted (the Siamese pointed pattern ) is cause for disqualification.
The breed comes in a plethora of colors and in many patterns: solid , shaded, smoke,tabby, particolor and bicolor. The most popular color and pattern is the striking silver classic tabby with dense black markings on a pale, clear, silver ground color; more than one third of all ASHs possess this popular color and pattern. Next in popularity is the brown tabby, with black tabby markings on a rich brown background. The ASH has no allowable outcrosses.
History
It’s clear that domestic cats first set paw in North America when the Europeans did, since North and South America have no indigenous species from which domestic cats could have developed. Since it was a common practice to keep cats aboard ships to deal with the ravaging rodents, cats may have been aboard the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria when Columbus sailed in 1492. Cats were definitely present in Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in the New World; we know this because there is a written mention of cats dating from 1609. Who knows? Colonial cats might have snatched bits of turkey and venison off the table at that famous Plymouth Colony Thanksgiving feast in 1621.
At any rate, regardless of when they arrived and with whom, cats were working members of society rather than pampered pets, serving as perfect mouse traps in the barns and fields of colonial America. At this point, function was far more important than form, and folks paid little attention to the color, pattern and body style of their mousers. Through natural selection-life was hard on cats and humans alike-these feline immigrants developed powerful muscles, strong jaws and hardy constitutions.
As life became easier, cats became companions for America’s colonists as well as mouse-catchers. People began to take an interest in the beauty of the feline form and to enjoy the comforting purr from a lapful of warm cat. At first, these hardy shorthairs were welcomed in the newly formed American cat fancy in the late 1800s, although the Maine Coon was more popular. In 1904, the first American-born American Shorthair, Buster Brown, was registered, although at the time the breed was merely called "Shorthair." Later, the breed was renamed "Domestic Shorthair."
As time passed, however, familiarity bred contempt for the breed. Fanciers became more interested in imported breeds such as the Persian, Siamese and Angora than in the familiar Domestic Shorthair who had warmed their laps and served them faithfully for so many years. And as these imports were crossbred with the Domestic Shorthair, the pure bloodlines of the American native began to be adulterated. In the early 1900s, a group of people who loved the stalwart look of their valiant all-American cats began a selective breeding program to preserve the breed’s natural beauty, hardiness and mild temperament.
At first, it was slow going and the breed received little respect from other cat fanciers. In the early days, not only did Domestic Shorthairs not win in the show ring against the exotic imports, but often cages were not even provided for the breed and no trophies or rosettes were presented to the Domestic classes. It wasn’t until the early 1940s that the breed began-slowly and with difficulty-to gain some recognition.
In the late 1950s, Domestic Shorthair breeders secretly began crossbreeding Persians into their Domestic Shorthair lines to "improve" the body type and to introduce the striking silver color to their lines. As a result, the Domestic Shorthair body type began to change, becoming more Persian in style. Since Persians were (and still are) popular in the show halls, these hybrids did well in shows.
Many Domestic Shorthair breeders, however, were appalled at the changes. For years they had struggled to preserve and promote the natural beauty of the breed, and they didn’t want their breed becoming a pseudo-Persian. Therefore, the standard was revised to disqualify any cat showing evidence of hybridization. They did allow the silver coloration to remain, however, since it brought a popularity not previously enjoyed by the breed.
In September 1965, breeders voted to change the breed’s name from Domestic Shorthair to American Shorthair (abbreviated ASH). With the new name came a new image. The same year, an American Shorthair silver tabby male named Shawnee Trademark won CFA Best Cat of the Year, heralding a new era for the ASH. Today, plenty of fanciers pledge allegiance to this all-American breed, and you'll see the ASH competing beside the finest Persians and Siamese and winning their share of awards.
Personality
The expression "all things in moderation" comes to mind when describing the ASH personality. American Shorthairs are neither furry door stops nor bouncing-off-the-walls hyper. The ASH is perfect if you want an affectionate and sociable cat who enjoys being at your side but not in your face, and is a good choice if you must spend time away earning the cat food. Just like the colonists who brought them here, ASHs relish their independence. They’re a four-on-the-floor breed, usually dislike being held, and allow cuddles only when it’s their idea. Nevertheless, they are very intelligent, loving, devoted, and loyal to a fault.
American Shorthairs have a real need for play and they tend to stay moderately active and frisky well into old age. They enjoy romping with their preferred persons, but can just as well amuse themselves with a ball of paper. Probably due to their rigorous mouser origins, ASHs have strong hunting instincts and enjoy catching and killing catnip mice—and real ones, too. If you let your ASH outside (not advised by breeders), expect her to proudly bring home "gifts" to her favorite humans.
American Shorthairs enjoy high places, such as the tops of shelves and cat trees, but can be trained to stay off the furniture. Fascinated by water as long as they aren't immersed in the horrid stuff, ASHs will often hop into a recently drained sink or tub to investigate.
ASHs adapt well to almost any situation if given time and patience, and with their accepting temperaments they usually make first-class family pets, and good companions to other cats and cat-friendly dogs, as long as they are properly introduced. If you like a little peace and quiet when you come home from a hard day, the ASH is a welcome surprise. Unlike some breeds, they usually aren't demanding and they rarely vocalize unless they have something very important to say, such as "My food dish is empty!" When they do talk, their voices are usually quiet and high-pitched. They make up for this by purring as loudly as small furry freight trains.
To those who are not familiar with the marvelous diversity of breeds available to today's cat fancier, some of our modern varieties might seem a tad—well, unusual. However, even the most uninitiated cat lover can relate to the comfortably familiar American Shorthair, with its sturdy, middle-of-the-road body style and average all-American good looks. Looks can be deceiving, though, because the American Shorthair is a pedigreed breed with as long a history of selective breeding as many of the cat fancy's more exotic felines.
A true breed of working cat, the American Shorthair is solid, muscular and medium to large in size. The overall appearance is of a strongly built, well-balanced, symmetrical cat with a conformation that indicates power, endurance and agility. The head is large, with a squared muzzle, strong jaws long enough to successfully grasp prey and a full-cheeked face that gives the impression of an oblong that's just slightly longer than it is wide. The chin is firm and well-developed and the neck is medium in length, muscular and strong. The nose is medium length and is the same width its entire length; viewed in profile, it has a gentle, concave rise from the bridge to the forehead.
Medium in size, the ears are slightly rounded at the tip and placed fairly wide on the head. The eyes are large and wide with the upper lid shaped like half an almond cut lengthwise and the lower lid shaped in a fully rounded curve. The outer corners are set very slightly higher than the inner corners. The eyes are separated by at least one eye width, and are bright, clear, alert and contribute to the sweet, open expression of the face. Eye color depends upon coat color and pattern.
The heavily muscled legs are medium in length and bone, and end with firm, full, rounded paws with heavy pads. The tail is thick, medium long, heavy at the base, and tapers to a blunt end. Fully grown males weigh 10 to 15 pounds; mature females weigh 8 to 12 pounds. However, quality is never sacrificed for size. This breed takes three to four years to fully mature.
This breed’s short coat is thick, even and hard in texture. Regional and seasonal variations in coat thickness are allowed. The coat is dense enough to protect the cat from moisture, cold and superficial skin injuries.
Any evidence of hybridization with another breed, including long or fluffy fur, a deep nose break, bulging eyes, brow ridge, kinked or abnormal tail, and the coat colors chocolate,sable, lavender, lilac, or point-restricted (the Siamese pointed pattern ) is cause for disqualification.
The breed comes in a plethora of colors and in many patterns: solid , shaded, smoke,tabby, particolor and bicolor. The most popular color and pattern is the striking silver classic tabby with dense black markings on a pale, clear, silver ground color; more than one third of all ASHs possess this popular color and pattern. Next in popularity is the brown tabby, with black tabby markings on a rich brown background. The ASH has no allowable outcrosses.
History
It’s clear that domestic cats first set paw in North America when the Europeans did, since North and South America have no indigenous species from which domestic cats could have developed. Since it was a common practice to keep cats aboard ships to deal with the ravaging rodents, cats may have been aboard the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria when Columbus sailed in 1492. Cats were definitely present in Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in the New World; we know this because there is a written mention of cats dating from 1609. Who knows? Colonial cats might have snatched bits of turkey and venison off the table at that famous Plymouth Colony Thanksgiving feast in 1621.
At any rate, regardless of when they arrived and with whom, cats were working members of society rather than pampered pets, serving as perfect mouse traps in the barns and fields of colonial America. At this point, function was far more important than form, and folks paid little attention to the color, pattern and body style of their mousers. Through natural selection-life was hard on cats and humans alike-these feline immigrants developed powerful muscles, strong jaws and hardy constitutions.
As life became easier, cats became companions for America’s colonists as well as mouse-catchers. People began to take an interest in the beauty of the feline form and to enjoy the comforting purr from a lapful of warm cat. At first, these hardy shorthairs were welcomed in the newly formed American cat fancy in the late 1800s, although the Maine Coon was more popular. In 1904, the first American-born American Shorthair, Buster Brown, was registered, although at the time the breed was merely called "Shorthair." Later, the breed was renamed "Domestic Shorthair."
As time passed, however, familiarity bred contempt for the breed. Fanciers became more interested in imported breeds such as the Persian, Siamese and Angora than in the familiar Domestic Shorthair who had warmed their laps and served them faithfully for so many years. And as these imports were crossbred with the Domestic Shorthair, the pure bloodlines of the American native began to be adulterated. In the early 1900s, a group of people who loved the stalwart look of their valiant all-American cats began a selective breeding program to preserve the breed’s natural beauty, hardiness and mild temperament.
At first, it was slow going and the breed received little respect from other cat fanciers. In the early days, not only did Domestic Shorthairs not win in the show ring against the exotic imports, but often cages were not even provided for the breed and no trophies or rosettes were presented to the Domestic classes. It wasn’t until the early 1940s that the breed began-slowly and with difficulty-to gain some recognition.
In the late 1950s, Domestic Shorthair breeders secretly began crossbreeding Persians into their Domestic Shorthair lines to "improve" the body type and to introduce the striking silver color to their lines. As a result, the Domestic Shorthair body type began to change, becoming more Persian in style. Since Persians were (and still are) popular in the show halls, these hybrids did well in shows.
Many Domestic Shorthair breeders, however, were appalled at the changes. For years they had struggled to preserve and promote the natural beauty of the breed, and they didn’t want their breed becoming a pseudo-Persian. Therefore, the standard was revised to disqualify any cat showing evidence of hybridization. They did allow the silver coloration to remain, however, since it brought a popularity not previously enjoyed by the breed.
In September 1965, breeders voted to change the breed’s name from Domestic Shorthair to American Shorthair (abbreviated ASH). With the new name came a new image. The same year, an American Shorthair silver tabby male named Shawnee Trademark won CFA Best Cat of the Year, heralding a new era for the ASH. Today, plenty of fanciers pledge allegiance to this all-American breed, and you'll see the ASH competing beside the finest Persians and Siamese and winning their share of awards.
Personality
The expression "all things in moderation" comes to mind when describing the ASH personality. American Shorthairs are neither furry door stops nor bouncing-off-the-walls hyper. The ASH is perfect if you want an affectionate and sociable cat who enjoys being at your side but not in your face, and is a good choice if you must spend time away earning the cat food. Just like the colonists who brought them here, ASHs relish their independence. They’re a four-on-the-floor breed, usually dislike being held, and allow cuddles only when it’s their idea. Nevertheless, they are very intelligent, loving, devoted, and loyal to a fault.
American Shorthairs have a real need for play and they tend to stay moderately active and frisky well into old age. They enjoy romping with their preferred persons, but can just as well amuse themselves with a ball of paper. Probably due to their rigorous mouser origins, ASHs have strong hunting instincts and enjoy catching and killing catnip mice—and real ones, too. If you let your ASH outside (not advised by breeders), expect her to proudly bring home "gifts" to her favorite humans.
American Shorthairs enjoy high places, such as the tops of shelves and cat trees, but can be trained to stay off the furniture. Fascinated by water as long as they aren't immersed in the horrid stuff, ASHs will often hop into a recently drained sink or tub to investigate.
ASHs adapt well to almost any situation if given time and patience, and with their accepting temperaments they usually make first-class family pets, and good companions to other cats and cat-friendly dogs, as long as they are properly introduced. If you like a little peace and quiet when you come home from a hard day, the ASH is a welcome surprise. Unlike some breeds, they usually aren't demanding and they rarely vocalize unless they have something very important to say, such as "My food dish is empty!" When they do talk, their voices are usually quiet and high-pitched. They make up for this by purring as loudly as small furry freight trains.
American Wirehair
Description
The American Wirehair's unruly hair is a gift from Mother Nature, whose love of diversity knows no bounds. This scruffy gem of a breed is truly rare. American Shorthairs still are used in Wirehair breeding programs to increase the gene pool and keep it from becoming inbred, and over time this has influenced the Wirehair's body and head type.
The American Wirehair's defining characteristic is its coat, which is unique in the cat fancy. The hair is coarse, stiff, dense, resilient and springy to the touch. All three types of hair (down, awn and guard) are crimped, hooked or bent, including the whiskers and the hair inside the ears. The overall appearance of the wiring of the coat and its coarseness and resilience are more important than the crimping of each hair. The density of the wired coat leads to ringlet formation rather than waves.
The Wirehair is medium to large and moderate in type. The back is level, the shoulders and hips are the same width, and the torso is well-rounded and in proportion to the body. The head's underlying bone structure is round with prominent cheekbones and a well-developed chin and muzzle with a slight whisker break. The eyes are set well apart, and are large, rounded, bright and clear. The eye aperture has a slight upward tilt. Eye color should complement the coat color. Adult males weigh 8 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
All colors and patterns are acceptable except those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white.
The breed's ideal look can vary from association to association. For example, in CFA the Wirehair's breed standard has obvious differences from the American Shorthair's, while inTICA the Wirehair is considered part of the American Shorthair breed group and shares a common standard, except for coat texture.
Coat texture sets show quality Wirehairs apart from pet quality cats. Show quality Wirehairs are so rare and valuable that virtually all are kept for breeding. A person without experience in exhibiting and breeding will have a tough time buying one at any price. To obtain a pet quality American Wirehair, find a breeder you like and get on her waiting list. Usually a pet quality Wirehair has a coat that's too soft, or is a "straight Wire" who lacks the Wirehair gene and has an ordinary coat.
History
Like many new breeds, the American Wirehair began as a spontaneous mutation in the random-bred domestic cat population. In 1966, five scruffy, wiry-haired kittens were born to ordinary domestic cats on Council Rock Farm in Verona, New York. The parents, Fluffy and Bootsie, were ordinary barn cats, but Mother Nature stepped in and all five of the kittens had the distinctive coat. As fate would have it, however, all but one of the kittens were killed by a weasel, and subsequent matings between Fluffy and Bootsie produced no more Wirehairs. Whatever wizardry Mother Nature worked in that litter was a one-time deal.
However, the one surviving kitten-a red and white male appropriately named Adam-lived and prospered. Joan O'Shea of nearby Vernon, New York, an experienced breeder of Rex cats, heard about the kitten and went to have a look. She immediately realized that the long-legged, big-eared kitten was not a Rex but perhaps an entirely new breed. She bought Adam from the farm's owner and officially named him Council Rock Farm Adam of Hi-Fi.
About a year later, O’Shea provided an Eve for her Adam. Actually, her name was Tip-Toe; she was a random-bred calico cat owned by a neighbor. Tip-Toe produced two red and white females with their father’s wiry hair and two straight-coated kittens, which indicated the gene for the wiry coat was dominant. O’Shea bought the two Wirehair kittens from her neighbor and named them Aby and Amy. Aby died young but Amy carried on in her father's tradition. All of today's Wirehairs are descendants of Adam or Amy. Unfortunately, Adam died of cystitis when he was four, after he'd sired only three litters.
CFA accepted the American Wirehair for registration in 1967 and granted championship status in 1978. American Shorthairs were bred into the lines to prevent inbreeding and to enlarge the gene pool, although some breeders disagreed with the decision because it changed the Wirehair's head and body type. Since then, a handful of dedicated breeders and fanciers have kept the American Wirehair from extinction. The breed is still one of the cat fancy's best kept secrets, even though it is now accepted for championship by most of the North American cat associations.
Personality
The Wirehair's hair may be coarse and unruly, but its personality is anything but. A sweet, loving, playful disposition comes with the wiry coat. Affectionate and people oriented, Wirehairs make wonderful companions. They seem particularly in tune with their humans' feelings and offer feline support when you've had a bad day. Not all are lap cats, but many enjoy sleeping beside or near you.
Fanciers say you learn a new way to pet a cat when you own an American Wirehair. While texture and hair length can vary from cat to cat, the coat is often described as feeling like steel wool. Owners knead instead of stroke.
Their barn cat beginning has ensured intelligence and an adaptable temperament. Wirehairs are only moderately talkative-they don't bother you with their meows unless something important is on their minds, like empty food bowls. Most are enthusiastic purrers, though. Depending upon how much American Shorthair they have in their bloodlines, they can be as adaptable and easygoing as the ASH and usually need only a moderate amount of attention to be happy, as long as they can be near their favorite people.
Wirehairs are usually good with children six years and older, adults, and with seniors. They also generally get along well with other animals, both cats and cat-friendly dogs, if they are properly introduced. If you work full-time, a compatible cat companion can keep your Wirehair from becoming lonely and bored.
The American Wirehair's unruly hair is a gift from Mother Nature, whose love of diversity knows no bounds. This scruffy gem of a breed is truly rare. American Shorthairs still are used in Wirehair breeding programs to increase the gene pool and keep it from becoming inbred, and over time this has influenced the Wirehair's body and head type.
The American Wirehair's defining characteristic is its coat, which is unique in the cat fancy. The hair is coarse, stiff, dense, resilient and springy to the touch. All three types of hair (down, awn and guard) are crimped, hooked or bent, including the whiskers and the hair inside the ears. The overall appearance of the wiring of the coat and its coarseness and resilience are more important than the crimping of each hair. The density of the wired coat leads to ringlet formation rather than waves.
The Wirehair is medium to large and moderate in type. The back is level, the shoulders and hips are the same width, and the torso is well-rounded and in proportion to the body. The head's underlying bone structure is round with prominent cheekbones and a well-developed chin and muzzle with a slight whisker break. The eyes are set well apart, and are large, rounded, bright and clear. The eye aperture has a slight upward tilt. Eye color should complement the coat color. Adult males weigh 8 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
All colors and patterns are acceptable except those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white.
The breed's ideal look can vary from association to association. For example, in CFA the Wirehair's breed standard has obvious differences from the American Shorthair's, while inTICA the Wirehair is considered part of the American Shorthair breed group and shares a common standard, except for coat texture.
Coat texture sets show quality Wirehairs apart from pet quality cats. Show quality Wirehairs are so rare and valuable that virtually all are kept for breeding. A person without experience in exhibiting and breeding will have a tough time buying one at any price. To obtain a pet quality American Wirehair, find a breeder you like and get on her waiting list. Usually a pet quality Wirehair has a coat that's too soft, or is a "straight Wire" who lacks the Wirehair gene and has an ordinary coat.
History
Like many new breeds, the American Wirehair began as a spontaneous mutation in the random-bred domestic cat population. In 1966, five scruffy, wiry-haired kittens were born to ordinary domestic cats on Council Rock Farm in Verona, New York. The parents, Fluffy and Bootsie, were ordinary barn cats, but Mother Nature stepped in and all five of the kittens had the distinctive coat. As fate would have it, however, all but one of the kittens were killed by a weasel, and subsequent matings between Fluffy and Bootsie produced no more Wirehairs. Whatever wizardry Mother Nature worked in that litter was a one-time deal.
However, the one surviving kitten-a red and white male appropriately named Adam-lived and prospered. Joan O'Shea of nearby Vernon, New York, an experienced breeder of Rex cats, heard about the kitten and went to have a look. She immediately realized that the long-legged, big-eared kitten was not a Rex but perhaps an entirely new breed. She bought Adam from the farm's owner and officially named him Council Rock Farm Adam of Hi-Fi.
About a year later, O’Shea provided an Eve for her Adam. Actually, her name was Tip-Toe; she was a random-bred calico cat owned by a neighbor. Tip-Toe produced two red and white females with their father’s wiry hair and two straight-coated kittens, which indicated the gene for the wiry coat was dominant. O’Shea bought the two Wirehair kittens from her neighbor and named them Aby and Amy. Aby died young but Amy carried on in her father's tradition. All of today's Wirehairs are descendants of Adam or Amy. Unfortunately, Adam died of cystitis when he was four, after he'd sired only three litters.
CFA accepted the American Wirehair for registration in 1967 and granted championship status in 1978. American Shorthairs were bred into the lines to prevent inbreeding and to enlarge the gene pool, although some breeders disagreed with the decision because it changed the Wirehair's head and body type. Since then, a handful of dedicated breeders and fanciers have kept the American Wirehair from extinction. The breed is still one of the cat fancy's best kept secrets, even though it is now accepted for championship by most of the North American cat associations.
Personality
The Wirehair's hair may be coarse and unruly, but its personality is anything but. A sweet, loving, playful disposition comes with the wiry coat. Affectionate and people oriented, Wirehairs make wonderful companions. They seem particularly in tune with their humans' feelings and offer feline support when you've had a bad day. Not all are lap cats, but many enjoy sleeping beside or near you.
Fanciers say you learn a new way to pet a cat when you own an American Wirehair. While texture and hair length can vary from cat to cat, the coat is often described as feeling like steel wool. Owners knead instead of stroke.
Their barn cat beginning has ensured intelligence and an adaptable temperament. Wirehairs are only moderately talkative-they don't bother you with their meows unless something important is on their minds, like empty food bowls. Most are enthusiastic purrers, though. Depending upon how much American Shorthair they have in their bloodlines, they can be as adaptable and easygoing as the ASH and usually need only a moderate amount of attention to be happy, as long as they can be near their favorite people.
Wirehairs are usually good with children six years and older, adults, and with seniors. They also generally get along well with other animals, both cats and cat-friendly dogs, if they are properly introduced. If you work full-time, a compatible cat companion can keep your Wirehair from becoming lonely and bored.
Bengal
Description
Sharing our homes with mini-leopards with lithe, feral bodies and vivid, spotted coats reminds us that our domestic felines were wildcats only about 5,000 years ago. We caress the spotted coat and marvel at the mysteries of feline nature. Our fascination with the look of the wild is why we currently have four accepted breeds with spotted coats: the Egyptian Mau, Ocicat, Pixiebob and Bengal. Several other spotted hybrids such as the Savannah are being developed. However, the Bengal is the only widely accepted wildcat/domestic cat hybrid.
The Bengal is a robust, athletic, medium to large breed. The body is long and substantial, but not oriental or foreign in type. It is muscular and solid with sturdy boning. The substantial musculature, especially in males, is one of the most distinguishing features of the breed. The legs are muscular, medium in length, with the rear legs slightly longer than the front. The long, muscular neck is thick and in proportion to the head. The head is a broad modified wedge with rounded contours, longer than it is wide, and slightly small in proportion to the body but not to be taken to the extreme. The muzzle is full and broad, with large, prominent whisker pads and high, pronounced cheekbones. The nose is large and wide with slightly puffed nose leather. The bridge of the nose extends above the eyes; the nose has a very slight concave curve. The overall look of the head should be as distinct from the domestic cat as possible. Adult males weigh an average of 10 to 18 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 12 pounds.
The eyes are oval, almost round, and are large but not bugged. They are set wide apart, back into the face and on a slight bias toward the base of the ear. Eye color ranges from gold to green to aqua, except for lynx points, which have blue eyes. The more richness and depth of color the better. The ears are medium to small, relatively short, wide at the base and rounded at the tips, set as much on the side as on the top of the head. Light horizontal ear furnishings are acceptable, but lynx tipping is undesirable.
This breed’s luxurious short to medium coat is close-lying, thick and surprisingly soft and silky. Vivid markings with a sharp contrast of colors are the mark of a well-coated Bengal. Some Bengals have a recessive "glitter gene" that gives their fur an iridescent glow. The tips of the hair shafts glisten as if covered with warm frost.
The Bengal comes in two coat patterns: spotted and marbled. The spotted pattern has random or horizontally aligned spots; rosettes are preferable to single spotting, but are not required. The marbled pattern, while derived from the classic tabby gene, has as little of the bulls-eye pattern common to the classic tabby as possible. Instead, the pattern is random, giving the impression of marble, preferably with a horizontal flow when the cat is stretched out. The influence of the vertical striped mackerel tabby pattern is undesirable. Cats with three or more shades are preferred. Both spotted and marbled Bengals should have unique patterning. Contrast with the ground color should be extreme, giving a distinct pattern and sharp edges. The belly must be spotted.
The accepted colors are brown tabby, seal sepia tabby, seal mink tabby, seal lynx point, black silver tabby, seal silver sepia tabby, seal silver mink tabby and seal silver lynx point in spotted and marbled patterns. No solid colors are accepted. In most associations, show cats must be bred Bengal-to-Bengal for at least four generations with no outcrosses; earlier generations can be outcrossed following association rules, but can’t be shown until they reach the fourth generation.
History
Because of its beautiful spotted coat and lively, affectionate temperament, the Bengal has quickly become the most numerous and popular of the spotted breeds. The breed's background fascinates cat lovers as well. Unlike the other widely accepted spotted breeds, the Bengal not only has the look of the wild, it has ancestors that walked on the wild side only a handful of generations ago.
The original Bengal was a case of unplanned parenthood. In 1963, Himalayan breeder Jean Sugden purchased a female leopard cat from a pet store. (The Asian leopard cat, a wildcat that weighs an average of 7 to 15 pounds, could be purchased in the United States at that time, although it’s illegal to buy or sell them today.) She thought her little 8-pound leopard cat looked lonely, so she put a 15-pound random-bred male domestic cat in her cage, expecting a platonic friendship. To Sugden’s surprise, they became so friendly that they produced a litter. Only one kitten survived, a female named Kin-Kin. Kin-Kin grew up, also became good friends with her father, and produced two kittens. However, Sugden’s early Bengal breeding efforts ended in 1965 with her first husband’s death. She gave away her leopard cat and moved away to get her life back in order.
In 1975, Jean Sugden remarried, becoming Jean Mill, and again thought about creating a spotted breed. Mill wanted to provide an acceptable spotted feline for cat lovers, one who would make a good pet but retain the beauty of the leopard cat. She thought this might dissuade people from wearing fur coats that resembled beloved pets. In 1980, Mill began breeding Bengals again, and most of today’s Bengals originate from these bloodlines.
It was no longer legal to buy leopard cats, however, and for good reason-adult leopard cats are shy, apprehensive escape artists with unpleasant elimination habits; most end up in zoos or on the streets. Most of the breeding stock was provided by geneticist Dr. Willard Centerwall of the University of California at Davis, who had been studying leopard cats because they seemed resistant to the feline leukemia virus. Mill provided a home-hers-for the eight female hybrids Centerwall had used in his experiments. (Only female hybrids are fertile for the first few generations, so the males could not be used to start her breeding program.) She then set out to find appropriate male companionship for her clowder of caterwauling hybrids.
After a long search, Mill selected two males: a sweet-tempered brown spotted tabby shorthair who she acquired at a local shelter, and a shorthair with dark brown rosettes and an orange ground color who came all the way from India. When visiting a zoo in Delhi, Mill saw a litter of spotted kittens living in a rhinoceros cage. Entranced by the kittens’ spotted coats, she managed to get a male exported to the United States to add his genes to her recipe. Mill began a breeding program for the "Leopardette," as she first called her new creation. The name Bengal was adopted later, derived from the leopard cat’s scientific name, Prionailurus bengalensis.
Obstacles had to be overcome along the way. First generation hybrid kittens (called F1s in scientific terms) often grow up to be shy, nervous cats, like their wild relatives. It’s only after the cats are several generations away from the wild blood that their temperament becomes domestic and predictable. Mill notes that a wild temperament is not the same thing as an aggressive temperament. Asian leopard cats are anxious but not aggressive. And Bengals have domestic dispositions, since breeders were careful to cull from their programs any breeding Bengal who wasn’t affectionate and sweet-tempered.
Another factor that slowed the breed’s development was the difficulty inherent in crossing two different species. In the first mating of leopard cat to domestic cat, the males are infertile, as is true of many hybrids. Second generation males (F2s) are usually infertile as well, and only about 50 percent of F3 males are fertile.
But Mill persisted, and by 1985, she had enough generations to show the Bengal. She began taking her Bengals to cat shows sponsored by TICA, the newest of the cat associations at that time. The breed sparked immediate controversy among breeders and fanciers. Some fanciers felt a breed with wild blood could pose a hazard in the show hall, and others believed breeding domestic cats with wildcats was unwise from a conservation standpoint, since the majority of wild felid species are threatened or endangered. However, the cat lovers visiting the shows were immediately entranced by the breed’s beauty, and Mill had no trouble recruiting Bengal breeders.
In 1991, TICA accepted the Bengal for championship status. To ensure a docile temperament, TICA requires show cats be bred Bengal to Bengal for at least four generations. ACFA also accepted the Bengal in 1991, but quickly withdrew recognition after some unfortunate incidents in show halls. Second generation Bengals (F2s) were allowed to be shown – unwise, since F2s are not far enough away from the Asian leopard cat to have a domestic temperament. ACFA reinstated Bengals for NBC status in 1997, on the condition that the Bengals be five generations removed from the leopard cat. Because of these early problems, breeders became even more careful about breeding for calm, domestic temperaments. All associations that accept the Bengal, which is most of them, have similar rules about the number of Bengal-to-Bengal generations needed before Bengals can be shown, but most other associations require Bengals to be only four generations removed.
Today, the breed’s feral appearance, beautiful coat, and affectionate, energetic personality have won the Bengal a widespread group of enthusiasts and international acceptance. Because of the large gene pool available, outcrossing to leopard cats and their close offspring is done only rarely, particularly since the offspring can’t be exhibited for generations.
Sharing our homes with mini-leopards with lithe, feral bodies and vivid, spotted coats reminds us that our domestic felines were wildcats only about 5,000 years ago. We caress the spotted coat and marvel at the mysteries of feline nature. Our fascination with the look of the wild is why we currently have four accepted breeds with spotted coats: the Egyptian Mau, Ocicat, Pixiebob and Bengal. Several other spotted hybrids such as the Savannah are being developed. However, the Bengal is the only widely accepted wildcat/domestic cat hybrid.
The Bengal is a robust, athletic, medium to large breed. The body is long and substantial, but not oriental or foreign in type. It is muscular and solid with sturdy boning. The substantial musculature, especially in males, is one of the most distinguishing features of the breed. The legs are muscular, medium in length, with the rear legs slightly longer than the front. The long, muscular neck is thick and in proportion to the head. The head is a broad modified wedge with rounded contours, longer than it is wide, and slightly small in proportion to the body but not to be taken to the extreme. The muzzle is full and broad, with large, prominent whisker pads and high, pronounced cheekbones. The nose is large and wide with slightly puffed nose leather. The bridge of the nose extends above the eyes; the nose has a very slight concave curve. The overall look of the head should be as distinct from the domestic cat as possible. Adult males weigh an average of 10 to 18 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 12 pounds.
The eyes are oval, almost round, and are large but not bugged. They are set wide apart, back into the face and on a slight bias toward the base of the ear. Eye color ranges from gold to green to aqua, except for lynx points, which have blue eyes. The more richness and depth of color the better. The ears are medium to small, relatively short, wide at the base and rounded at the tips, set as much on the side as on the top of the head. Light horizontal ear furnishings are acceptable, but lynx tipping is undesirable.
This breed’s luxurious short to medium coat is close-lying, thick and surprisingly soft and silky. Vivid markings with a sharp contrast of colors are the mark of a well-coated Bengal. Some Bengals have a recessive "glitter gene" that gives their fur an iridescent glow. The tips of the hair shafts glisten as if covered with warm frost.
The Bengal comes in two coat patterns: spotted and marbled. The spotted pattern has random or horizontally aligned spots; rosettes are preferable to single spotting, but are not required. The marbled pattern, while derived from the classic tabby gene, has as little of the bulls-eye pattern common to the classic tabby as possible. Instead, the pattern is random, giving the impression of marble, preferably with a horizontal flow when the cat is stretched out. The influence of the vertical striped mackerel tabby pattern is undesirable. Cats with three or more shades are preferred. Both spotted and marbled Bengals should have unique patterning. Contrast with the ground color should be extreme, giving a distinct pattern and sharp edges. The belly must be spotted.
The accepted colors are brown tabby, seal sepia tabby, seal mink tabby, seal lynx point, black silver tabby, seal silver sepia tabby, seal silver mink tabby and seal silver lynx point in spotted and marbled patterns. No solid colors are accepted. In most associations, show cats must be bred Bengal-to-Bengal for at least four generations with no outcrosses; earlier generations can be outcrossed following association rules, but can’t be shown until they reach the fourth generation.
History
Because of its beautiful spotted coat and lively, affectionate temperament, the Bengal has quickly become the most numerous and popular of the spotted breeds. The breed's background fascinates cat lovers as well. Unlike the other widely accepted spotted breeds, the Bengal not only has the look of the wild, it has ancestors that walked on the wild side only a handful of generations ago.
The original Bengal was a case of unplanned parenthood. In 1963, Himalayan breeder Jean Sugden purchased a female leopard cat from a pet store. (The Asian leopard cat, a wildcat that weighs an average of 7 to 15 pounds, could be purchased in the United States at that time, although it’s illegal to buy or sell them today.) She thought her little 8-pound leopard cat looked lonely, so she put a 15-pound random-bred male domestic cat in her cage, expecting a platonic friendship. To Sugden’s surprise, they became so friendly that they produced a litter. Only one kitten survived, a female named Kin-Kin. Kin-Kin grew up, also became good friends with her father, and produced two kittens. However, Sugden’s early Bengal breeding efforts ended in 1965 with her first husband’s death. She gave away her leopard cat and moved away to get her life back in order.
In 1975, Jean Sugden remarried, becoming Jean Mill, and again thought about creating a spotted breed. Mill wanted to provide an acceptable spotted feline for cat lovers, one who would make a good pet but retain the beauty of the leopard cat. She thought this might dissuade people from wearing fur coats that resembled beloved pets. In 1980, Mill began breeding Bengals again, and most of today’s Bengals originate from these bloodlines.
It was no longer legal to buy leopard cats, however, and for good reason-adult leopard cats are shy, apprehensive escape artists with unpleasant elimination habits; most end up in zoos or on the streets. Most of the breeding stock was provided by geneticist Dr. Willard Centerwall of the University of California at Davis, who had been studying leopard cats because they seemed resistant to the feline leukemia virus. Mill provided a home-hers-for the eight female hybrids Centerwall had used in his experiments. (Only female hybrids are fertile for the first few generations, so the males could not be used to start her breeding program.) She then set out to find appropriate male companionship for her clowder of caterwauling hybrids.
After a long search, Mill selected two males: a sweet-tempered brown spotted tabby shorthair who she acquired at a local shelter, and a shorthair with dark brown rosettes and an orange ground color who came all the way from India. When visiting a zoo in Delhi, Mill saw a litter of spotted kittens living in a rhinoceros cage. Entranced by the kittens’ spotted coats, she managed to get a male exported to the United States to add his genes to her recipe. Mill began a breeding program for the "Leopardette," as she first called her new creation. The name Bengal was adopted later, derived from the leopard cat’s scientific name, Prionailurus bengalensis.
Obstacles had to be overcome along the way. First generation hybrid kittens (called F1s in scientific terms) often grow up to be shy, nervous cats, like their wild relatives. It’s only after the cats are several generations away from the wild blood that their temperament becomes domestic and predictable. Mill notes that a wild temperament is not the same thing as an aggressive temperament. Asian leopard cats are anxious but not aggressive. And Bengals have domestic dispositions, since breeders were careful to cull from their programs any breeding Bengal who wasn’t affectionate and sweet-tempered.
Another factor that slowed the breed’s development was the difficulty inherent in crossing two different species. In the first mating of leopard cat to domestic cat, the males are infertile, as is true of many hybrids. Second generation males (F2s) are usually infertile as well, and only about 50 percent of F3 males are fertile.
But Mill persisted, and by 1985, she had enough generations to show the Bengal. She began taking her Bengals to cat shows sponsored by TICA, the newest of the cat associations at that time. The breed sparked immediate controversy among breeders and fanciers. Some fanciers felt a breed with wild blood could pose a hazard in the show hall, and others believed breeding domestic cats with wildcats was unwise from a conservation standpoint, since the majority of wild felid species are threatened or endangered. However, the cat lovers visiting the shows were immediately entranced by the breed’s beauty, and Mill had no trouble recruiting Bengal breeders.
In 1991, TICA accepted the Bengal for championship status. To ensure a docile temperament, TICA requires show cats be bred Bengal to Bengal for at least four generations. ACFA also accepted the Bengal in 1991, but quickly withdrew recognition after some unfortunate incidents in show halls. Second generation Bengals (F2s) were allowed to be shown – unwise, since F2s are not far enough away from the Asian leopard cat to have a domestic temperament. ACFA reinstated Bengals for NBC status in 1997, on the condition that the Bengals be five generations removed from the leopard cat. Because of these early problems, breeders became even more careful about breeding for calm, domestic temperaments. All associations that accept the Bengal, which is most of them, have similar rules about the number of Bengal-to-Bengal generations needed before Bengals can be shown, but most other associations require Bengals to be only four generations removed.
Today, the breed’s feral appearance, beautiful coat, and affectionate, energetic personality have won the Bengal a widespread group of enthusiasts and international acceptance. Because of the large gene pool available, outcrossing to leopard cats and their close offspring is done only rarely, particularly since the offspring can’t be exhibited for generations.
Bombay
Description
The Bombay resembles a miniature black leopard, with a glossy jet-black coat and brilliant copper eyes, combining the body style and personality of the Burmese with the solid coloration of the black American Shorthair. This well-balanced breed is medium in size, muscular in development and moderate in body style. The Bombay has surprising weight for its size. The legs are in proportion to the body and the tail, which is straight, medium in length and neither short nor whippy. Adult males weigh 8 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
The head is pleasingly rounded with no sharp angles. The face is full with considerable breadth between the eyes, blending gently into a broad, well-developed, moderately rounded muzzle that maintains the rounded contours of the head but doesn’t have a snubbed look. In profile, there’s a visible moderate stop. The eyes are set far apart and have a rounded aperture. The medium-sized, alert ears tilt slightly forward and are set well apart on the rounded skull. They’re broad at the base and have slightly rounded tips.
The Bombay comes in one color: black to the roots. The lustrous, close-lying coat is fine, short, satin-like in texture and with a shimmering patent leather sheen. The nose leathernose leather and paw pads are also black. The eye color ranges from gold to copper—the greater the depth and brilliance, the better. Allowable outcross breeds are black American Shorthairs and sable Burmese.
History
The Bombay is a human-made hybrid, the inspiration of the late Nikki Horner, who wanted to leave a living legacy in fur when she went to meet her champion show cats at theRainbow Bridge. A breeder and exhibitor since the age of 16, Horner bred American Shorthairs, Burmese, Exotics, Himalayans, Persians and Siamese over her long, successful career in the cat fancy.
But Horner decided she wanted a greater challenge-to create her own breed. Looking at the sable Burmese and the black American Shorthair (she was breeding both at the time), she imagined a Burmese with a sleek black coat and snapping copper eyes-sort of a mini-panther.
Her first attempt to breed her dream cat in 1958 was a disappointment. The kittens of those first litters, the product of crosses between non-pedigreed black domestic shorthairs and sable Burmese, were all black, since the black is dominant over the sable color of the Burmese. But the overall look didn’t match Horner’s master plan. The kittens looked more like poor American Shorthairs than like black Burmese. Their coats were too long, their eye color wasn’t bright and their body type, Homer noted, was "big and horsey."
In 1965, she decided to give her mini-panther another try. This time, she chose her breeding stock more carefully, using a good quality black American Shorthair female and one of her best sable Burmese males. Between 1966 and 1972, Horner bred 27 litters, eventually achieving the look she wanted-a breed with the body type and short, polished coat of the Burmese and the American’s copper-colored eyes and black coat.
But Horner’s success in the show ring with recognized breeds didn’t ensure success for her creation. Burmese breeders wanted nothing to do with the Bombay, and Horner had trouble finding breeders and fanciers who were interested in breeding and exhibiting her cats. Most wanted to wait until the breed was recognized before buying one, and without the support of other breeders, recognition would never come.
Finally, Horner gathered enough Bombay breeders to qualify for CFA registration, which CFA granted in 1970. Meeting the requirements for provisional show status took until 1974, since Horner had to recruit additional breeders, create a breed club and register at least 100 examples of the breed. Finally, the Bombay achieved championship status in 1976. Most of the other associations in existence at that time accepted the Bombay by 1980.
Acceptance didn’t mean popularity, however. At first, the cat fancy was generally unimpressed with the Bombay. Breeders Herb and Suzanne Zwecker were instrumental in bringing the Bombay some of the respect it deserved. They started over with fresh stock, since they thought the original lines were too inbred, and bred a non-pedigreed black domestic shorthair male to one of their sable Burmese females. In due time they produced the breakthrough cat for the breed—Road to Fame’s Luv It Black, a Bombay who was named CFA’s Second Best Cat and Best Shorthair in 1985. While still a rare breed, the Bombay has won over the opposition and gained acceptance with all North American cat associations.
The Bombay resembles a miniature black leopard, with a glossy jet-black coat and brilliant copper eyes, combining the body style and personality of the Burmese with the solid coloration of the black American Shorthair. This well-balanced breed is medium in size, muscular in development and moderate in body style. The Bombay has surprising weight for its size. The legs are in proportion to the body and the tail, which is straight, medium in length and neither short nor whippy. Adult males weigh 8 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
The head is pleasingly rounded with no sharp angles. The face is full with considerable breadth between the eyes, blending gently into a broad, well-developed, moderately rounded muzzle that maintains the rounded contours of the head but doesn’t have a snubbed look. In profile, there’s a visible moderate stop. The eyes are set far apart and have a rounded aperture. The medium-sized, alert ears tilt slightly forward and are set well apart on the rounded skull. They’re broad at the base and have slightly rounded tips.
The Bombay comes in one color: black to the roots. The lustrous, close-lying coat is fine, short, satin-like in texture and with a shimmering patent leather sheen. The nose leathernose leather and paw pads are also black. The eye color ranges from gold to copper—the greater the depth and brilliance, the better. Allowable outcross breeds are black American Shorthairs and sable Burmese.
History
The Bombay is a human-made hybrid, the inspiration of the late Nikki Horner, who wanted to leave a living legacy in fur when she went to meet her champion show cats at theRainbow Bridge. A breeder and exhibitor since the age of 16, Horner bred American Shorthairs, Burmese, Exotics, Himalayans, Persians and Siamese over her long, successful career in the cat fancy.
But Horner decided she wanted a greater challenge-to create her own breed. Looking at the sable Burmese and the black American Shorthair (she was breeding both at the time), she imagined a Burmese with a sleek black coat and snapping copper eyes-sort of a mini-panther.
Her first attempt to breed her dream cat in 1958 was a disappointment. The kittens of those first litters, the product of crosses between non-pedigreed black domestic shorthairs and sable Burmese, were all black, since the black is dominant over the sable color of the Burmese. But the overall look didn’t match Horner’s master plan. The kittens looked more like poor American Shorthairs than like black Burmese. Their coats were too long, their eye color wasn’t bright and their body type, Homer noted, was "big and horsey."
In 1965, she decided to give her mini-panther another try. This time, she chose her breeding stock more carefully, using a good quality black American Shorthair female and one of her best sable Burmese males. Between 1966 and 1972, Horner bred 27 litters, eventually achieving the look she wanted-a breed with the body type and short, polished coat of the Burmese and the American’s copper-colored eyes and black coat.
But Horner’s success in the show ring with recognized breeds didn’t ensure success for her creation. Burmese breeders wanted nothing to do with the Bombay, and Horner had trouble finding breeders and fanciers who were interested in breeding and exhibiting her cats. Most wanted to wait until the breed was recognized before buying one, and without the support of other breeders, recognition would never come.
Finally, Horner gathered enough Bombay breeders to qualify for CFA registration, which CFA granted in 1970. Meeting the requirements for provisional show status took until 1974, since Horner had to recruit additional breeders, create a breed club and register at least 100 examples of the breed. Finally, the Bombay achieved championship status in 1976. Most of the other associations in existence at that time accepted the Bombay by 1980.
Acceptance didn’t mean popularity, however. At first, the cat fancy was generally unimpressed with the Bombay. Breeders Herb and Suzanne Zwecker were instrumental in bringing the Bombay some of the respect it deserved. They started over with fresh stock, since they thought the original lines were too inbred, and bred a non-pedigreed black domestic shorthair male to one of their sable Burmese females. In due time they produced the breakthrough cat for the breed—Road to Fame’s Luv It Black, a Bombay who was named CFA’s Second Best Cat and Best Shorthair in 1985. While still a rare breed, the Bombay has won over the opposition and gained acceptance with all North American cat associations.
British Shorthair
Description
Although the breed has gone through many ups and downs over the years, the current appearance is close to the original form due to the hard work of dedicated breeders. Like its alley cat ancestors, today’s Brit is a healthy, hardy breed, medium to large, well-knit, compact, well-balanced and powerful. The back is level and the chest is deep and broad. The short to medium legs are well-boned and strong with straight forelegs, and are in proportion to the body. The paws are round and firm. The tail is medium length and in proportion to the body, thicker at the base and tapering slightly to a rounded tip. Males generally weigh 12 to 18 pounds; females usually weigh 9 to 15 pounds.
Roundness is a trademark of the breed; the word "round" or "rounded" appears 15 times in the CFA breed standard. The head is round and massive, set on a short, thick neck. The face is round with round underlying bone structure and a distinctive, well-developedmuzzle that has a definite stop beyond the large, round whisker pads, giving the cat a perpetual smile. The forehead is rounded with a slightly flat plane on the top of the head, and should not slope. The medium-size nose is broad with a gentle dip in profile. The chin is firm, well-developed, and in line with the nose and upper lip.
The ears are medium-sized, broad at the base and rounded at the tips. The ear set is very important in show quality Brits; the ears are set far apart, fitting into but not distorting the rounded contour of the head. The eyes are large, round, well opened and set wide apart and level. Most coat colors require gold or copper eyes, except for blue-eyed white cats who can have blue or odd eyes, and shaded and chinchilla silver and golden, who can have green or blue-green eyes.
The Shorthair’s coat is very plush and feels like firm, warm velvet, inspiring fanciers to call Brits the teddy bears of the cat fancy. The short, very dense, full-bodied fur is not woolly. In recent years, North American cat lovers have gained interest in the British Longhair, a semi-longhair that shares the same conformation with its shorthaired kin. Longhairs show up periodically in Shorthair litters. So far, CCA, TICA and TCA are the only associations to recognize a longhair version of the breed for championship. TICA recognizes the longhair as part of the British Breed Group, TCA under the name Traditional British Longhair, and CCA under the name British, with both hair types sharing the same standard but with both hair lengths judged separately.
Although blue is still the most common color, the Brit comes in myriad other hues. In CFA, all colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white. In TICA, however, all colors and patterns are accepted, including pointed. No outcrosses are allowed.
History
As they conquered and colonized other lands, the Romans brought cats along with them to control rodent populations. Domestic cats first came to Great Britain with the Romans about 2,000 years ago. Eventually, the Romans were expelled from the British Isles, but the cats they had brought with them remained, firmly ensconced in the granaries, farms, and alleys of Great Britain.
The cats who roamed with the Romans were more Abyssinian than British in design: lithe and muscular with long, elegant bones and agouti, spotted, or tabby markings. When they arrived in Europe, however, some dallied with the local European wildcat, Felis sylvestris sylvestris. This caused a marked transformation in type, because while closely related to the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) from which domestic cats developed, the European wildcat had a muscular body, broad head, wide skull and smaller, wide-set ears. These cats also had short, plush coats and the mackerel tabby pattern. It’s thought that this pattern, found in so many breeds, may have originated with the European wildcat. With the European wildcat’s influence, and also because of the climatic conditions that made a heavier body and thicker fur favorable to survival, British cats developed a stockier, rounder, more muscular body type. The Brit, as the British Shorthair is affectionately called, therefore developed into the sturdy, substantial breed it is today.
For centuries, these rugged working cats prowled Great Britain’s alleys, gardens, barns, pubs and households, earning their keep by working as perfect mousetraps. At this time, most people considered cats skillful rodent terminators rather than pampered housepets. In many ways, the British Shorthair’s fight for acceptance as a breed closely resembled the struggles of the American Shorthair in North America. Both began as working cats and weren’t fully appreciated for many years.
British cat owners’ attitudes began to change in the mid-1800s, when they started to appreciate these hardy alley cats for their beauty, strength, personality, and their value as companions. Harrison Weir, a renowned author and ailurophile who is considered the father of the cat fancy, was the first to see these cats as a genuine breed. Weir’s celebrated cat show at the Crystal Palace of London in 1871 marked the beginning of the modern cat fancy, and also marked the Brit’s rise in popularity. Not only did Weir organize the show, he also wrote the standards by which each breed should be judged, and elevated Britain’s common street cat to the lofty and patriotic name of British Shorthair.
By the end of the 19th century, owning pedigreed cats had become a status symbol and British Shorthairs were valued and prized. At that time, Brits came in many colors and patterns, but the solid colors, particularly blue, were especially popular. They were even given special prizes in Weir’s annual shows.
However, just as the American Shorthair fell from favor in the United States, the British Shorthair gave way to exotic longhairs such as the Persian and the Angora. The Brit’s popularity began to dwindle, and World War I put a stop to many breeding programs. After the first world war, just as the Brit was again gaining in numbers, World War II began and decimated the British Shorthair population-as it did most of the breeds in Europe.
After World War II, breeders crossbred the Brit with domestic shorthairs, Russian Blues,Burmese, Korats and Chartreux to rejuvenate what was left of the breed. To counteract the change in body type, many breeders also used blue Persians. This created a Brit with a Persian facial structure and a longer, softer coat. It took a number of generations to bring the breed back to its former glory, but eventually the breeders achieved the type they desired-one that reflected the powerful build, hardiness, muscular strength and adaptability that had enabled the cat to survive for so many centuries. Because of the number of Chartreux, Russian Blues and blue Persians used in the bloodlines, blue became the predominant color and for a number of years the breed was called the British Blue.
Although registered British Shorthairs were exported to North America as early as 1900, there was little interest in the breed until the 1950s. In 1967, ACA, America’s oldest cat registry, was the first to grant championship status to the breed under the name British Blue. Other associations resisted accepting the Brit as a breed because the cats had been openly crossed with Persians and were considered hybrids. However, in 1970 ACFAgranted championship status to the British Blue as well, but only in solid blue. Brits of other colors had to be shown as American Shorthairs.
Winning changes everything. A black British Shorthair named Manana Channaine racked up so many wins in ACFA as an American Shorthair that American Shorthair breeders, whose cats were losing to this interloping Brit, began to hiss that she didn’t belong in the American Shorthair class. This focused attention on the fact that Brits came in other colors besides blue. In the 1970s, British Shorthair breeders began to campaign for recognition inCFA-not just in blue but in all colors. Finally, in 1980 CFA accepted the British Shorthair for championship in all the myriad colors of the breed. Today, the Brit has an active following and Brits have earned acceptance in all North American cat registries.
The coat is very plush and feels like firm, warm velvet, inspiring fanciers to call Brits the teddy bears of the cat fancy. The short, very dense, full-bodied fur is not woolly. Although blue is still the most common color, the Brit comes in myriad other hues. All colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white. No outcrosses are allowed.
Although the breed has gone through many ups and downs over the years, the current appearance is close to the original form due to the hard work of dedicated breeders. Like its alley cat ancestors, today’s Brit is a healthy, hardy breed, medium to large, well-knit, compact, well-balanced and powerful. The back is level and the chest is deep and broad. The short to medium legs are well-boned and strong with straight forelegs, and are in proportion to the body. The paws are round and firm. The tail is medium length and in proportion to the body, thicker at the base and tapering slightly to a rounded tip. Males generally weigh 12 to 18 pounds; females usually weigh 9 to 15 pounds.
Roundness is a trademark of the breed; the word "round" or "rounded" appears 15 times in the CFA breed standard. The head is round and massive, set on a short, thick neck. The face is round with round underlying bone structure and a distinctive, well-developedmuzzle that has a definite stop beyond the large, round whisker pads, giving the cat a perpetual smile. The forehead is rounded with a slightly flat plane on the top of the head, and should not slope. The medium-size nose is broad with a gentle dip in profile. The chin is firm, well-developed, and in line with the nose and upper lip.
The ears are medium-sized, broad at the base and rounded at the tips. The ear set is very important in show quality Brits; the ears are set far apart, fitting into but not distorting the rounded contour of the head. The eyes are large, round, well opened and set wide apart and level. Most coat colors require gold or copper eyes, except for blue-eyed white cats who can have blue or odd eyes, and shaded and chinchilla silver and golden, who can have green or blue-green eyes.
The Shorthair’s coat is very plush and feels like firm, warm velvet, inspiring fanciers to call Brits the teddy bears of the cat fancy. The short, very dense, full-bodied fur is not woolly. In recent years, North American cat lovers have gained interest in the British Longhair, a semi-longhair that shares the same conformation with its shorthaired kin. Longhairs show up periodically in Shorthair litters. So far, CCA, TICA and TCA are the only associations to recognize a longhair version of the breed for championship. TICA recognizes the longhair as part of the British Breed Group, TCA under the name Traditional British Longhair, and CCA under the name British, with both hair types sharing the same standard but with both hair lengths judged separately.
Although blue is still the most common color, the Brit comes in myriad other hues. In CFA, all colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white. In TICA, however, all colors and patterns are accepted, including pointed. No outcrosses are allowed.
History
As they conquered and colonized other lands, the Romans brought cats along with them to control rodent populations. Domestic cats first came to Great Britain with the Romans about 2,000 years ago. Eventually, the Romans were expelled from the British Isles, but the cats they had brought with them remained, firmly ensconced in the granaries, farms, and alleys of Great Britain.
The cats who roamed with the Romans were more Abyssinian than British in design: lithe and muscular with long, elegant bones and agouti, spotted, or tabby markings. When they arrived in Europe, however, some dallied with the local European wildcat, Felis sylvestris sylvestris. This caused a marked transformation in type, because while closely related to the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) from which domestic cats developed, the European wildcat had a muscular body, broad head, wide skull and smaller, wide-set ears. These cats also had short, plush coats and the mackerel tabby pattern. It’s thought that this pattern, found in so many breeds, may have originated with the European wildcat. With the European wildcat’s influence, and also because of the climatic conditions that made a heavier body and thicker fur favorable to survival, British cats developed a stockier, rounder, more muscular body type. The Brit, as the British Shorthair is affectionately called, therefore developed into the sturdy, substantial breed it is today.
For centuries, these rugged working cats prowled Great Britain’s alleys, gardens, barns, pubs and households, earning their keep by working as perfect mousetraps. At this time, most people considered cats skillful rodent terminators rather than pampered housepets. In many ways, the British Shorthair’s fight for acceptance as a breed closely resembled the struggles of the American Shorthair in North America. Both began as working cats and weren’t fully appreciated for many years.
British cat owners’ attitudes began to change in the mid-1800s, when they started to appreciate these hardy alley cats for their beauty, strength, personality, and their value as companions. Harrison Weir, a renowned author and ailurophile who is considered the father of the cat fancy, was the first to see these cats as a genuine breed. Weir’s celebrated cat show at the Crystal Palace of London in 1871 marked the beginning of the modern cat fancy, and also marked the Brit’s rise in popularity. Not only did Weir organize the show, he also wrote the standards by which each breed should be judged, and elevated Britain’s common street cat to the lofty and patriotic name of British Shorthair.
By the end of the 19th century, owning pedigreed cats had become a status symbol and British Shorthairs were valued and prized. At that time, Brits came in many colors and patterns, but the solid colors, particularly blue, were especially popular. They were even given special prizes in Weir’s annual shows.
However, just as the American Shorthair fell from favor in the United States, the British Shorthair gave way to exotic longhairs such as the Persian and the Angora. The Brit’s popularity began to dwindle, and World War I put a stop to many breeding programs. After the first world war, just as the Brit was again gaining in numbers, World War II began and decimated the British Shorthair population-as it did most of the breeds in Europe.
After World War II, breeders crossbred the Brit with domestic shorthairs, Russian Blues,Burmese, Korats and Chartreux to rejuvenate what was left of the breed. To counteract the change in body type, many breeders also used blue Persians. This created a Brit with a Persian facial structure and a longer, softer coat. It took a number of generations to bring the breed back to its former glory, but eventually the breeders achieved the type they desired-one that reflected the powerful build, hardiness, muscular strength and adaptability that had enabled the cat to survive for so many centuries. Because of the number of Chartreux, Russian Blues and blue Persians used in the bloodlines, blue became the predominant color and for a number of years the breed was called the British Blue.
Although registered British Shorthairs were exported to North America as early as 1900, there was little interest in the breed until the 1950s. In 1967, ACA, America’s oldest cat registry, was the first to grant championship status to the breed under the name British Blue. Other associations resisted accepting the Brit as a breed because the cats had been openly crossed with Persians and were considered hybrids. However, in 1970 ACFAgranted championship status to the British Blue as well, but only in solid blue. Brits of other colors had to be shown as American Shorthairs.
Winning changes everything. A black British Shorthair named Manana Channaine racked up so many wins in ACFA as an American Shorthair that American Shorthair breeders, whose cats were losing to this interloping Brit, began to hiss that she didn’t belong in the American Shorthair class. This focused attention on the fact that Brits came in other colors besides blue. In the 1970s, British Shorthair breeders began to campaign for recognition inCFA-not just in blue but in all colors. Finally, in 1980 CFA accepted the British Shorthair for championship in all the myriad colors of the breed. Today, the Brit has an active following and Brits have earned acceptance in all North American cat registries.
The coat is very plush and feels like firm, warm velvet, inspiring fanciers to call Brits the teddy bears of the cat fancy. The short, very dense, full-bodied fur is not woolly. Although blue is still the most common color, the Brit comes in myriad other hues. All colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white. No outcrosses are allowed.
Burmese
Description
The Burmese is one of a number of purebred breeds that have several recognized varieties. Keeping them straight requires a bit of homework. The Contemporary Burmese is usually the type you'll see in the champion show ring. Medium in size, the Contemporary is powerful with a compact appearance, an ample, rounded chest, and a level back from shoulder to tail. The breed has substantial bone structure, good muscular development, and a surprising weight for its size. The legs are relatively short but in proportion to the body, and end with rounded paws. The tail is straight and medium in length. Adult males weigh 8 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is pleasingly rounded without flat planes, whether viewed from the front or side. The face is full with considerable breadth between the eyes, and blends gently into a broad, short, well-developed muzzle that maintains the rounded contours of the head. In profile a visible nose break can be seen. The chin is firm and rounded, reflecting a proper bite, and the neck is well-developed. The medium-size ears are rounded at the tips, broad at the base, and set well apart. They tilt slightly forward, contributing to an alert appearance. The eyes are large and set far apart, with a rounded aperture.
The coat is short and very close-lying with a fine, glossy, satin-like texture. The Contemporary Burmese is universally accepted in four solid colors: sable, champagne,blue, and platinum, although TICA accepts additional the colors chocolate, lilac, red and cream, and the additional pattern of tortoiseshell.
The Traditional Burmese is also a sturdy, muscular cat with substantial bone structure. The most distinctive difference is the head. The face is not as foreshortened as the Contemporary; instead, the head is rounded with an apple-like skull tapering toward a broad, squared, well-developed prominent nose and muzzle. Some fanciers say this head type more closely resembles earlier examples of the breed.
TCA is the only association that has accepted a standard specifically for the Traditional Burmese. Founded in 1987, TCA strives to preserve cat breeds whose body and head types have given way to more extreme forms. However, members of TCA are not the only ones who promote the Traditional Burmese. According to Traditional Burmese fanciers, this is a healthy, hardy cat who lacks the physical problems inherent in the head conformation of Contemporary Burmese. However, whether you prefer the appearance of the Traditional or the Contemporary, both have wonderful personalities.
A third type exists: see European Burmese.
History
The Burmese we know today developed from a single female cat named Wong Mau who was brought to the United States in 1930 from Rangoon, Burma (now called Yangon, Myanmar). A sailor gave the exotic feline to Siamese breeder Dr. Joseph Thompson of San Francisco. Purportedly, Wong-Mau was a small, fine-boned cat, walnut-brown with darker brown points , but more compact than the Siamese of the day with a rounded, short- muzzled head and round eyes that were set far apart.
Thompson served as a U.S. Navy doctor for some years and had developed a strong interest in Asia. He spent time in a monastery in Tibet and became familiar with the shorthaired, solid brown cats in the area. These felines, known as "copper cats" for their rich brown color, have existed in Southeast Asia for centuries. They were described and depicted in the ancient text The Cat-Book Poems, written in the city of Ayudha, Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was burned down by invaders.
Thompson was so taken with Wong Mau’s beauty and personality that, with the help of like-minded breeders and geneticists, the doctor began a carefully planned breeding program designed to isolate Wong Mau’s distinguishing characteristics so he could reproduce her type and color. Since no Adam had accompanied Thompson’s Eve on the trip from Burma, Thompson bred Wong Mau to one of his breeding Siamese males, a seal point named Tai Mau. The resulting litter revealed that Wong Mau herself carried a pointed pattern gene, since the gene for the pointed pattern is recessive (both parents need to contribute the gene for the trait to be expressed in the physical appearance of offspring), and some of the kittens in her litter were pointed. Thompson and his team realized that Wong Mau was a Siamese hybrid—half Siamese and half Burmese—because she didn’t breed true. (Today, Wong Mau would be considered a Tonkinese, but this hybrid breed would not be developed until decades later.)
The resulting kittens from matings between Wong Mau and Tai Mau were bred to each other or crossed back to Wong Mau. After two generations, Thompson identified three distinct color and pattern variations: one variety looked like Wong Mau (medium brown with darker points), the second like Tai Mau (seal point Siamese), and the third was solid dark-chocolate brown. Thompson and his team decided the dark-chocolate brown cats (called sable ) were the most beautiful and striking, and they set out to isolate the gene governing this color. The sable cats were crossed with each other or back to Wong Mau, resulting in three generations of Burmese (as Thompson named them) that bred true and possessed what Thompson called the "dark color phase." The points were darker in color, most noticeable in kittens and less apparent in adults.
Since the Burmese in America began with just one cat, the gene pool was extremely small. Three brown cats were imported from Rangoon in 1941 to increase the gene pool, but most Burmese are descendants of Wong Mau, since she was healthy and produced many litters. To increase the limited breeding stock and to keep the gene pool healthy,outcrossing to Siamese continued in the 1930s and ’40s.
When Burmese cats were introduced into America’s show halls in the late 1930s and early 1940s, they were an immediate hit. Despite the hisses and yowls from Siamese breeders, who were afraid Burmese would dilute their pure Siamese stock, most fanciers took to these beautiful brown cats in a big way. In 1936, CFA accepted the Burmese for registration, and with that legitimacy the popularity of the Burmese rose.
Demand was much greater than supply, and to increase the gene pool, breeders continued to breed back to the Siamese, creating lots of hybrids, which some breeders sold as pure Burmese. This caused confusion over what constituted a pedigreed Burmese, and because of this CFA suspended registration of the Burmese in 1947. CFA insisted that three generations of Burmese-to-Burmese breeding was necessary for cats to be registered as members of the breed. Since only three North American cat associations existed at the time, to be excluded from the largest was a major setback. Nevertheless, the dedicated Burmese breeders got to work on the three generations needed to regain their lost status. In 1953, CFA reinstated the Burmese for registration, and in 1957 CFA granted championship status.
In 1958, the newly formed United Burmese Cat Fanciers decided that to avoid problems in the future, they’d develop a single breed standard—one that all breeders and cat associations would use. Keep in mind that a breed standard is not a description of a breed, but a goal for which to strive. Adopted in 1959, the new standard added the words "somewhat compact" to the description—an important change, since today’s Contemporary Burmese are so compact they are called "bricks wrapped in silk." Later, the word "somewhat" was dropped from the standard. These changes indicated the move away from any hint of the Siamese look, particularly since the Siamese was becoming an increasingly svelte breed.
The actual look of the breed has changed over the years, achieving the diversity and current appearance through years of selective breeding. Almost thirty years ago, two distinct head types emerged: the Contemporary Burmese and the Traditional Burmese.
The Burmese is one of a number of purebred breeds that have several recognized varieties. Keeping them straight requires a bit of homework. The Contemporary Burmese is usually the type you'll see in the champion show ring. Medium in size, the Contemporary is powerful with a compact appearance, an ample, rounded chest, and a level back from shoulder to tail. The breed has substantial bone structure, good muscular development, and a surprising weight for its size. The legs are relatively short but in proportion to the body, and end with rounded paws. The tail is straight and medium in length. Adult males weigh 8 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is pleasingly rounded without flat planes, whether viewed from the front or side. The face is full with considerable breadth between the eyes, and blends gently into a broad, short, well-developed muzzle that maintains the rounded contours of the head. In profile a visible nose break can be seen. The chin is firm and rounded, reflecting a proper bite, and the neck is well-developed. The medium-size ears are rounded at the tips, broad at the base, and set well apart. They tilt slightly forward, contributing to an alert appearance. The eyes are large and set far apart, with a rounded aperture.
The coat is short and very close-lying with a fine, glossy, satin-like texture. The Contemporary Burmese is universally accepted in four solid colors: sable, champagne,blue, and platinum, although TICA accepts additional the colors chocolate, lilac, red and cream, and the additional pattern of tortoiseshell.
The Traditional Burmese is also a sturdy, muscular cat with substantial bone structure. The most distinctive difference is the head. The face is not as foreshortened as the Contemporary; instead, the head is rounded with an apple-like skull tapering toward a broad, squared, well-developed prominent nose and muzzle. Some fanciers say this head type more closely resembles earlier examples of the breed.
TCA is the only association that has accepted a standard specifically for the Traditional Burmese. Founded in 1987, TCA strives to preserve cat breeds whose body and head types have given way to more extreme forms. However, members of TCA are not the only ones who promote the Traditional Burmese. According to Traditional Burmese fanciers, this is a healthy, hardy cat who lacks the physical problems inherent in the head conformation of Contemporary Burmese. However, whether you prefer the appearance of the Traditional or the Contemporary, both have wonderful personalities.
A third type exists: see European Burmese.
History
The Burmese we know today developed from a single female cat named Wong Mau who was brought to the United States in 1930 from Rangoon, Burma (now called Yangon, Myanmar). A sailor gave the exotic feline to Siamese breeder Dr. Joseph Thompson of San Francisco. Purportedly, Wong-Mau was a small, fine-boned cat, walnut-brown with darker brown points , but more compact than the Siamese of the day with a rounded, short- muzzled head and round eyes that were set far apart.
Thompson served as a U.S. Navy doctor for some years and had developed a strong interest in Asia. He spent time in a monastery in Tibet and became familiar with the shorthaired, solid brown cats in the area. These felines, known as "copper cats" for their rich brown color, have existed in Southeast Asia for centuries. They were described and depicted in the ancient text The Cat-Book Poems, written in the city of Ayudha, Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was burned down by invaders.
Thompson was so taken with Wong Mau’s beauty and personality that, with the help of like-minded breeders and geneticists, the doctor began a carefully planned breeding program designed to isolate Wong Mau’s distinguishing characteristics so he could reproduce her type and color. Since no Adam had accompanied Thompson’s Eve on the trip from Burma, Thompson bred Wong Mau to one of his breeding Siamese males, a seal point named Tai Mau. The resulting litter revealed that Wong Mau herself carried a pointed pattern gene, since the gene for the pointed pattern is recessive (both parents need to contribute the gene for the trait to be expressed in the physical appearance of offspring), and some of the kittens in her litter were pointed. Thompson and his team realized that Wong Mau was a Siamese hybrid—half Siamese and half Burmese—because she didn’t breed true. (Today, Wong Mau would be considered a Tonkinese, but this hybrid breed would not be developed until decades later.)
The resulting kittens from matings between Wong Mau and Tai Mau were bred to each other or crossed back to Wong Mau. After two generations, Thompson identified three distinct color and pattern variations: one variety looked like Wong Mau (medium brown with darker points), the second like Tai Mau (seal point Siamese), and the third was solid dark-chocolate brown. Thompson and his team decided the dark-chocolate brown cats (called sable ) were the most beautiful and striking, and they set out to isolate the gene governing this color. The sable cats were crossed with each other or back to Wong Mau, resulting in three generations of Burmese (as Thompson named them) that bred true and possessed what Thompson called the "dark color phase." The points were darker in color, most noticeable in kittens and less apparent in adults.
Since the Burmese in America began with just one cat, the gene pool was extremely small. Three brown cats were imported from Rangoon in 1941 to increase the gene pool, but most Burmese are descendants of Wong Mau, since she was healthy and produced many litters. To increase the limited breeding stock and to keep the gene pool healthy,outcrossing to Siamese continued in the 1930s and ’40s.
When Burmese cats were introduced into America’s show halls in the late 1930s and early 1940s, they were an immediate hit. Despite the hisses and yowls from Siamese breeders, who were afraid Burmese would dilute their pure Siamese stock, most fanciers took to these beautiful brown cats in a big way. In 1936, CFA accepted the Burmese for registration, and with that legitimacy the popularity of the Burmese rose.
Demand was much greater than supply, and to increase the gene pool, breeders continued to breed back to the Siamese, creating lots of hybrids, which some breeders sold as pure Burmese. This caused confusion over what constituted a pedigreed Burmese, and because of this CFA suspended registration of the Burmese in 1947. CFA insisted that three generations of Burmese-to-Burmese breeding was necessary for cats to be registered as members of the breed. Since only three North American cat associations existed at the time, to be excluded from the largest was a major setback. Nevertheless, the dedicated Burmese breeders got to work on the three generations needed to regain their lost status. In 1953, CFA reinstated the Burmese for registration, and in 1957 CFA granted championship status.
In 1958, the newly formed United Burmese Cat Fanciers decided that to avoid problems in the future, they’d develop a single breed standard—one that all breeders and cat associations would use. Keep in mind that a breed standard is not a description of a breed, but a goal for which to strive. Adopted in 1959, the new standard added the words "somewhat compact" to the description—an important change, since today’s Contemporary Burmese are so compact they are called "bricks wrapped in silk." Later, the word "somewhat" was dropped from the standard. These changes indicated the move away from any hint of the Siamese look, particularly since the Siamese was becoming an increasingly svelte breed.
The actual look of the breed has changed over the years, achieving the diversity and current appearance through years of selective breeding. Almost thirty years ago, two distinct head types emerged: the Contemporary Burmese and the Traditional Burmese.
Chartreux
Description
This breed’s defining characteristic is its plush blue coat, with tips lightly brushed with silver—a color French author Colette described as “mauve and bluish like the throat of ringdoves.” The dense, water-repellent coat is medium-short and slightly woolly, with a resilient undercoat and a longer, protective topcoat. The degree of woolliness depends on age, gender and environment; mature males usually have the heaviest coats. Silkier, thinner coats are allowable on females and cats under two years old. Blue (called gray outside the cat fancy) in any shade from ash to slate is the only acceptable coat color. Clear and uniform color is more important than the shade, although bright blue with an iridescent sheen is preferred. Only solid color is allowed in show quality cats, although faint striping or tail rings may be evident until two years of age; allowance is made for these traits in the show ring.
The Chartreux is a muscular, robust breed with a medium-long body, broad shoulders, and a deep chest. The musculature is solid and dense, and the boning is strong. Males are walking fortresses, larger and more massive than the females. Females are smaller—Rubenesque rather than Rambo-esque—but still solid, strong and muscular. Adult males weigh 10 to 15 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 11 pounds. No outcrossing is allowed.
The straight and sturdy legs are comparatively short and fine-boned. The feet are round and midsize, and may appear almost dainty compared to the cat’s solid body. Because of this, the Chartreux is sometimes unflatteringly referred to as a potato on toothpicks. They are amply built, but Chartreux should also be refined and neither coarse nor clumsy. They are extremely supple and agile cats with lightning-quick reflexes and sharp senses.
The head is broad and rounded but not spherical, set on a short, heavy-set neck. The jaws are powerful and the cheeks are full. The forehead is high and softly contoured; the nose is straight and of medium length and width, with a slight stop at eye level. The muzzle is comparatively small, narrow and tapered but not pointed, with slight whisker pads that contribute to the sweet, smiling expression. The ears are medium in height and width, very erect, and set high on the head. The rounded, wide-set eyes are alert and expressive, and range in color from copper to gold. A clear, deep, brilliant orange is preferred. Green eyes are cause for disqualification.
The Chartreux was crossed with Persians to save the breed after World War II, and because of that, longhaired Chartreux occasionally occur in otherwise shorthaired litters if both parents carry the recessive gene for long hair. Longhaired Chartreux are not accepted for showing in any organization. At one time a move was made to accept these cats in Europe under the name Benedictine. It’s likely Chartreux breeders would strongly object to such efforts, because it would change the breed that they’ve worked so hard to perfect and preserve.
History
The Chartreux (pronounced shar-TROO) has been around for so many centuries that it’s hard to say with certainty where and when the breed first developed. Like most other breeds with long histories, stories abound about this cat’s origins. The best-known tale is that the Chartreux was bred by Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse Monastery, the chief monastery of the Carthusian order, located north of Grenoble in southeastern France. As the story goes, the breed was named after the monks’ world-famous yellow and green Chartreuse liqueurs, and the cats were selectively bred to have quiet voices so they would not disturb the monks’ meditations.
According to Jean Simonnet’s authoritative 1980 book, The Chartreux Cat (translated into English by Jerome Auerbach in 1989), the first written mention of the Chartreux can be found in the Universal Dictionary of Commerce, Natural History, and of the Arts and Tradesby Savarry des Bruslon, published in 1723. A technical manuscript for merchants, it described the Chartreux as the common name for a type of cat with a blue coat whose pelt was used by furriers. The Universal Dictionary also notes that the Chartreux was first owned by the monks of this name. However, either the Chartreux did not actually originate there or the monks did not consider their quiet blue mousers noteworthy enough to remark upon (or the records were lost over the centuries), because the monastery’s records do not mention cats, blue or any other color. It’s possible that the breed was named for a Spanish wool of the same name that was well known in the early 1700s, given the woolliness of this cat’s coat.
The 36-volume Histoire Naturelle (Natural History, begun in 1749), by French naturalist Comte de Buffon, lists four cat breeds that were common in Europe in that time: Domestic, Angora, Spanish and Chartreux. As to the breed’s origins before that, Simonnet notes that the Chartreux probably came from the Near East; a breed described by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) as the Cat of Syria was probably its ancestor. In Simonnet’s book, an illustration of the Cat of Syria shows a stocky cat with solid blue coloring and vivid, copper-colored, almond-shaped eyes. Beside the cat, a brown mouse cowers, as evidence of the Chartreux’s keen hunting instincts.
Probably brought to Europe from the Near East in merchant ships, the Chartreux was established as a French breed some time in the 16th century. It’s a testament to the breed’s hardiness and adaptability that these cats survived at all, since in the early days they were apparently not numerous and weren’t treated with the love and kindness the breed now enjoys. Primarily street cats, they were valued for their rat-catching prowess and, for a time, their luxurious pelts.
Regardless of exactly when and where the breed arose, the Chartreux obviously has been around for centuries. Fortunately, today’s Chartreux cats are prized for their value as loving companions, and fanciers prefer the Chartreux’s thick, luxurious fur firmly attached to their beloved pets.
The Chartreux as we know it today began in the 1920s when two sisters, Christine and Suzanne Leger, discovered a colony of Chartreux on the small island of Belle Ile off the coast of Brittany in France. These free-roaming blue cats lived on the grounds of a hospital in the city of Le Palais. The people of Palais called them "hospital cats," and the sisters were taken with their beauty and thick blue coats. The Legers were the first to work seriously with the breed, and in 1931 they exhibited the Chartreux in Paris.
The devastation of World War II decimated the breed. After the war, no more free-roaming colonies of Chartreux cats could be found, and it took a great deal of effort to save the Chartreux from extinction. The few remaining Chartreux were bred with blueBritish Shorthairs, Russian Blues and blue Persians.
For a time in Europe, the Chartreux was grouped into a single breed category with the British Shorthair and the Russian Blue, and crossbreeding was allowed. This is no longer the case and the Chartreux is considered a separate breed. Today, in France, the breedclub du chat des Chartreux (cat of the Carthusian monks) works to promote and protect the Chartreux.
Helen Gamon of La Jolla, California, imported the first Chartreux from France in 1970. She brought back three cats-Tornade, Taquin, and Thilda-who became the foundation for the North American Chartreux. Gamon and other dedicated breeders were instrumental in establishing and advancing the Chartreux in the United States. The U.S. Chartreux gene pool is said to be one of the purest in the world. The breed was accepted for CFAchampionship in 1987 and today is accepted by all North American cat associations.
This breed’s defining characteristic is its plush blue coat, with tips lightly brushed with silver—a color French author Colette described as “mauve and bluish like the throat of ringdoves.” The dense, water-repellent coat is medium-short and slightly woolly, with a resilient undercoat and a longer, protective topcoat. The degree of woolliness depends on age, gender and environment; mature males usually have the heaviest coats. Silkier, thinner coats are allowable on females and cats under two years old. Blue (called gray outside the cat fancy) in any shade from ash to slate is the only acceptable coat color. Clear and uniform color is more important than the shade, although bright blue with an iridescent sheen is preferred. Only solid color is allowed in show quality cats, although faint striping or tail rings may be evident until two years of age; allowance is made for these traits in the show ring.
The Chartreux is a muscular, robust breed with a medium-long body, broad shoulders, and a deep chest. The musculature is solid and dense, and the boning is strong. Males are walking fortresses, larger and more massive than the females. Females are smaller—Rubenesque rather than Rambo-esque—but still solid, strong and muscular. Adult males weigh 10 to 15 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 11 pounds. No outcrossing is allowed.
The straight and sturdy legs are comparatively short and fine-boned. The feet are round and midsize, and may appear almost dainty compared to the cat’s solid body. Because of this, the Chartreux is sometimes unflatteringly referred to as a potato on toothpicks. They are amply built, but Chartreux should also be refined and neither coarse nor clumsy. They are extremely supple and agile cats with lightning-quick reflexes and sharp senses.
The head is broad and rounded but not spherical, set on a short, heavy-set neck. The jaws are powerful and the cheeks are full. The forehead is high and softly contoured; the nose is straight and of medium length and width, with a slight stop at eye level. The muzzle is comparatively small, narrow and tapered but not pointed, with slight whisker pads that contribute to the sweet, smiling expression. The ears are medium in height and width, very erect, and set high on the head. The rounded, wide-set eyes are alert and expressive, and range in color from copper to gold. A clear, deep, brilliant orange is preferred. Green eyes are cause for disqualification.
The Chartreux was crossed with Persians to save the breed after World War II, and because of that, longhaired Chartreux occasionally occur in otherwise shorthaired litters if both parents carry the recessive gene for long hair. Longhaired Chartreux are not accepted for showing in any organization. At one time a move was made to accept these cats in Europe under the name Benedictine. It’s likely Chartreux breeders would strongly object to such efforts, because it would change the breed that they’ve worked so hard to perfect and preserve.
History
The Chartreux (pronounced shar-TROO) has been around for so many centuries that it’s hard to say with certainty where and when the breed first developed. Like most other breeds with long histories, stories abound about this cat’s origins. The best-known tale is that the Chartreux was bred by Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse Monastery, the chief monastery of the Carthusian order, located north of Grenoble in southeastern France. As the story goes, the breed was named after the monks’ world-famous yellow and green Chartreuse liqueurs, and the cats were selectively bred to have quiet voices so they would not disturb the monks’ meditations.
According to Jean Simonnet’s authoritative 1980 book, The Chartreux Cat (translated into English by Jerome Auerbach in 1989), the first written mention of the Chartreux can be found in the Universal Dictionary of Commerce, Natural History, and of the Arts and Tradesby Savarry des Bruslon, published in 1723. A technical manuscript for merchants, it described the Chartreux as the common name for a type of cat with a blue coat whose pelt was used by furriers. The Universal Dictionary also notes that the Chartreux was first owned by the monks of this name. However, either the Chartreux did not actually originate there or the monks did not consider their quiet blue mousers noteworthy enough to remark upon (or the records were lost over the centuries), because the monastery’s records do not mention cats, blue or any other color. It’s possible that the breed was named for a Spanish wool of the same name that was well known in the early 1700s, given the woolliness of this cat’s coat.
The 36-volume Histoire Naturelle (Natural History, begun in 1749), by French naturalist Comte de Buffon, lists four cat breeds that were common in Europe in that time: Domestic, Angora, Spanish and Chartreux. As to the breed’s origins before that, Simonnet notes that the Chartreux probably came from the Near East; a breed described by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) as the Cat of Syria was probably its ancestor. In Simonnet’s book, an illustration of the Cat of Syria shows a stocky cat with solid blue coloring and vivid, copper-colored, almond-shaped eyes. Beside the cat, a brown mouse cowers, as evidence of the Chartreux’s keen hunting instincts.
Probably brought to Europe from the Near East in merchant ships, the Chartreux was established as a French breed some time in the 16th century. It’s a testament to the breed’s hardiness and adaptability that these cats survived at all, since in the early days they were apparently not numerous and weren’t treated with the love and kindness the breed now enjoys. Primarily street cats, they were valued for their rat-catching prowess and, for a time, their luxurious pelts.
Regardless of exactly when and where the breed arose, the Chartreux obviously has been around for centuries. Fortunately, today’s Chartreux cats are prized for their value as loving companions, and fanciers prefer the Chartreux’s thick, luxurious fur firmly attached to their beloved pets.
The Chartreux as we know it today began in the 1920s when two sisters, Christine and Suzanne Leger, discovered a colony of Chartreux on the small island of Belle Ile off the coast of Brittany in France. These free-roaming blue cats lived on the grounds of a hospital in the city of Le Palais. The people of Palais called them "hospital cats," and the sisters were taken with their beauty and thick blue coats. The Legers were the first to work seriously with the breed, and in 1931 they exhibited the Chartreux in Paris.
The devastation of World War II decimated the breed. After the war, no more free-roaming colonies of Chartreux cats could be found, and it took a great deal of effort to save the Chartreux from extinction. The few remaining Chartreux were bred with blueBritish Shorthairs, Russian Blues and blue Persians.
For a time in Europe, the Chartreux was grouped into a single breed category with the British Shorthair and the Russian Blue, and crossbreeding was allowed. This is no longer the case and the Chartreux is considered a separate breed. Today, in France, the breedclub du chat des Chartreux (cat of the Carthusian monks) works to promote and protect the Chartreux.
Helen Gamon of La Jolla, California, imported the first Chartreux from France in 1970. She brought back three cats-Tornade, Taquin, and Thilda-who became the foundation for the North American Chartreux. Gamon and other dedicated breeders were instrumental in establishing and advancing the Chartreux in the United States. The U.S. Chartreux gene pool is said to be one of the purest in the world. The breed was accepted for CFAchampionship in 1987 and today is accepted by all North American cat associations.
Colorpoint Shorthair
Description
The Colorpoint is a beautiful breed with a color scheme to match any mood—from the delicate and ethereal cream point to the handsome striped lynx point to the unique and multi-colored tortie point where, like snowflakes, no two are alike. The Colorpoint is a svelte cat with long, tapering lines, very lithe but still strong and muscular. The tubularbody is fine-boned, trim and elongated. Adult males usually weigh 7 to 9 pounds; adult females usually weigh 5 to 7 pounds.
The neck is slender; the legs are long and thin; the tail is long, not kinked, and tapers to a fine point. The head is a medium-size tapering wedge with a flat forehead and a fine wedge-shaped muzzle. The wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle with no break at the whiskers. In profile, a straight line can be drawn from the top of the head to the tip of the nose. The ears are very large, pointed, wide at the base and set wide on the head, continuing the lines of the wedge. The eyes are almond-shaped with a slight slant toward the nose, medium-size, not crossed, and are set not less than one eye width apart. They are vivid blue; no other shades or colors are permitted. In CFA, Colorpoint Shorthairs are allowed to outcross with Siamese for litters born before January 1, 2019.
The Colorpoint’s coat is short, fine-textured, glossy and lies close to the body. The colors define the breed. Accepted colors are solid point colors in red point and cream point; lynx point colors in seal lynx point, chocolate lynx point, blue lynx point, lilac lynx point, red lynx point, cream lynx point, seal-tortie lynx point, chocolate-tortie lynx point, blue-cream lynx point and lilac-cream lynx point; and parti-color point colors in seal-tortie point, chocolate-tortie point, blue-cream point and lilac-cream point. Body color ranges from clear, glacial and bluish whites to assorted shades of ivory, cream and fawn.
The colorpoint or pointed pattern, also called the Himalayan pattern, means the "points" of the body—ears, face mask, feet and tail—are darker than the rest of the body. A temperature-sensitive enzyme controlled by the recessive colorpoint gene creates greater depth of color at the parts of the body farthest away from the heart. The skin temperature of the body’s extremities is a few degrees cooler than the rest of the body, and therefore attracts more pigmentation. The cooler the environment, the darker the color becomes. Pointed kittens, cradled in the warmth of their mother’s womb, are born white and develop their point colors after being pushed out into the cold world.
Although at most cat shows you will see only the variety of Colorpoint Shorthair just described—the Extreme—two varieties exist, each with its own group of proponents who are just as vocal about their chosen variety as are the cats themselves. The Traditional Colorpoint Siamese is a medium to large cat with a rounder, more moderate body and head type. The body is long, substantial and solid, neither cobby nor svelte in type, nor in any way extreme. The cat is well-balanced with all elements in proportion. The overall impression is of a cat that is robust and muscular, but also lithe and graceful. The head can be described as rounded and broad compared to the Extreme. The ears are alert, not overly large, medium in length, almost as wide at the base as they are high and rounded at the tip. They are set as much to the side as to the top of the head. According to Traditional fanciers, the Traditional Colorpoint Siamese is generally healthier than the Extreme Colorpoint Shorthair and has fewer health concerns. This variety is accepted by the Traditional Cat Association, Inc. (TCA), and UFO, which also accepts the Traditional Balinese and Traditional Siamese.
History
Colorpoint Shorthairs have much in common with the Siamese. These silky beauties with the hypnotizing baby-blues originated in Siam (now Thailand), where they were the companions of kings and were thought to inherit the souls of royalty on their way to the afterlife. The Colorpoint shares the body style, head type, eye color, coat length, pointed pattern and the sparkling personality of the Siamese, but comes in the nontraditional colors of red point, cream point, lynx (tabby) point, and tortie point (a mixture of black and red or their dilute colors, blue and cream). In short, the Colorpoint is a Siamese of a different color-svelte, graceful, active, vocal and smart.
The effort to produce a Siamese-style pointed cat in colors other than the traditional four ( seal point, chocolate point, blue point and lilac point) began in Britain and North America in the 1940s. Early in the program, these innovative breeders focused on only red point and cream point (a dilute of red). The breeders crossed Siamese with red domestic shorthairs to obtain the desired colors. Later, Abyssinians and American Shorthairs were used by North American breeders.
It was slow going in the beginning; to get the desired colors and patterns, the breeders often had to sacrifice body type, so for a time their cats didn’t look much like Siamese.
However, these breeders were determined to perfect their cat creations, and with dogged persistence they finally achieved the red and cream colors in the correct areas. The bloodlines were then crossed back to the Siamese to reestablish the Siamese’s body shape, head style, coat texture, fur length and beloved personality.
As the new breed gained acclaim, breeders introduced another color, lynx (tabby) point, which added another 10 colors and patterns to the list of accepted color varieties. The third and last color class, parti-color (tortie) point, added four more varieties; the pointed areas are decorated with one of the four traditional Siamese colors-seal, chocolate, blue or lilac-randomly mottled with red and/or cream. The pattern is particularly striking when, instead of mottled, the face has a blaze, with one side of the face red or cream and the other side one of the four Siamese colors. Because the color red is carried on the sex-linked X chromosomes, parti-color cats are almost always female.
The new colors grew in popularity, and the next step was to gain recognition from the registering associations. However, many Siamese breeders hissed, afraid the new colors would pollute their purebred lines. In order to appease the Siamese breeders, the North American breeders suggested the name Colorpoint Shorthair to distinguish it from the Siamese. CFA saw the appeal of the colorful cats, and agreed the new breed was a hybrid, not a natural breed like the Siamese. In 1964, the CFA board of directors accepted the Colorpoint Shorthair for registration as a separate breed, and in 1974 the breed was accepted for CFA championship. CFA recognizes the Siamese in only the four traditional colors, but most other associations have accepted the Colorpoint and its new range of colors as part of the Siamese breed. Today, only CFA, CCA and TCA consider the Colorpoint Shorthair a separate breed.
As the new breed gained acclaim, breeders introduced another color, lynx (tabby) point, which added another 10 colors and patterns to the list of accepted color varieties. The third and last color class, parti-color (tortie) point, added four more varieties; the pointed areas are decorated with one of the four traditional Siamese colors—seal, chocolate, blue or lilac—randomly mottled with red and/or cream. The pattern is particularly striking when, instead of mottled, the face has a blaze, with one side of the face red or cream and the other side one of the four Siamese colors. Because the color red is carried on the sex-linked X chromosome, which the female has two to the male’s one, parti-color cats are almost always female.
The Colorpoint is a beautiful breed with a color scheme to match any mood—from the delicate and ethereal cream point to the handsome striped lynx point to the unique and multi-colored tortie point where, like snowflakes, no two are alike. The Colorpoint is a svelte cat with long, tapering lines, very lithe but still strong and muscular. The tubularbody is fine-boned, trim and elongated. Adult males usually weigh 7 to 9 pounds; adult females usually weigh 5 to 7 pounds.
The neck is slender; the legs are long and thin; the tail is long, not kinked, and tapers to a fine point. The head is a medium-size tapering wedge with a flat forehead and a fine wedge-shaped muzzle. The wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle with no break at the whiskers. In profile, a straight line can be drawn from the top of the head to the tip of the nose. The ears are very large, pointed, wide at the base and set wide on the head, continuing the lines of the wedge. The eyes are almond-shaped with a slight slant toward the nose, medium-size, not crossed, and are set not less than one eye width apart. They are vivid blue; no other shades or colors are permitted. In CFA, Colorpoint Shorthairs are allowed to outcross with Siamese for litters born before January 1, 2019.
The Colorpoint’s coat is short, fine-textured, glossy and lies close to the body. The colors define the breed. Accepted colors are solid point colors in red point and cream point; lynx point colors in seal lynx point, chocolate lynx point, blue lynx point, lilac lynx point, red lynx point, cream lynx point, seal-tortie lynx point, chocolate-tortie lynx point, blue-cream lynx point and lilac-cream lynx point; and parti-color point colors in seal-tortie point, chocolate-tortie point, blue-cream point and lilac-cream point. Body color ranges from clear, glacial and bluish whites to assorted shades of ivory, cream and fawn.
The colorpoint or pointed pattern, also called the Himalayan pattern, means the "points" of the body—ears, face mask, feet and tail—are darker than the rest of the body. A temperature-sensitive enzyme controlled by the recessive colorpoint gene creates greater depth of color at the parts of the body farthest away from the heart. The skin temperature of the body’s extremities is a few degrees cooler than the rest of the body, and therefore attracts more pigmentation. The cooler the environment, the darker the color becomes. Pointed kittens, cradled in the warmth of their mother’s womb, are born white and develop their point colors after being pushed out into the cold world.
Although at most cat shows you will see only the variety of Colorpoint Shorthair just described—the Extreme—two varieties exist, each with its own group of proponents who are just as vocal about their chosen variety as are the cats themselves. The Traditional Colorpoint Siamese is a medium to large cat with a rounder, more moderate body and head type. The body is long, substantial and solid, neither cobby nor svelte in type, nor in any way extreme. The cat is well-balanced with all elements in proportion. The overall impression is of a cat that is robust and muscular, but also lithe and graceful. The head can be described as rounded and broad compared to the Extreme. The ears are alert, not overly large, medium in length, almost as wide at the base as they are high and rounded at the tip. They are set as much to the side as to the top of the head. According to Traditional fanciers, the Traditional Colorpoint Siamese is generally healthier than the Extreme Colorpoint Shorthair and has fewer health concerns. This variety is accepted by the Traditional Cat Association, Inc. (TCA), and UFO, which also accepts the Traditional Balinese and Traditional Siamese.
History
Colorpoint Shorthairs have much in common with the Siamese. These silky beauties with the hypnotizing baby-blues originated in Siam (now Thailand), where they were the companions of kings and were thought to inherit the souls of royalty on their way to the afterlife. The Colorpoint shares the body style, head type, eye color, coat length, pointed pattern and the sparkling personality of the Siamese, but comes in the nontraditional colors of red point, cream point, lynx (tabby) point, and tortie point (a mixture of black and red or their dilute colors, blue and cream). In short, the Colorpoint is a Siamese of a different color-svelte, graceful, active, vocal and smart.
The effort to produce a Siamese-style pointed cat in colors other than the traditional four ( seal point, chocolate point, blue point and lilac point) began in Britain and North America in the 1940s. Early in the program, these innovative breeders focused on only red point and cream point (a dilute of red). The breeders crossed Siamese with red domestic shorthairs to obtain the desired colors. Later, Abyssinians and American Shorthairs were used by North American breeders.
It was slow going in the beginning; to get the desired colors and patterns, the breeders often had to sacrifice body type, so for a time their cats didn’t look much like Siamese.
However, these breeders were determined to perfect their cat creations, and with dogged persistence they finally achieved the red and cream colors in the correct areas. The bloodlines were then crossed back to the Siamese to reestablish the Siamese’s body shape, head style, coat texture, fur length and beloved personality.
As the new breed gained acclaim, breeders introduced another color, lynx (tabby) point, which added another 10 colors and patterns to the list of accepted color varieties. The third and last color class, parti-color (tortie) point, added four more varieties; the pointed areas are decorated with one of the four traditional Siamese colors-seal, chocolate, blue or lilac-randomly mottled with red and/or cream. The pattern is particularly striking when, instead of mottled, the face has a blaze, with one side of the face red or cream and the other side one of the four Siamese colors. Because the color red is carried on the sex-linked X chromosomes, parti-color cats are almost always female.
The new colors grew in popularity, and the next step was to gain recognition from the registering associations. However, many Siamese breeders hissed, afraid the new colors would pollute their purebred lines. In order to appease the Siamese breeders, the North American breeders suggested the name Colorpoint Shorthair to distinguish it from the Siamese. CFA saw the appeal of the colorful cats, and agreed the new breed was a hybrid, not a natural breed like the Siamese. In 1964, the CFA board of directors accepted the Colorpoint Shorthair for registration as a separate breed, and in 1974 the breed was accepted for CFA championship. CFA recognizes the Siamese in only the four traditional colors, but most other associations have accepted the Colorpoint and its new range of colors as part of the Siamese breed. Today, only CFA, CCA and TCA consider the Colorpoint Shorthair a separate breed.
As the new breed gained acclaim, breeders introduced another color, lynx (tabby) point, which added another 10 colors and patterns to the list of accepted color varieties. The third and last color class, parti-color (tortie) point, added four more varieties; the pointed areas are decorated with one of the four traditional Siamese colors—seal, chocolate, blue or lilac—randomly mottled with red and/or cream. The pattern is particularly striking when, instead of mottled, the face has a blaze, with one side of the face red or cream and the other side one of the four Siamese colors. Because the color red is carried on the sex-linked X chromosome, which the female has two to the male’s one, parti-color cats are almost always female.
Cornish Rex
Description
The Cornish Rex has a distinctive slender, athletic build, curved contours, arched back, and long, lean body. Don’t let the willowy form fool you, however—the Cornish Rex is no weakling. Under that ultra-short, wavy hair is strong bone and muscle, as well as teeth and claws for those foolish enough to vex the self-assured Rex.
The Cornish Rex is small to medium with fine, delicate boning. Adult males weigh 6 to 9 pounds and adult females weigh 5 to 7 pounds. The torso is long and slender but not tubular like the Siamese, and the chest is deep but not broad. The general outline is comprised of graceful arches and curves. The back is naturally arched and clearly apparent when the cat is standing. The C. Rex stands high on its legs. The trunk follows the upward curve of the backbone, forming a tuck-up at the smallish waistline. The legs are very long and slender, ending in dainty, slightly oval paws. The hips and thighs are muscular and feel heavy in proportion to the rest of the body, giving this breed the ability to leap very high. In the cat Olympics, the Cornish Rex would surely break records in the high jump. The tail is long and slender, tapering toward the end, and is extremely flexible.
The head is comparatively small and egg-shaped, with the length about one-third greater than the width. The breed has high, prominent cheekbones and a strong, well-developed chin. The neck is long and slender. There is a definite whisker break, and the muzzlenarrows slightly to a rounded end. The medium to large, oval-shaped eyes slant slightly and are placed a full eye-width apart. Eye color should be clear, intense and appropriate to the coat color. The nose is Roman and is one-third the length of the head. The ears are very large and full from the base, erect and alert, and are set high on the head.
The coat is short, extremely soft, silky and relatively dense, with a tight, uniform wave lying close to the body and extending from the top of the head across the back, sides and hips, continuing to the tip of the tail. The size and depth of the wave may vary. The hair on the underside of the chin and on the chest and abdomen is short and noticeably wavy. Even the whiskers are curly. The coat comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns, including the pointed pattern. In CFA, no outcrosses are allowed, but TICA allows outcrossing with the American Shorthair, British Shorthair and European Shorthair.
This breed lacks the long, stiff guard hairs that usually make up the top layer of a cat’s coat. The coat is entirely composed of unusually short awn and down hairs, also called theundercoat; that’s why it’s so short, soft and silky. The Cornish Rex’s curious coat is governed by a recessive gene called rex gene I, while the coat of the Devon Rex is governed by a recessive gene called rex gene II.
History
The first Cornish Rex was born July 1950 in Cornwall, a county in southwestern England. Located in one of the warmest and rainiest parts of England, Cornwall is home to what’s left of Tintagel Castle, allegedly the site of King Arthur’s Camelot. Serena, an ordinarytortoiseshell and white barn cat, gave birth to five kittens on a farm in the Bodmin Moor area of Cornwall. This now famous litter contained four ordinary kittens and one extraordinary cream-colored, curly-coated male. Nina Ennismore, Serena’s owner, named the kitten Kallibunker. He was very different from his littermates: His hair was short and curly, and instead of possessing the stocky body of his littermates and his mother, Kallibunker’s body was long and lithe. He had large ears, a slender tail and an egg-shaped head. This cat was destined to become the father of the Cornish Rex breed.
Ennismore recognized that Kallibunker’s fur was similar to the wavy fur of the Astrex rabbit, since Ennismore had previously raised and exhibited rex rabbits. However, it was not until she talked to British geneticist A.C. Jude that she began a breeding program to develop Kallibunker’s unique qualities into a recognized breed. The name Cornish Rex was decided upon because of the breed’s origin in Cornwall and its resemblance to the Astrex rabbit.
On Jude’s advice, Ennismore bred Kallibunker to his mother, Serena. This mating produced a litter containing one straight-coated kitten and two curly-coated kittens. One of these curly-coated kittens, a blue-cream male named Poldhu, went on to sire kittens. Kallibunker was test-mated to Burmese, Siamese, and British domestic shorthairs, and the coat mutation was determined to be recessive.
For a trait governed by a recessive gene to manifest itself in the physical appearance of a kitten, the kitten must inherit two copies of the gene-one from each parent. If the kitten inherits only one copy, the kitten will always have straight hair, because straight hair is dominant over rex hair. However, a straight-coated cat with one copy of the recessive rex gene can produce Rex offspring if bred to another cat with at least one copy of the rex gene. So two ordinary looking cats could produce extraordinary Rex kittens, if it’s so written in their genes.
Because of financial problems, in 1956 Ennismore stopped breeding and euthanized a number of her cats, including Kallibunker and Serena. By then, other British breeders, including Brian Sterling-Webb, had become interested in the Cornish Rex and continued the breeding program. However, because of bad luck and mishaps (for example, Poldhu was castrated in a botched procedure to take a tissue sample), only one fertile Cornish Rex male, Sham Pain Charlie, remained in England by 1960. Only by breeding Sham Pain Charlie to other breeds and domestic shorthairs did the Cornish Rex survive in its native land.
However, in 1957 two Cornish Rex were brought to America by Frances Blancheri of California. One, a red tabby male named Pendennis Castle, never sired kittens. The other, a blue female named Lamorna Cove, who arrived pregnant by Poldhu before his unfortunate encounter with the scalpel, produced a Rex litter that included two curly-coated kittens: a blue and white female named Diamond Lil, and a blue and white male named Marmaduke. These cats became the foundation stock for virtually every Cornish Rex line in the United States.
Since the gene pool was so small and no additional Rex cats were available from England, the Cornish Rex was an endangered species. American breeders bred Diamond Lil and Marmaduke and their offspring to Siamese, American Shorthairs, Burmese and Havana Browns. Although this changed the body and head type temporarily, it widened the gene pool and provided the wide selection of colors and patterns available today.
Later, a curly-coated cat showed up in a California animal shelter and was acquired by breeders Bob and Dell Smith. Where she came from no one knows, but the odd-eyed calico named Mystery Lady brought needed new blood to the breed, once test matings determined she possessed the Cornish Rex gene. Slowly but surely, the breed flourished and attained the diversity and popularity it now enjoys.
The Cornish Rex has a distinctive slender, athletic build, curved contours, arched back, and long, lean body. Don’t let the willowy form fool you, however—the Cornish Rex is no weakling. Under that ultra-short, wavy hair is strong bone and muscle, as well as teeth and claws for those foolish enough to vex the self-assured Rex.
The Cornish Rex is small to medium with fine, delicate boning. Adult males weigh 6 to 9 pounds and adult females weigh 5 to 7 pounds. The torso is long and slender but not tubular like the Siamese, and the chest is deep but not broad. The general outline is comprised of graceful arches and curves. The back is naturally arched and clearly apparent when the cat is standing. The C. Rex stands high on its legs. The trunk follows the upward curve of the backbone, forming a tuck-up at the smallish waistline. The legs are very long and slender, ending in dainty, slightly oval paws. The hips and thighs are muscular and feel heavy in proportion to the rest of the body, giving this breed the ability to leap very high. In the cat Olympics, the Cornish Rex would surely break records in the high jump. The tail is long and slender, tapering toward the end, and is extremely flexible.
The head is comparatively small and egg-shaped, with the length about one-third greater than the width. The breed has high, prominent cheekbones and a strong, well-developed chin. The neck is long and slender. There is a definite whisker break, and the muzzlenarrows slightly to a rounded end. The medium to large, oval-shaped eyes slant slightly and are placed a full eye-width apart. Eye color should be clear, intense and appropriate to the coat color. The nose is Roman and is one-third the length of the head. The ears are very large and full from the base, erect and alert, and are set high on the head.
The coat is short, extremely soft, silky and relatively dense, with a tight, uniform wave lying close to the body and extending from the top of the head across the back, sides and hips, continuing to the tip of the tail. The size and depth of the wave may vary. The hair on the underside of the chin and on the chest and abdomen is short and noticeably wavy. Even the whiskers are curly. The coat comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns, including the pointed pattern. In CFA, no outcrosses are allowed, but TICA allows outcrossing with the American Shorthair, British Shorthair and European Shorthair.
This breed lacks the long, stiff guard hairs that usually make up the top layer of a cat’s coat. The coat is entirely composed of unusually short awn and down hairs, also called theundercoat; that’s why it’s so short, soft and silky. The Cornish Rex’s curious coat is governed by a recessive gene called rex gene I, while the coat of the Devon Rex is governed by a recessive gene called rex gene II.
History
The first Cornish Rex was born July 1950 in Cornwall, a county in southwestern England. Located in one of the warmest and rainiest parts of England, Cornwall is home to what’s left of Tintagel Castle, allegedly the site of King Arthur’s Camelot. Serena, an ordinarytortoiseshell and white barn cat, gave birth to five kittens on a farm in the Bodmin Moor area of Cornwall. This now famous litter contained four ordinary kittens and one extraordinary cream-colored, curly-coated male. Nina Ennismore, Serena’s owner, named the kitten Kallibunker. He was very different from his littermates: His hair was short and curly, and instead of possessing the stocky body of his littermates and his mother, Kallibunker’s body was long and lithe. He had large ears, a slender tail and an egg-shaped head. This cat was destined to become the father of the Cornish Rex breed.
Ennismore recognized that Kallibunker’s fur was similar to the wavy fur of the Astrex rabbit, since Ennismore had previously raised and exhibited rex rabbits. However, it was not until she talked to British geneticist A.C. Jude that she began a breeding program to develop Kallibunker’s unique qualities into a recognized breed. The name Cornish Rex was decided upon because of the breed’s origin in Cornwall and its resemblance to the Astrex rabbit.
On Jude’s advice, Ennismore bred Kallibunker to his mother, Serena. This mating produced a litter containing one straight-coated kitten and two curly-coated kittens. One of these curly-coated kittens, a blue-cream male named Poldhu, went on to sire kittens. Kallibunker was test-mated to Burmese, Siamese, and British domestic shorthairs, and the coat mutation was determined to be recessive.
For a trait governed by a recessive gene to manifest itself in the physical appearance of a kitten, the kitten must inherit two copies of the gene-one from each parent. If the kitten inherits only one copy, the kitten will always have straight hair, because straight hair is dominant over rex hair. However, a straight-coated cat with one copy of the recessive rex gene can produce Rex offspring if bred to another cat with at least one copy of the rex gene. So two ordinary looking cats could produce extraordinary Rex kittens, if it’s so written in their genes.
Because of financial problems, in 1956 Ennismore stopped breeding and euthanized a number of her cats, including Kallibunker and Serena. By then, other British breeders, including Brian Sterling-Webb, had become interested in the Cornish Rex and continued the breeding program. However, because of bad luck and mishaps (for example, Poldhu was castrated in a botched procedure to take a tissue sample), only one fertile Cornish Rex male, Sham Pain Charlie, remained in England by 1960. Only by breeding Sham Pain Charlie to other breeds and domestic shorthairs did the Cornish Rex survive in its native land.
However, in 1957 two Cornish Rex were brought to America by Frances Blancheri of California. One, a red tabby male named Pendennis Castle, never sired kittens. The other, a blue female named Lamorna Cove, who arrived pregnant by Poldhu before his unfortunate encounter with the scalpel, produced a Rex litter that included two curly-coated kittens: a blue and white female named Diamond Lil, and a blue and white male named Marmaduke. These cats became the foundation stock for virtually every Cornish Rex line in the United States.
Since the gene pool was so small and no additional Rex cats were available from England, the Cornish Rex was an endangered species. American breeders bred Diamond Lil and Marmaduke and their offspring to Siamese, American Shorthairs, Burmese and Havana Browns. Although this changed the body and head type temporarily, it widened the gene pool and provided the wide selection of colors and patterns available today.
Later, a curly-coated cat showed up in a California animal shelter and was acquired by breeders Bob and Dell Smith. Where she came from no one knows, but the odd-eyed calico named Mystery Lady brought needed new blood to the breed, once test matings determined she possessed the Cornish Rex gene. Slowly but surely, the breed flourished and attained the diversity and popularity it now enjoys.
Devon Rex
Description
Fanciers say that to fully appreciate your first sighting of the Poodle Cat, you must put aside all preconceived notions of what a cat should look like. The Devon Rex’s large oval eyes, prominent cheekbones, huge, low-set ears and short, wavy fur create an unparalleled appearance. Like all the Rex breeds, the Devon’s wavy coat was created by Mother Nature’s magic wand—spontaneous mutation.
Small to medium in size, the Devon Rex has a hard, muscular body that’s slender and of medium length. Broad in chest and medium fine in boning, the Devon has long, slim legs ending with small, oval paws. The body is carried high on the legs with the hind legs somewhat longer than the front, making the Devon a strong jumper. The tail is long, fine, tapering and well covered with short fur. Males generally weight 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 5 to 8 pounds.
The head is a modified wedge shape, broad but still slightly longer than it is wide, set on a medium-long slender neck. The face has pronounced cheekbones, a short muzzle, prominent whisker pads and a whisker break. In profile, the nose has a strongly markedstop; the forehead curves back to a flat skull. Whiskers are short, curly and sparse. The Devon Rex’s satellite dish ears are strikingly large, very wide at the base and set low so that the outside base of the ear extends beyond the line of the wedge. They taper to rounded tips and are well covered with fine fur.
The large, wide-set, oval eyes slope toward the outer edges of the ears. Any eye color is acceptable since no points are awarded for eye color. However, pointed pattern Devons usually have blue eyes and minks usually have aqua eyes.
Often confused with the Cornish Rex, the only real similarity between the two breeds is therexed coat, and even that is different. While the Cornish Rex coat lacks guard hairs, the Devon Rex’s coat has all three hair types: guard, awn and down. However, the Devon’s guard hairs are fragile and stunted, and the whiskers are often shorter and sometimes missing altogether. All coat colors and patterns are accepted.
The Devon Rex’s coat is soft, fine, full-bodied and rexed; a rippled wave effect should be apparent when the coat is smoothed with the hand. The wave is most evident where the coat is the longest. The coat is short on the back, sides, upper legs and tail, and very short on the head, ears, neck, paws, chest and abdomen. The cat is well covered with fur, with the greatest density on the back, sides, tail, legs, face and ears. Slightly less density is allowed on the top of head, neck, chest and abdomen. Bare patches are faults in kittens and adult cats; extensive baldness is a disqualifying fault.
History
The Devon Rex breed can be traced back to a single cat. In 1960, a cat lover named Beryl Cox of Buckfastleigh, a small town in the large county of Devon in southwest England, noticed a curly-haired feral tom cat living in the deserted tin mine near her home. In due time, this curly transient fathered the kittens of a straight-coated calico female who delivered her legendary litter in Cox’s garden. One of the kittens took after his father, and had the same short, curly coat.
Cox, quite taken with the pixie-like kitten’s huge ears and deep brown curls, decided to adopt him and name him Kirlee. Aware of the Cornish Rex, another curly-coated breed that 10 years earlier had been discovered in Cornwall (a county bordering Devon), Cox contacted the breeders and told them about Kirlee. After taking a look at Kirlee, they were overjoyed, since at that time the Cornish Rex was literally dying for breeding males. They encouraged Cox to allow Kirlee to join the breeding program, and she reluctantly parted with her beloved companion, selling him to Cornish Rex breeder Brian Sterling-Webb.
However, to the great disappointment of all concerned, it soon became apparent that Kirlee was not a Cornish Rex because matings between Kirlee and Cornish Rex queens produced nothing but litter after litter of straight-coated kittens. Kirlee clearly didn’t have the same genetic makeup as the Cornish Rex. Finally, Kirlee was bred to one of his straight-coated daughters, Broughton Golden Rain, and the resulting litter contained two straight-coated kittens and one curly blue-cream female. The breeders didn’t have a new Cornish Rex breeding male, they had an entirely new breed-the Devon Rex, named for the breed’s place of origin. (Later the gene for the Cornish Rex’s coat was named rex gene I, while the gene for the coat of the Devon Rex was named rex gene II.)
They also realized that the gene for Kirlee’s curls was recessive, or else some of those early litters would have contained curly kittens, since only one copy of a dominant gene is needed for the trait to show up in the physical appearance. This made it likely that Kirlee’s parents were related, since a recessive gene must be acquired from both parents for the offspring to exhibit the trait. In 1967, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of Great Britain (GCCF) recognized the Devon Rex as a separate breed.
In 1968, Marion White of Texas masterminded the Devon Rex’s first North American breeding program by purchasing two breeding Devons from England. In 1969, Shirley Lambert of Texas imported two seal point Devons of her own, the first pointed patternDevons in North America. White and Lambert imported several more Devons and worked together to promote and increase the breed. In 1972, ACFA became the first American association to recognize the Devon Rex. Over the next 10 years, Devon Rex breeding programs started all over the United States and Canada as more people learned about these purring pixies.
The Cornish Rex had been accepted for championship status in CFA in 1964, and at first the registry balked at recognizing the Devon as a separate breed; it decreed that all curly-coated cats were to be registered under the blanket name of Rex. This didn’t please Cornish or Devon breeders, since the genetic incompatibility of the two breeds, and the differences in type, were well known. Devon breeders didn’t want to be forced to breed to fit the Cornish Rex breed standard and lose that elvish charm. After years of persuasion by breeders, CFA relented in 1979 and accepted the Devon for separate registration. That year, the Devon was also accepted by the recently formed TICA. Finally, the Devon Rex achieved CFA championship status in 1983.
Because the gene pool is still small, Devons are outcrossed with other breeds to widen the gene pool and keep it healthy. Acceptable outcrosses vary depending upon the association. For example, in CFA, American Shorthairs and British Shorthairs are allowable outcrosses. However, kittens born on or after May 1, 2013, can have only Devon Rex parents in that association. In TICA, in addition to the American Shorthair and British Shorthair, European Shorthair, Burmese, Bombay, Sphynx and Siamese are also allowable outcrosses, although few breeders use most of these breeds. ; No cutoff date has yet been set. In CCA, the American Shorthair and British Shorthair are currently allowed outcrosses. Since the purpose of outcrossing is to provide new bloodlines while keeping the traits for which the Devon Rex is celebrated, breeders carefully choose prospective partners for their Devons. Usually, they are not looking for outstanding examples of the outcross breeds, but rather those that have desirable Devon characteristics. Outcrossing with, say, a grand champion Extreme Siamese would cause a considerable change in head and body type of the Devon. Fanciers say that today’s Devons look very much as they did 30 years ago because breeders are dedicated to maintaining the original characteristics of the breed.
The Devon Rex is second in popularity to the Cornish Rex, which is the most popular of all the Rex breeds. Since the beginning, however, Devons have been a hit among the cat-loving public because of their loving personalities and pixie appearance.
Fanciers say that to fully appreciate your first sighting of the Poodle Cat, you must put aside all preconceived notions of what a cat should look like. The Devon Rex’s large oval eyes, prominent cheekbones, huge, low-set ears and short, wavy fur create an unparalleled appearance. Like all the Rex breeds, the Devon’s wavy coat was created by Mother Nature’s magic wand—spontaneous mutation.
Small to medium in size, the Devon Rex has a hard, muscular body that’s slender and of medium length. Broad in chest and medium fine in boning, the Devon has long, slim legs ending with small, oval paws. The body is carried high on the legs with the hind legs somewhat longer than the front, making the Devon a strong jumper. The tail is long, fine, tapering and well covered with short fur. Males generally weight 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 5 to 8 pounds.
The head is a modified wedge shape, broad but still slightly longer than it is wide, set on a medium-long slender neck. The face has pronounced cheekbones, a short muzzle, prominent whisker pads and a whisker break. In profile, the nose has a strongly markedstop; the forehead curves back to a flat skull. Whiskers are short, curly and sparse. The Devon Rex’s satellite dish ears are strikingly large, very wide at the base and set low so that the outside base of the ear extends beyond the line of the wedge. They taper to rounded tips and are well covered with fine fur.
The large, wide-set, oval eyes slope toward the outer edges of the ears. Any eye color is acceptable since no points are awarded for eye color. However, pointed pattern Devons usually have blue eyes and minks usually have aqua eyes.
Often confused with the Cornish Rex, the only real similarity between the two breeds is therexed coat, and even that is different. While the Cornish Rex coat lacks guard hairs, the Devon Rex’s coat has all three hair types: guard, awn and down. However, the Devon’s guard hairs are fragile and stunted, and the whiskers are often shorter and sometimes missing altogether. All coat colors and patterns are accepted.
The Devon Rex’s coat is soft, fine, full-bodied and rexed; a rippled wave effect should be apparent when the coat is smoothed with the hand. The wave is most evident where the coat is the longest. The coat is short on the back, sides, upper legs and tail, and very short on the head, ears, neck, paws, chest and abdomen. The cat is well covered with fur, with the greatest density on the back, sides, tail, legs, face and ears. Slightly less density is allowed on the top of head, neck, chest and abdomen. Bare patches are faults in kittens and adult cats; extensive baldness is a disqualifying fault.
History
The Devon Rex breed can be traced back to a single cat. In 1960, a cat lover named Beryl Cox of Buckfastleigh, a small town in the large county of Devon in southwest England, noticed a curly-haired feral tom cat living in the deserted tin mine near her home. In due time, this curly transient fathered the kittens of a straight-coated calico female who delivered her legendary litter in Cox’s garden. One of the kittens took after his father, and had the same short, curly coat.
Cox, quite taken with the pixie-like kitten’s huge ears and deep brown curls, decided to adopt him and name him Kirlee. Aware of the Cornish Rex, another curly-coated breed that 10 years earlier had been discovered in Cornwall (a county bordering Devon), Cox contacted the breeders and told them about Kirlee. After taking a look at Kirlee, they were overjoyed, since at that time the Cornish Rex was literally dying for breeding males. They encouraged Cox to allow Kirlee to join the breeding program, and she reluctantly parted with her beloved companion, selling him to Cornish Rex breeder Brian Sterling-Webb.
However, to the great disappointment of all concerned, it soon became apparent that Kirlee was not a Cornish Rex because matings between Kirlee and Cornish Rex queens produced nothing but litter after litter of straight-coated kittens. Kirlee clearly didn’t have the same genetic makeup as the Cornish Rex. Finally, Kirlee was bred to one of his straight-coated daughters, Broughton Golden Rain, and the resulting litter contained two straight-coated kittens and one curly blue-cream female. The breeders didn’t have a new Cornish Rex breeding male, they had an entirely new breed-the Devon Rex, named for the breed’s place of origin. (Later the gene for the Cornish Rex’s coat was named rex gene I, while the gene for the coat of the Devon Rex was named rex gene II.)
They also realized that the gene for Kirlee’s curls was recessive, or else some of those early litters would have contained curly kittens, since only one copy of a dominant gene is needed for the trait to show up in the physical appearance. This made it likely that Kirlee’s parents were related, since a recessive gene must be acquired from both parents for the offspring to exhibit the trait. In 1967, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of Great Britain (GCCF) recognized the Devon Rex as a separate breed.
In 1968, Marion White of Texas masterminded the Devon Rex’s first North American breeding program by purchasing two breeding Devons from England. In 1969, Shirley Lambert of Texas imported two seal point Devons of her own, the first pointed patternDevons in North America. White and Lambert imported several more Devons and worked together to promote and increase the breed. In 1972, ACFA became the first American association to recognize the Devon Rex. Over the next 10 years, Devon Rex breeding programs started all over the United States and Canada as more people learned about these purring pixies.
The Cornish Rex had been accepted for championship status in CFA in 1964, and at first the registry balked at recognizing the Devon as a separate breed; it decreed that all curly-coated cats were to be registered under the blanket name of Rex. This didn’t please Cornish or Devon breeders, since the genetic incompatibility of the two breeds, and the differences in type, were well known. Devon breeders didn’t want to be forced to breed to fit the Cornish Rex breed standard and lose that elvish charm. After years of persuasion by breeders, CFA relented in 1979 and accepted the Devon for separate registration. That year, the Devon was also accepted by the recently formed TICA. Finally, the Devon Rex achieved CFA championship status in 1983.
Because the gene pool is still small, Devons are outcrossed with other breeds to widen the gene pool and keep it healthy. Acceptable outcrosses vary depending upon the association. For example, in CFA, American Shorthairs and British Shorthairs are allowable outcrosses. However, kittens born on or after May 1, 2013, can have only Devon Rex parents in that association. In TICA, in addition to the American Shorthair and British Shorthair, European Shorthair, Burmese, Bombay, Sphynx and Siamese are also allowable outcrosses, although few breeders use most of these breeds. ; No cutoff date has yet been set. In CCA, the American Shorthair and British Shorthair are currently allowed outcrosses. Since the purpose of outcrossing is to provide new bloodlines while keeping the traits for which the Devon Rex is celebrated, breeders carefully choose prospective partners for their Devons. Usually, they are not looking for outstanding examples of the outcross breeds, but rather those that have desirable Devon characteristics. Outcrossing with, say, a grand champion Extreme Siamese would cause a considerable change in head and body type of the Devon. Fanciers say that today’s Devons look very much as they did 30 years ago because breeders are dedicated to maintaining the original characteristics of the breed.
The Devon Rex is second in popularity to the Cornish Rex, which is the most popular of all the Rex breeds. Since the beginning, however, Devons have been a hit among the cat-loving public because of their loving personalities and pixie appearance.
Egyptian Mau
Description
The Egyptian Mau is the only breed that acquired its spots without human intervention, making this breed a pleasing package of natural beauty and action-packed personality. The body is medium long and graceful, showing well-developed strength. Boning is medium. Allowances are made for muscular necks and shoulders in adult males. A loose flap of skin extends from the flank to the knee of the hind leg. The legs are in proportion to the body, with the hind legs proportionately longer, giving the Mau the appearance of being on tip-toe when standing upright. The slightly oval feet are small and dainty. The tail is medium long, thick at the base, with a slight taper. Adult males weigh 10 to 14 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Balance is more important than size. No outcrossesare allowed.
The head is a slightly rounded wedge without flat planes, medium in length, without full cheeks. The profile shows a gentle contour with a slight rise from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. The entire length of the nose is even in width when viewed from the front. The muzzle, neither short nor pointed, flows into the wedge of the head. The chin is firm and not receding nor protruding.
The alert ears are medium to large, broad at the base, and moderately pointed. They continue the planes of the head and are slightly flared with ample width between the ears. The hair on the ears is short and close lying, but the ears may have ear tufts. The inner ears are a delicate, almost transparent shell pink. The eyes are large, alert, and almond shaped, with a slight slant toward the ears. The skull openings around the eyes are neither round nor oriental. Eye color is described as gooseberry green. Allowance is made for changing eye color as long as some discernable green is seen by eight months of age and full green eye color is seen by eighteen months. Green-eyed Maus are given preference at all ages. Maus over 18 months whose eyes are not green are disqualified from the show ring.
The vivid, spotted coat is the Mau’s most striking feature. The hair is medium length with a lustrous sheen. Texture varies with coat color; cats with the smoke color have silky, fine hair, while silver and bronze cats have dense, resilient hair that accommodates two or more bands of ticking. However, the spotted pattern is always present regardless of color.
The torso is randomly marked with spots that vary in size and shape. The spotting on each side of the torso need not match. The spots can be small or large, round, oblong or irregularly shaped, but must be distinct. There is good contrast between the pale ground color and the markings. The forehead is marked with the characteristic tabby M and frown marks, forming lines between the ears that continue down the back of the neck, ideally breaking into elongated spots along the spine. The tail is heavily banded and has a dark tip.
The cheeks are barred with mascara lines that start at the outer corner of the eye and continue along the contour of the cheek. A second line starts at the center of the cheek and curves upward, almost meeting the first line below the base of the ear. The upper chest has one or more broken necklaces. The shoulder markings make a transition between stripes and spots. The upper front legs are heavily barred but need not match. The haunches and upper hind legs make a transition between stripes and spots, breaking into bars on the lower leg. The underside of the body has vest buttons that are dark against the correspondingly pale ground color.
Silver, bronze and smoke are the only championship colors, but Maus are also sometimes found with blue markings in four colors: blue silver, blue spotted, blue smoke and solid blue. In 1997, blue Maus were accepted for registration by CFA and the three blue spotted colors can be registered in the non-championship AOV (any other variety) class. Solid black Maus can be used in breeding programs but cannot be shown.
History
The name Egyptian Mau conjures images of pyramids, sphinxes and cryptic symbols whose meanings have been long forgotten. The ancient Egyptians are the first people to leave extensive evidence of their alliance with cats—an affiliation that developed at least 5,000 years ago, according to Egyptian writings, statues and bas-reliefs. Presumably, cats were first welcomed for their ability to keep rodents away from stores of grain and thus prevent famine, and also for their ability to kill snakes. But later Egyptian domestic cats became beloved household companions, and then sacred animals associated with the gods.
In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Bast or Bastet was often depicted as a slender, stately woman with the head of a lion or cat and, in later periods, frequently surrounded by kittens. Bast was known as the goddess of love, fertility, and the warm, life-giving energy of the sun, but was also associated with the Eye of Ra, as an instrument of the sun god's wrath. Cats were sacred to Bast, and so they were treated with great honor and respect. So revered and loved were cats that upon a feline’s death, Egyptians went into mourning, shaving their eyebrows and wailing loudly as signs of their grief. Killing a cat, even unintentionally, was punishable by death. Cats were often mummified; more than 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when archeologists excavated Bast’s temple at per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek), the city that was Bast’s center of worship.
If, as some fanciers believe, the Egyptian Mau is a living artifact of that ancient era, then the Mau is one of the oldest breeds of domestic cat. Characteristics common to modern Maus can be seen in wall and tomb art and papyrus paintings, right down to the random spots. However, that’s only proof that spotted cats were common in ancient Egypt.
An examination of the remains of mummified Egyptian cats indicated that most were African wild cats (Felis silvestris libyca), the primary ancestor of all domestic cats, from the finest pedigreed Persian to the scruffiest stray. Since we have no conclusive evidence that today’s Mau descended from the spotted cat known in ancient Egypt, we may never know the truth. Perhaps only Bastet knows for certain.
The modern and better documented history of the Mau begins in the early 1900s, when fanciers bred and exhibited Egyptian Maus in Italy, Switzerland and France. However, World War II decimated the Egyptian Mau population in Europe, as it did so many other cat breeds. By the mid-1940s, almost no Maus were left.
In the 1950s, however, Russian Princess Nathalie Troubetskoy, living in exile in Italy, was given a silver female Mau who she named Baba. The young boy who gave her the kitten allegedly got Baba from a member of the diplomatic corps at a Middle Eastern embassy. Troubetskoy was fascinated by the lovely spotted kitten, and learned that she was an Egyptian Mau. When Troubetskoy immigrated to New York City in 1956, she brought three Maus: Baba, her bronze son Jojo, and a silver female named Liza. With these cats, Troubetskoy established the Fatima Egyptian Mau cattery and began to spread the word about the delightful qualities of the breed. Many Maus can trace their ancestry back to Troubetskoy’s cattery.
Because the gene pool was small and additional Maus were very difficult to obtain,inbreeding and outcrossing were used to keep the breed going. Eventually, more Maus were imported, some from India and some from Egypt, introducing badly needed bloodlines.
The Mau was first recognized by CFF in 1968, and CCA followed soon after. CFA granted championship in 1977. Today, all North American cat associations accept the Egyptian Mau. In the 1980s and 1990s, more Egyptian imports further enlarged the gene pool. The new bloodlines and hard work from dedicated fanciers brought the breed the larger gene pool it needed. While still fairly uncommon, the breed is growing in popularity as more fanciers see spots.
The Egyptian Mau is the only breed that acquired its spots without human intervention, making this breed a pleasing package of natural beauty and action-packed personality. The body is medium long and graceful, showing well-developed strength. Boning is medium. Allowances are made for muscular necks and shoulders in adult males. A loose flap of skin extends from the flank to the knee of the hind leg. The legs are in proportion to the body, with the hind legs proportionately longer, giving the Mau the appearance of being on tip-toe when standing upright. The slightly oval feet are small and dainty. The tail is medium long, thick at the base, with a slight taper. Adult males weigh 10 to 14 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Balance is more important than size. No outcrossesare allowed.
The head is a slightly rounded wedge without flat planes, medium in length, without full cheeks. The profile shows a gentle contour with a slight rise from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. The entire length of the nose is even in width when viewed from the front. The muzzle, neither short nor pointed, flows into the wedge of the head. The chin is firm and not receding nor protruding.
The alert ears are medium to large, broad at the base, and moderately pointed. They continue the planes of the head and are slightly flared with ample width between the ears. The hair on the ears is short and close lying, but the ears may have ear tufts. The inner ears are a delicate, almost transparent shell pink. The eyes are large, alert, and almond shaped, with a slight slant toward the ears. The skull openings around the eyes are neither round nor oriental. Eye color is described as gooseberry green. Allowance is made for changing eye color as long as some discernable green is seen by eight months of age and full green eye color is seen by eighteen months. Green-eyed Maus are given preference at all ages. Maus over 18 months whose eyes are not green are disqualified from the show ring.
The vivid, spotted coat is the Mau’s most striking feature. The hair is medium length with a lustrous sheen. Texture varies with coat color; cats with the smoke color have silky, fine hair, while silver and bronze cats have dense, resilient hair that accommodates two or more bands of ticking. However, the spotted pattern is always present regardless of color.
The torso is randomly marked with spots that vary in size and shape. The spotting on each side of the torso need not match. The spots can be small or large, round, oblong or irregularly shaped, but must be distinct. There is good contrast between the pale ground color and the markings. The forehead is marked with the characteristic tabby M and frown marks, forming lines between the ears that continue down the back of the neck, ideally breaking into elongated spots along the spine. The tail is heavily banded and has a dark tip.
The cheeks are barred with mascara lines that start at the outer corner of the eye and continue along the contour of the cheek. A second line starts at the center of the cheek and curves upward, almost meeting the first line below the base of the ear. The upper chest has one or more broken necklaces. The shoulder markings make a transition between stripes and spots. The upper front legs are heavily barred but need not match. The haunches and upper hind legs make a transition between stripes and spots, breaking into bars on the lower leg. The underside of the body has vest buttons that are dark against the correspondingly pale ground color.
Silver, bronze and smoke are the only championship colors, but Maus are also sometimes found with blue markings in four colors: blue silver, blue spotted, blue smoke and solid blue. In 1997, blue Maus were accepted for registration by CFA and the three blue spotted colors can be registered in the non-championship AOV (any other variety) class. Solid black Maus can be used in breeding programs but cannot be shown.
History
The name Egyptian Mau conjures images of pyramids, sphinxes and cryptic symbols whose meanings have been long forgotten. The ancient Egyptians are the first people to leave extensive evidence of their alliance with cats—an affiliation that developed at least 5,000 years ago, according to Egyptian writings, statues and bas-reliefs. Presumably, cats were first welcomed for their ability to keep rodents away from stores of grain and thus prevent famine, and also for their ability to kill snakes. But later Egyptian domestic cats became beloved household companions, and then sacred animals associated with the gods.
In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Bast or Bastet was often depicted as a slender, stately woman with the head of a lion or cat and, in later periods, frequently surrounded by kittens. Bast was known as the goddess of love, fertility, and the warm, life-giving energy of the sun, but was also associated with the Eye of Ra, as an instrument of the sun god's wrath. Cats were sacred to Bast, and so they were treated with great honor and respect. So revered and loved were cats that upon a feline’s death, Egyptians went into mourning, shaving their eyebrows and wailing loudly as signs of their grief. Killing a cat, even unintentionally, was punishable by death. Cats were often mummified; more than 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when archeologists excavated Bast’s temple at per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek), the city that was Bast’s center of worship.
If, as some fanciers believe, the Egyptian Mau is a living artifact of that ancient era, then the Mau is one of the oldest breeds of domestic cat. Characteristics common to modern Maus can be seen in wall and tomb art and papyrus paintings, right down to the random spots. However, that’s only proof that spotted cats were common in ancient Egypt.
An examination of the remains of mummified Egyptian cats indicated that most were African wild cats (Felis silvestris libyca), the primary ancestor of all domestic cats, from the finest pedigreed Persian to the scruffiest stray. Since we have no conclusive evidence that today’s Mau descended from the spotted cat known in ancient Egypt, we may never know the truth. Perhaps only Bastet knows for certain.
The modern and better documented history of the Mau begins in the early 1900s, when fanciers bred and exhibited Egyptian Maus in Italy, Switzerland and France. However, World War II decimated the Egyptian Mau population in Europe, as it did so many other cat breeds. By the mid-1940s, almost no Maus were left.
In the 1950s, however, Russian Princess Nathalie Troubetskoy, living in exile in Italy, was given a silver female Mau who she named Baba. The young boy who gave her the kitten allegedly got Baba from a member of the diplomatic corps at a Middle Eastern embassy. Troubetskoy was fascinated by the lovely spotted kitten, and learned that she was an Egyptian Mau. When Troubetskoy immigrated to New York City in 1956, she brought three Maus: Baba, her bronze son Jojo, and a silver female named Liza. With these cats, Troubetskoy established the Fatima Egyptian Mau cattery and began to spread the word about the delightful qualities of the breed. Many Maus can trace their ancestry back to Troubetskoy’s cattery.
Because the gene pool was small and additional Maus were very difficult to obtain,inbreeding and outcrossing were used to keep the breed going. Eventually, more Maus were imported, some from India and some from Egypt, introducing badly needed bloodlines.
The Mau was first recognized by CFF in 1968, and CCA followed soon after. CFA granted championship in 1977. Today, all North American cat associations accept the Egyptian Mau. In the 1980s and 1990s, more Egyptian imports further enlarged the gene pool. The new bloodlines and hard work from dedicated fanciers brought the breed the larger gene pool it needed. While still fairly uncommon, the breed is growing in popularity as more fanciers see spots.
Exotic Shorthair
Description
The Exotic is a medium to large breed with short, thick legs and a muscular, heavily boned, cobby body. The head is massive and round with a wide skull set on a short, thick neck. The eyes are large, round, and set far apart. The nose is short, snub and broad with a break centered between the eyes. Ears are small and rounded at the tip, set far apart and low on the head. When viewed in profile, the prominence of the eyes is apparent and the forehead, nose, and chin appear to be in vertical alignment.
The tail is thick and short but in proportion to the body. Adult males weigh 7 to 14 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Type is more important than size. Balance and refinement are essential—all parts should come together in a harmonious whole, with neither too much nor too little consideration given to any feature.
The fur is soft, dense, plush, full of life, and stands out from the body due to the undercoat. Like the Persian, it has a thick undercoat (referred to as “double-coated”), and while considered a shorthaired breed, the coat is slightly longer than that of most shorthaired cats. The CFA standard calls it medium in length; the aacceptable length depends on the proper undercoat . There is no ruff, nor is there long hair on the tail. The dense coat and round body leads to what is sometimes called "the teddy bear look."
There are two facial types: the Extreme and the Traditional. Although the Extreme head type is what you’ll see in the show ring, the Traditional has many fans. Both types have small, rounded ears set low on the head, wide, round eyes, full cheeks and a full, well-developed chin. But the Extreme’s face is round and very flat, and in many cases the nose is nearly as high as the eyes.
The Traditional Exotic Shorthair’s head is also round and massive. However, the nose, while also snub, is placed lower on the face and only has a slight break. The up-curving mouth helps give the desired sweet expression prized by fanciers of this type. For those who like this look, the Traditional Cat Association (TCA) promotes the Traditional Exotic Shorthair and other traditional versions of pedigreed cats, such as the Persian and the Siamese. According to the TCA’s founder, Diana Fineran, the Traditional Exotic Shorthair lacks many of the medical conditions that trouble some Extreme Exotic bloodlines. Traditional proponents also say the Traditional Exotic usually doesn’t have breathing problems and eye tearing, because the face is not as foreshortened.
Exotics are available in a rainbow of hues too numerous to mention. Their many colors and patterns are not separated into divisions like the Persian in CFA. Eye color depends upon coat color. Outcrossing is allowed with the Persian and Himalayan. However, it’s not quite as simple as that. For litters born after April 15, 2009, only shorthair Exotic to shorthair Exotic, shorthair Exotic to longhair Exotic, and shorthair Exotic to Persian are allowed. Longhair Exotic to longhair Exotic and longhair Exotic to Persian matings are no longer registerable, if they were born after April 15, 2009.
History
This Persian in his pajamas, as the Exotic is sometimes called, was first developed in the 1950s. However, the Exotic wasn’t created to give fanciers a break from grooming. In the late 1950s, American Shorthair breeders began to breed Persians with their ASHs to improve the conformation and to introduce the Persian’s spectacular silver color into their breed. As a result, the American Shorthair (then called the Domestic Shorthair), began to take on Persian characteristics. Their faces became rounder and broader, their noses shorter, their ears smaller and their bodies more boxy and compact in design. Their hair became longer, softer and denser, too.
The Persian was not an allowable outcross for the ASH, of course; breeders were drawing outside the bloodlines without letting anyone in on their secret. They were rewarded for these illegitimate pairings, however, because the hybrids did well in the cat shows.
Other American Shorthair breeders were appalled at the changes. They had worked very hard to get the ASH the respect it deserved, and they didn't want to see their breed transformed into a shorthaired Persian. The breed standard was revised to disqualify any cat showing evidence of hybridization--but they allowed the striking silver color to remain.
The as-yet unnamed ASH/Persian hybrids might have quietly vanished if it wasn’t for Jane Martinke, a CFA judge and American Shorthair breeder. She was the first to see the potential of these handsome hybrids, and in 1966 she proposed to the CFA board of directors that these cats be recognized as a new breed.
At first, the suggested name was Sterling for the recently introduced silver color. They finally settled on Exotic Shorthair, because silver wasn’t a color previously found in the American Shorthair, thereby making them "exotic." Some fanciers felt the name was confusing to those who were not familiar with the breed, but even so the name stuck. In 1967, the Exotic Shorthair was accepted for CFA championship. In 1993, CFA shortened the name to Exotic, although many of the other associations still call the breed Exotic Shorthair.
In those early days, Exotic breeders had their work cut out for them because many Persian breeders opposed the new breed. Few would allow their cats to be used in Exotic breeding programs. Breeders who bred both Persians and Exotics had an easier time of it, since they already had access to good Persian stock, but progress was slow. However, the Exotic and its breeders outlasted their opponents. Today the Exotic is the most popular shorthaired breed, even surpassing the Siamese.
Initially, Exotic breeders used Burmese and Russian Blues in addition to American Shorthairs to introduce the dominant shorthair gene. Breeders used these shorthaired breeds just long enough to get the shorthair gene into the bloodlines. After it was introduced, crossing back to shorthairs was unnecessary and made it more difficult to achieve the prized Persian type. In 1987 CFA closed the Exotic to shorthair outcrosses altogether, leaving the Persian as CFA’s only allowable outcross.
This leaves Exotic breeders with a problem. One of the frustrating difficulties is that Exotic kittens with long hair can be born if both shorthaired parents carry the longhair recessivegene. Because the Exotic is periodically bred to Persians to keep the desired body and head type, most Exotics do possess one copy of the recessive longhair gene and one copy of the dominant shorthair gene. Such heterozygous Exotics will have short hair but can pass the gene for long hair onto their offspring. The gene can be passed for generations without showing up in the offspring's physical appearance. But when two heterozygous Exotics are mated, on average litters will include one longhaired kitten, two heterozygous shorthairs and one homozygous shorthair, which possesses two copies of the shorthair gene.
Since Exotics are hybrids and Persians are not, these longhaired kittens are still considered Exotics--a longhaired version of a shorthaired Persian, the oxymoron of the cat fancy. The longhaired Exotic has been a problem for breeders who show and register with CFA, since CFA didn’t allow longhaired Exotics to be shown for championship as either Exotics or Persians. They could be used in Exotic breeding programs, but the show ring was closed to them.
In 2010, however, CFA changed these rules, perhaps due to the many fanciers who took their Exotics and moved to shows sponsored by associations with more liberal rules. InTICA, longhaired Exotics can be registered and shown as Persians. In ACFA, AACE, ACA,CFF, UFO and CCA a separate standard exists for the Exotic Longhair (in ACFA the breed is called the Longhair Exotic). This way, good-quality longhaired Exotics can be shown for championship, and breeders don’t have to worry about what to do with the longhaired kittens who will continue to be born. Now in CFA, Longhair Exotics that fit Persian color descriptions are eligible to compete in those Persian color classes. The Exotic Longhairs are identified by a different registration prefix so their wins will count toward wins in the longhair Exotic breed and color classes instead of the Persian classes. A longhair division for Exotics was created for scoring purposes and national/regional points accrued by longhair Exotics shown in the Persian color classes.
The Exotic is a medium to large breed with short, thick legs and a muscular, heavily boned, cobby body. The head is massive and round with a wide skull set on a short, thick neck. The eyes are large, round, and set far apart. The nose is short, snub and broad with a break centered between the eyes. Ears are small and rounded at the tip, set far apart and low on the head. When viewed in profile, the prominence of the eyes is apparent and the forehead, nose, and chin appear to be in vertical alignment.
The tail is thick and short but in proportion to the body. Adult males weigh 7 to 14 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Type is more important than size. Balance and refinement are essential—all parts should come together in a harmonious whole, with neither too much nor too little consideration given to any feature.
The fur is soft, dense, plush, full of life, and stands out from the body due to the undercoat. Like the Persian, it has a thick undercoat (referred to as “double-coated”), and while considered a shorthaired breed, the coat is slightly longer than that of most shorthaired cats. The CFA standard calls it medium in length; the aacceptable length depends on the proper undercoat . There is no ruff, nor is there long hair on the tail. The dense coat and round body leads to what is sometimes called "the teddy bear look."
There are two facial types: the Extreme and the Traditional. Although the Extreme head type is what you’ll see in the show ring, the Traditional has many fans. Both types have small, rounded ears set low on the head, wide, round eyes, full cheeks and a full, well-developed chin. But the Extreme’s face is round and very flat, and in many cases the nose is nearly as high as the eyes.
The Traditional Exotic Shorthair’s head is also round and massive. However, the nose, while also snub, is placed lower on the face and only has a slight break. The up-curving mouth helps give the desired sweet expression prized by fanciers of this type. For those who like this look, the Traditional Cat Association (TCA) promotes the Traditional Exotic Shorthair and other traditional versions of pedigreed cats, such as the Persian and the Siamese. According to the TCA’s founder, Diana Fineran, the Traditional Exotic Shorthair lacks many of the medical conditions that trouble some Extreme Exotic bloodlines. Traditional proponents also say the Traditional Exotic usually doesn’t have breathing problems and eye tearing, because the face is not as foreshortened.
Exotics are available in a rainbow of hues too numerous to mention. Their many colors and patterns are not separated into divisions like the Persian in CFA. Eye color depends upon coat color. Outcrossing is allowed with the Persian and Himalayan. However, it’s not quite as simple as that. For litters born after April 15, 2009, only shorthair Exotic to shorthair Exotic, shorthair Exotic to longhair Exotic, and shorthair Exotic to Persian are allowed. Longhair Exotic to longhair Exotic and longhair Exotic to Persian matings are no longer registerable, if they were born after April 15, 2009.
History
This Persian in his pajamas, as the Exotic is sometimes called, was first developed in the 1950s. However, the Exotic wasn’t created to give fanciers a break from grooming. In the late 1950s, American Shorthair breeders began to breed Persians with their ASHs to improve the conformation and to introduce the Persian’s spectacular silver color into their breed. As a result, the American Shorthair (then called the Domestic Shorthair), began to take on Persian characteristics. Their faces became rounder and broader, their noses shorter, their ears smaller and their bodies more boxy and compact in design. Their hair became longer, softer and denser, too.
The Persian was not an allowable outcross for the ASH, of course; breeders were drawing outside the bloodlines without letting anyone in on their secret. They were rewarded for these illegitimate pairings, however, because the hybrids did well in the cat shows.
Other American Shorthair breeders were appalled at the changes. They had worked very hard to get the ASH the respect it deserved, and they didn't want to see their breed transformed into a shorthaired Persian. The breed standard was revised to disqualify any cat showing evidence of hybridization--but they allowed the striking silver color to remain.
The as-yet unnamed ASH/Persian hybrids might have quietly vanished if it wasn’t for Jane Martinke, a CFA judge and American Shorthair breeder. She was the first to see the potential of these handsome hybrids, and in 1966 she proposed to the CFA board of directors that these cats be recognized as a new breed.
At first, the suggested name was Sterling for the recently introduced silver color. They finally settled on Exotic Shorthair, because silver wasn’t a color previously found in the American Shorthair, thereby making them "exotic." Some fanciers felt the name was confusing to those who were not familiar with the breed, but even so the name stuck. In 1967, the Exotic Shorthair was accepted for CFA championship. In 1993, CFA shortened the name to Exotic, although many of the other associations still call the breed Exotic Shorthair.
In those early days, Exotic breeders had their work cut out for them because many Persian breeders opposed the new breed. Few would allow their cats to be used in Exotic breeding programs. Breeders who bred both Persians and Exotics had an easier time of it, since they already had access to good Persian stock, but progress was slow. However, the Exotic and its breeders outlasted their opponents. Today the Exotic is the most popular shorthaired breed, even surpassing the Siamese.
Initially, Exotic breeders used Burmese and Russian Blues in addition to American Shorthairs to introduce the dominant shorthair gene. Breeders used these shorthaired breeds just long enough to get the shorthair gene into the bloodlines. After it was introduced, crossing back to shorthairs was unnecessary and made it more difficult to achieve the prized Persian type. In 1987 CFA closed the Exotic to shorthair outcrosses altogether, leaving the Persian as CFA’s only allowable outcross.
This leaves Exotic breeders with a problem. One of the frustrating difficulties is that Exotic kittens with long hair can be born if both shorthaired parents carry the longhair recessivegene. Because the Exotic is periodically bred to Persians to keep the desired body and head type, most Exotics do possess one copy of the recessive longhair gene and one copy of the dominant shorthair gene. Such heterozygous Exotics will have short hair but can pass the gene for long hair onto their offspring. The gene can be passed for generations without showing up in the offspring's physical appearance. But when two heterozygous Exotics are mated, on average litters will include one longhaired kitten, two heterozygous shorthairs and one homozygous shorthair, which possesses two copies of the shorthair gene.
Since Exotics are hybrids and Persians are not, these longhaired kittens are still considered Exotics--a longhaired version of a shorthaired Persian, the oxymoron of the cat fancy. The longhaired Exotic has been a problem for breeders who show and register with CFA, since CFA didn’t allow longhaired Exotics to be shown for championship as either Exotics or Persians. They could be used in Exotic breeding programs, but the show ring was closed to them.
In 2010, however, CFA changed these rules, perhaps due to the many fanciers who took their Exotics and moved to shows sponsored by associations with more liberal rules. InTICA, longhaired Exotics can be registered and shown as Persians. In ACFA, AACE, ACA,CFF, UFO and CCA a separate standard exists for the Exotic Longhair (in ACFA the breed is called the Longhair Exotic). This way, good-quality longhaired Exotics can be shown for championship, and breeders don’t have to worry about what to do with the longhaired kittens who will continue to be born. Now in CFA, Longhair Exotics that fit Persian color descriptions are eligible to compete in those Persian color classes. The Exotic Longhairs are identified by a different registration prefix so their wins will count toward wins in the longhair Exotic breed and color classes instead of the Persian classes. A longhair division for Exotics was created for scoring purposes and national/regional points accrued by longhair Exotics shown in the Persian color classes.
Havana Brown
Description
The Havana Brown is the color of burnished mahogany, with a coat so smooth and glossy that it gleams in the light—a virtual reddish-brown beacon of lustrous color. Truly distinctive, the Havana Brown’s unique muzzle shape, lovely coat, brilliant green eyes, large, forward-tilted ears and loving personality make this breed stand out.
The Havana Brown is a graceful, medium-size cat with a firm, muscular body and an overall moderate body type—midway between cobby (like a Persian) and svelte (like a Siamese). This breed is surprisingly heavy for its size.
The Havana Brown’s head is distinctive—it’s longer than it is wide, narrowing to a somewhat narrow, rounded muzzle with a pronounced break on both sides behind thewhisker pads. When viewed in profile, a distinct stop is evident at the eyes. The muzzle looks more like a protrusion than an extension of the head; some fanciers say the rectangular shape looks like a corn cob or the base of a light bulb. The end of the muzzle appears almost square and this optical illusion is enhanced by the well-developed chin. The somewhat narrow muzzle and the whisker break are distinctive characteristics of the breed and must be evident in show-quality cats. Allowance is made for somewhat broader heads and jowls in unaltered males.
The wide-set ears are large but not flared, rounded at the tips and cupped at the base. They are tilted forward, giving the cat an alert appearance. The ears are sparsely furred inside and out. The medium-sized oval-shaped eyes are set wide apart and are brilliant, alert and expressive. Eye color is any vivid shade of green, the deeper the color the better.
The Havana Brown stands relatively tall on straight legs. The females’ legs are slim and dainty compared to the more powerfully muscled legs of mature males. The tail is slender, not whiplike or blunt, neither long nor short, but medium in length in proportion to the body. Overall balance and proportion is more important than size. Males weigh 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds.
The coat is smooth and glossy, short to medium in length. In UFO, the Havana Brown Longhair is accepted, which sports a silky semi-long coat with minimal undercoat. The breed comes in two colors in TICA and CFF, brown and its dilute color, lilac (lavender in CFF). The brown color is a rich and even shade of warm brown, tending to red-brown or mahogany rather than a black-brown or sable. A dark, sable-type brown coat is considered a fault. Lilac is a pinkish gray tone with matching lilac whiskers. Whisker color must match coat color; white whiskers are a disqualifying trait.
History
The origins of this breed go back many years—the Havana Brown is as old as the Siamese and comes from the same mysterious land. Siam, now Thailand, is the ancestral home of the Siamese, Burmese, Korat and Havana Brown, as evidenced by the illustrations and descriptions in a manuscript called The Cat-Book Poems. The manuscript was written in the city of Ayudha, Siam, sometime between 1350 and 1767. (No closer estimate is possible since, lacking copy machines in those days, manuscripts were painstakingly hand-copied from previous versions when they wore out.)
Solid brown cats were among the first cats to be transported to Britain from Siam. Records in the late 1800s describe them as "Siamese, with coats of burnished chestnut and greeny-blue eyes." They were exhibited in Europe in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. A solid brown took first prize at a cat show in England in 1888. However, as the Siamese’s popularity rose, the solid brown’s fell. In 1930, the British Siamese Cat Club released a statement that said, "The club much regrets it is unable to encourage the breeding of any but blue-eyed Siamese." Without the club’s support, fanciers lost interest in green-eyed solid browns. World War II helped eliminate any remaining breeding stock.
Solid browns began their comeback in 1952. Five English breeders, working separately and then together, sought to reproduce solid brown cats with the all-over coloring of the chocolate points on a Siamese, rather than the sable brown of the Burmese. They usedseal point and chocolate point Siamese cats, black domestic shorthairs and, to a limited extent, Russian Blues. In 1958, the British registry, Governing Council of the Cat Fancy(GCCF), accepted the new breed for championship competition under the name Chestnut Foreign Shorthair. In 1970 the name of the British breed was changed to Havana. (The North American Havana Brown looks very different from the British Havana, which the North American cat fancy would call a chestnut Oriental Shorthair.)
A female named Roofspringer Mahogany Quinn reached the United States in the mid-1950s and all North American Havana Browns can trace their ancestry back to this cat. In 1959, the breed was recognized by the now defunct United Cat Federation under the name Havana Brown. In 1964, CFA granted the Havana Brown championship status. Today, all North American cat associations accept the breed.
The Havana Brown is one of the most uncommon breeds, but still this rare gem with the emerald eyes has many fans because of its unique conformation, lovely burnished color, and great personality.
Two stories exist about the breed’s name. One claims the breed was named after the Havana rabbit, whose color is similar to the breed’s and is considered by some to be the mink of the rabbit family. The other maintains the breed was named after the color of good Cuban cigars. No one knows for sure which story is true—or if either is.
The Havana Brown is the color of burnished mahogany, with a coat so smooth and glossy that it gleams in the light—a virtual reddish-brown beacon of lustrous color. Truly distinctive, the Havana Brown’s unique muzzle shape, lovely coat, brilliant green eyes, large, forward-tilted ears and loving personality make this breed stand out.
The Havana Brown is a graceful, medium-size cat with a firm, muscular body and an overall moderate body type—midway between cobby (like a Persian) and svelte (like a Siamese). This breed is surprisingly heavy for its size.
The Havana Brown’s head is distinctive—it’s longer than it is wide, narrowing to a somewhat narrow, rounded muzzle with a pronounced break on both sides behind thewhisker pads. When viewed in profile, a distinct stop is evident at the eyes. The muzzle looks more like a protrusion than an extension of the head; some fanciers say the rectangular shape looks like a corn cob or the base of a light bulb. The end of the muzzle appears almost square and this optical illusion is enhanced by the well-developed chin. The somewhat narrow muzzle and the whisker break are distinctive characteristics of the breed and must be evident in show-quality cats. Allowance is made for somewhat broader heads and jowls in unaltered males.
The wide-set ears are large but not flared, rounded at the tips and cupped at the base. They are tilted forward, giving the cat an alert appearance. The ears are sparsely furred inside and out. The medium-sized oval-shaped eyes are set wide apart and are brilliant, alert and expressive. Eye color is any vivid shade of green, the deeper the color the better.
The Havana Brown stands relatively tall on straight legs. The females’ legs are slim and dainty compared to the more powerfully muscled legs of mature males. The tail is slender, not whiplike or blunt, neither long nor short, but medium in length in proportion to the body. Overall balance and proportion is more important than size. Males weigh 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds.
The coat is smooth and glossy, short to medium in length. In UFO, the Havana Brown Longhair is accepted, which sports a silky semi-long coat with minimal undercoat. The breed comes in two colors in TICA and CFF, brown and its dilute color, lilac (lavender in CFF). The brown color is a rich and even shade of warm brown, tending to red-brown or mahogany rather than a black-brown or sable. A dark, sable-type brown coat is considered a fault. Lilac is a pinkish gray tone with matching lilac whiskers. Whisker color must match coat color; white whiskers are a disqualifying trait.
History
The origins of this breed go back many years—the Havana Brown is as old as the Siamese and comes from the same mysterious land. Siam, now Thailand, is the ancestral home of the Siamese, Burmese, Korat and Havana Brown, as evidenced by the illustrations and descriptions in a manuscript called The Cat-Book Poems. The manuscript was written in the city of Ayudha, Siam, sometime between 1350 and 1767. (No closer estimate is possible since, lacking copy machines in those days, manuscripts were painstakingly hand-copied from previous versions when they wore out.)
Solid brown cats were among the first cats to be transported to Britain from Siam. Records in the late 1800s describe them as "Siamese, with coats of burnished chestnut and greeny-blue eyes." They were exhibited in Europe in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. A solid brown took first prize at a cat show in England in 1888. However, as the Siamese’s popularity rose, the solid brown’s fell. In 1930, the British Siamese Cat Club released a statement that said, "The club much regrets it is unable to encourage the breeding of any but blue-eyed Siamese." Without the club’s support, fanciers lost interest in green-eyed solid browns. World War II helped eliminate any remaining breeding stock.
Solid browns began their comeback in 1952. Five English breeders, working separately and then together, sought to reproduce solid brown cats with the all-over coloring of the chocolate points on a Siamese, rather than the sable brown of the Burmese. They usedseal point and chocolate point Siamese cats, black domestic shorthairs and, to a limited extent, Russian Blues. In 1958, the British registry, Governing Council of the Cat Fancy(GCCF), accepted the new breed for championship competition under the name Chestnut Foreign Shorthair. In 1970 the name of the British breed was changed to Havana. (The North American Havana Brown looks very different from the British Havana, which the North American cat fancy would call a chestnut Oriental Shorthair.)
A female named Roofspringer Mahogany Quinn reached the United States in the mid-1950s and all North American Havana Browns can trace their ancestry back to this cat. In 1959, the breed was recognized by the now defunct United Cat Federation under the name Havana Brown. In 1964, CFA granted the Havana Brown championship status. Today, all North American cat associations accept the breed.
The Havana Brown is one of the most uncommon breeds, but still this rare gem with the emerald eyes has many fans because of its unique conformation, lovely burnished color, and great personality.
Two stories exist about the breed’s name. One claims the breed was named after the Havana rabbit, whose color is similar to the breed’s and is considered by some to be the mink of the rabbit family. The other maintains the breed was named after the color of good Cuban cigars. No one knows for sure which story is true—or if either is.
Korat
Description
The good luck cat of Thailand is strikingly beautiful, with brilliant green eyes that glow like jewels in an exquisitely soft setting of silver-tipped blue fur. Distinctly different from the blue British Shorthair,Chartreux, Russian Blue and Nebelung (the other accepted blue breeds), the Korat is medium-sized with a firm, semi-cobby body type. Neither compact nor svelte , this breed is muscular and supple with a feeling of hard, coiled spring power and unexpected weight. The chest is broad with good spacing between the front legs. The back is carried in a curve. The legs are well-proportioned to the body with the front legs lightly shorter than the back; the distance along the back from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail appears to be equal to the distance from the base of the tail to the floor. The tail is medium in length, heavy at the base and tapers to a rounded tip. A kink in the tail is permitted only if it is not visible; a visible kink is cause for disqualification in the show ring. Males weigh 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
When viewed from the front or looking down from just in back of the head, the Korat’s head is heart-shaped with breadth between and across the eyes. The eyebrow ridges form the upper curves of the heart and the sides of the face gently curve down to the chin to complete the shape. The profile is well-defined, with a slight stop between the forehead and the nose, which has a lion-like downward curve just above the nose leather . Both the chin and jaw are strong and well-developed, neither overly square nor sharply pointed. The ears are large and flared at the base. They are set high on the head, giving the cat an alert expression, and have rounded tips. The ears are sparsely furnished inside; the hairs on the outside are extremely short and close.
The eyes are large, luminous and particularly prominent, with an extraordinary depth and brilliance. They are well-rounded when fully open and oversized for the face. When closed or partially closed, they have an Asian slant. The preferred color is luminous green, but an amber cast is acceptable. Kittens and adolescents can have yellow or amber to amber-green eyes; the full luminous green color often is not achieved until the cat is mature, usually at two to four years of age.
The Korat’s coat is short, single, glossy, fine and close-lying. It is accepted in one color and pattern only; solid blue tipped with silver. The silver should be sufficient to produce a silver halo effect. The hair is usually lighter at the roots; the blue gradually deepens until just before the silver tips. Adults are without shading or tabby markings, but ghost markings can be seen in kittens.
History
Although the Korat (pronounced koh-RAHT) didn’t grace North American homes until 1959, this breed is an ancient one, as intriguing and mysterious as the land of its birth. The Korat comes from Siam (now Thailand), the same land that gave us the Siamese. Called Si-Sawat ( see-sah-waht) in their native country, for centuries Korats have been associated with good luck.
Evidence of the Korat’s ancient lineage in Thailand can be found in The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript of verses and paintings originally written in the city of Ayudhya, Siam, some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was razed by invaders. Most likely the oldest document about cats in existence, the manuscript illustrates and describes in verse 17 kinds of lucky cats, including the Siamese, Burmese, and Korat (called Maled in the document):
"The cat Maled has a body color like Dok Lao
The hairs are smooth, with roots like clouds and tips like silver
The eyes shine like dewdrops on the lotus leaf."
Dok Lao means the silver-tipped flowers of an herb similar to lemongrass. Maled means seed and refers to the silver-blue seeds of the ornamental Sawat fruit.
The Cat-Book Poems is hard to date accurately because the original manuscripts, painstakingly written and decorated with illustrations and gold leaf, were typically made of palm leaf. When a document became too old to be usable, a new manuscript was made. All work was done by hand, and the new scribe would often bring his own personality and interpretation to the work, which also explains the various versions of certain verses. This makes it difficult to trace when the original documents were created. At any rate, whether the document was written in the 1300s or the 1700s, it’s still extremely old, and indicates that the Korat is a very old breed. From the illustrations and descriptions, it appears that the Korat has changed little over the centuries.
The breed was apparently named after the Khorat Plateau region, a highland in northeastern Thailand, although the cat was likely common in other provinces as well. According to the story, the breed was named by King Chulalongkorn (1853-1910, the oldest son of King Mongkut who was portrayed in the musical The King and I). Upon seeing one of these beautiful blue felines, the king said, "What a pretty cat—where is it from?" He was told, "Khorat, your majesty." King Chulalongkorn commissioned a beautiful copy ofThe Cat-Book Poems on special khoi paper (made from durable fibers of the Streblus asper tree). This accordion-style document, known as the Smud Khoi of Cats, still hangs in a locked and well-guarded glass case in Bangkok’s National Museum.
Breeder Jean Johnson of Gresham, Oregon is credited with importing the first Korats into North America. Johnson lived for six years in Bangkok, where she tried unsuccessfully to buy a pair of Korats; even in their native country Korats are rare and greatly prized. In 1959, however, she was presented with a pair of Korats as a gift when she and her husband returned to the United States. The brother and sister, Nara and Darra, were from the famed Mahajaya Cattery in Bangkok. To prevent the cats from becoming inbred, Johnson outcrossed Nara and Darra to blue point Siamese she had also brought back from Thailand.
Other fanciers became interested in the breed, and during the 1960s more Korats were imported from Thailand. Getting the cats from Thailand wasn’t easy, so only a few more found their way to America. In 1965, the unaffiliated Korat Cat Fanciers Association was founded to protect and promote the breed. Only cats who could be proven to come from Thailand were allowed into the breeding program. Fanciers worked hard to bring the Korat official recognition and, in 1966, CFA accepted the Korat for championship.
In 1968, breeder Daphne Negus of Arizona traveled to Bangkok and managed to acquire nine Korats to bring back to America, which was an immense help to the limited gene pool.
Today, all North American cat associations recognize the breed. Since those early days, the Korat population has grown slowly, because breeders are more concerned with quality and health than quantity. Still, the good luck cat of Thailand has gained acclaim and dedicated fanciers.
The good luck cat of Thailand is strikingly beautiful, with brilliant green eyes that glow like jewels in an exquisitely soft setting of silver-tipped blue fur. Distinctly different from the blue British Shorthair,Chartreux, Russian Blue and Nebelung (the other accepted blue breeds), the Korat is medium-sized with a firm, semi-cobby body type. Neither compact nor svelte , this breed is muscular and supple with a feeling of hard, coiled spring power and unexpected weight. The chest is broad with good spacing between the front legs. The back is carried in a curve. The legs are well-proportioned to the body with the front legs lightly shorter than the back; the distance along the back from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail appears to be equal to the distance from the base of the tail to the floor. The tail is medium in length, heavy at the base and tapers to a rounded tip. A kink in the tail is permitted only if it is not visible; a visible kink is cause for disqualification in the show ring. Males weigh 8 to 10 pounds; females weigh 6 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
When viewed from the front or looking down from just in back of the head, the Korat’s head is heart-shaped with breadth between and across the eyes. The eyebrow ridges form the upper curves of the heart and the sides of the face gently curve down to the chin to complete the shape. The profile is well-defined, with a slight stop between the forehead and the nose, which has a lion-like downward curve just above the nose leather . Both the chin and jaw are strong and well-developed, neither overly square nor sharply pointed. The ears are large and flared at the base. They are set high on the head, giving the cat an alert expression, and have rounded tips. The ears are sparsely furnished inside; the hairs on the outside are extremely short and close.
The eyes are large, luminous and particularly prominent, with an extraordinary depth and brilliance. They are well-rounded when fully open and oversized for the face. When closed or partially closed, they have an Asian slant. The preferred color is luminous green, but an amber cast is acceptable. Kittens and adolescents can have yellow or amber to amber-green eyes; the full luminous green color often is not achieved until the cat is mature, usually at two to four years of age.
The Korat’s coat is short, single, glossy, fine and close-lying. It is accepted in one color and pattern only; solid blue tipped with silver. The silver should be sufficient to produce a silver halo effect. The hair is usually lighter at the roots; the blue gradually deepens until just before the silver tips. Adults are without shading or tabby markings, but ghost markings can be seen in kittens.
History
Although the Korat (pronounced koh-RAHT) didn’t grace North American homes until 1959, this breed is an ancient one, as intriguing and mysterious as the land of its birth. The Korat comes from Siam (now Thailand), the same land that gave us the Siamese. Called Si-Sawat ( see-sah-waht) in their native country, for centuries Korats have been associated with good luck.
Evidence of the Korat’s ancient lineage in Thailand can be found in The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript of verses and paintings originally written in the city of Ayudhya, Siam, some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was razed by invaders. Most likely the oldest document about cats in existence, the manuscript illustrates and describes in verse 17 kinds of lucky cats, including the Siamese, Burmese, and Korat (called Maled in the document):
"The cat Maled has a body color like Dok Lao
The hairs are smooth, with roots like clouds and tips like silver
The eyes shine like dewdrops on the lotus leaf."
Dok Lao means the silver-tipped flowers of an herb similar to lemongrass. Maled means seed and refers to the silver-blue seeds of the ornamental Sawat fruit.
The Cat-Book Poems is hard to date accurately because the original manuscripts, painstakingly written and decorated with illustrations and gold leaf, were typically made of palm leaf. When a document became too old to be usable, a new manuscript was made. All work was done by hand, and the new scribe would often bring his own personality and interpretation to the work, which also explains the various versions of certain verses. This makes it difficult to trace when the original documents were created. At any rate, whether the document was written in the 1300s or the 1700s, it’s still extremely old, and indicates that the Korat is a very old breed. From the illustrations and descriptions, it appears that the Korat has changed little over the centuries.
The breed was apparently named after the Khorat Plateau region, a highland in northeastern Thailand, although the cat was likely common in other provinces as well. According to the story, the breed was named by King Chulalongkorn (1853-1910, the oldest son of King Mongkut who was portrayed in the musical The King and I). Upon seeing one of these beautiful blue felines, the king said, "What a pretty cat—where is it from?" He was told, "Khorat, your majesty." King Chulalongkorn commissioned a beautiful copy ofThe Cat-Book Poems on special khoi paper (made from durable fibers of the Streblus asper tree). This accordion-style document, known as the Smud Khoi of Cats, still hangs in a locked and well-guarded glass case in Bangkok’s National Museum.
Breeder Jean Johnson of Gresham, Oregon is credited with importing the first Korats into North America. Johnson lived for six years in Bangkok, where she tried unsuccessfully to buy a pair of Korats; even in their native country Korats are rare and greatly prized. In 1959, however, she was presented with a pair of Korats as a gift when she and her husband returned to the United States. The brother and sister, Nara and Darra, were from the famed Mahajaya Cattery in Bangkok. To prevent the cats from becoming inbred, Johnson outcrossed Nara and Darra to blue point Siamese she had also brought back from Thailand.
Other fanciers became interested in the breed, and during the 1960s more Korats were imported from Thailand. Getting the cats from Thailand wasn’t easy, so only a few more found their way to America. In 1965, the unaffiliated Korat Cat Fanciers Association was founded to protect and promote the breed. Only cats who could be proven to come from Thailand were allowed into the breeding program. Fanciers worked hard to bring the Korat official recognition and, in 1966, CFA accepted the Korat for championship.
In 1968, breeder Daphne Negus of Arizona traveled to Bangkok and managed to acquire nine Korats to bring back to America, which was an immense help to the limited gene pool.
Today, all North American cat associations recognize the breed. Since those early days, the Korat population has grown slowly, because breeders are more concerned with quality and health than quantity. Still, the good luck cat of Thailand has gained acclaim and dedicated fanciers.
Manx
Description
The Manx is the only truly tailless breed. Taillessness appears absolute in the perfect specimen. Because of the idiosyncrasies of the tailless gene, Manx cannot breed true . Four distinctly different tail types are produced. The rumpy is highly prized; this tail type—or rather, lack thereof—is favored in the show ring. Entirely tailless, rumpies often have a dimple at the base of the spine where the tail would ordinarily begin. Rumpy-risers have a short knob of tail that consists of one to three vertebrae connected to the last bone of the spine. Risers can be shown for championship if the vertical rise of the tail doesn’t stop the judge’s hand when the cat is stroked. Stumpies are usually pet quality; these cats have a short tail stump that is often curved, knotted or kinked. Longies have tails almost as long as an ordinary cat’s. Most breeders dock the tails of longie kittens four to six days after birth. This makes it easier to find homes for these kittens, since few people are willing to adopt a Manx with a tail. In addition, breeders say the Manx gene can cause problems for longie adult cats five years of age and older. The tail may become ossified and arthritic, causing great pain.
It’s impossible to predict what tail types will appear in any given litter, even when breeding rumpy to rumpy. Also, since genetic defects are more likely to occur when rumpies are bred together for three generations, experienced breeders include all four tail types in their breeding programs.
The Manx is a solidly muscled, compact, medium to large cat with a sturdy bone structure. Adult males weigh 9 to 13 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 11 pounds. The overall impression is of roundness; the round head with prominent cheeks and jowls enhances the round appearance. The eyes are large, round and full. The ears are medium-sized, widely spaced and wide at the base, tapering gradually to a rounded tip.
The Manx’s double coat is short and dense with a well-padded quality due to the longer, open outer coat and the close, cottony undercoat. The coat may be thinner after the spring shed. The texture of the outer guard hairs is somewhat hard and the appearance is glossy. A softer coat may occur in whites and dilutes due to a genetic link between coat texture and these colors.
In CFA and most other associations, all colors and patterns are accepted, except those showing hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the Himalayan pattern, or these combinations with white. Eye color can be copper, green, hazel, blue or odd-eyed, depending upon the color and pattern of the coat. However, in TICA all colors and patterns are accepted.
History
The Manx has been around for hundreds of years. The breed developed on the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish Sea midway between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The island has been inhabited since Neolithic times and has known Celtic, Norse, Scottish and English rule. (Today, the Isle is a self-governing kingdom, a Crown dependency with its own parliament and laws.) Since the Isle has no indigenous felines from which the Manx could develop, domestic cats must have been introduced by human settlers, traders, and explorers; who and when (and from where) is not known. Some believe the Manx is descended from British cats, which is possible given the Isle’s proximity to Britain. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries trading vessels from all over the world stopped at the Isle of Man’s ports. Since such ships commonly kept cats as the perfect mousetraps, it’s entirely possible that the Manx’s ancestors came from a number of places.
According to island records, taillessness began as a spontaneous mutation among the island’s domestic cat population, although some believe the mutation occurred elsewhere and was later transported to the island aboard trading ships. We’ll never know for sure, though, since it happened hundreds of years ago. The Manx is a very old breed, and since it has now spread to many other countries, it’s impossible to say where the mutation first arose.
Given the Isle’s closed environment and small gene pool, the dominant gene that governs the Manx’s taillessness easily passed from one generation to the next. Soon a thriving population of tailless cats of various colors, patterns, and hair lengths roamed the green hills and wooded glens of the Isle of Man, playing hide and squeak with the resident mice.
In North America, the Manx was recognized as a breed in the 1920s. Ellen and Ruth Carlson of Chicago, very active in showing Manx in the 1930s, achieved the first Manx grand champion in the American Cat Association (ACA). Today the Manx enjoys championship status in all North American associations.
In 1994, CFA added the longhaired Cymric (Longhair Manx) to the Manx standard-in CFA, TICA, and TCA the Cymric is considered a division of the Manx breed, although the other associations that accept the Cymric (only CFF does not) consider it a separate breed.
The Manx is the only truly tailless breed. Taillessness appears absolute in the perfect specimen. Because of the idiosyncrasies of the tailless gene, Manx cannot breed true . Four distinctly different tail types are produced. The rumpy is highly prized; this tail type—or rather, lack thereof—is favored in the show ring. Entirely tailless, rumpies often have a dimple at the base of the spine where the tail would ordinarily begin. Rumpy-risers have a short knob of tail that consists of one to three vertebrae connected to the last bone of the spine. Risers can be shown for championship if the vertical rise of the tail doesn’t stop the judge’s hand when the cat is stroked. Stumpies are usually pet quality; these cats have a short tail stump that is often curved, knotted or kinked. Longies have tails almost as long as an ordinary cat’s. Most breeders dock the tails of longie kittens four to six days after birth. This makes it easier to find homes for these kittens, since few people are willing to adopt a Manx with a tail. In addition, breeders say the Manx gene can cause problems for longie adult cats five years of age and older. The tail may become ossified and arthritic, causing great pain.
It’s impossible to predict what tail types will appear in any given litter, even when breeding rumpy to rumpy. Also, since genetic defects are more likely to occur when rumpies are bred together for three generations, experienced breeders include all four tail types in their breeding programs.
The Manx is a solidly muscled, compact, medium to large cat with a sturdy bone structure. Adult males weigh 9 to 13 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 11 pounds. The overall impression is of roundness; the round head with prominent cheeks and jowls enhances the round appearance. The eyes are large, round and full. The ears are medium-sized, widely spaced and wide at the base, tapering gradually to a rounded tip.
The Manx’s double coat is short and dense with a well-padded quality due to the longer, open outer coat and the close, cottony undercoat. The coat may be thinner after the spring shed. The texture of the outer guard hairs is somewhat hard and the appearance is glossy. A softer coat may occur in whites and dilutes due to a genetic link between coat texture and these colors.
In CFA and most other associations, all colors and patterns are accepted, except those showing hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, the Himalayan pattern, or these combinations with white. Eye color can be copper, green, hazel, blue or odd-eyed, depending upon the color and pattern of the coat. However, in TICA all colors and patterns are accepted.
History
The Manx has been around for hundreds of years. The breed developed on the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish Sea midway between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The island has been inhabited since Neolithic times and has known Celtic, Norse, Scottish and English rule. (Today, the Isle is a self-governing kingdom, a Crown dependency with its own parliament and laws.) Since the Isle has no indigenous felines from which the Manx could develop, domestic cats must have been introduced by human settlers, traders, and explorers; who and when (and from where) is not known. Some believe the Manx is descended from British cats, which is possible given the Isle’s proximity to Britain. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries trading vessels from all over the world stopped at the Isle of Man’s ports. Since such ships commonly kept cats as the perfect mousetraps, it’s entirely possible that the Manx’s ancestors came from a number of places.
According to island records, taillessness began as a spontaneous mutation among the island’s domestic cat population, although some believe the mutation occurred elsewhere and was later transported to the island aboard trading ships. We’ll never know for sure, though, since it happened hundreds of years ago. The Manx is a very old breed, and since it has now spread to many other countries, it’s impossible to say where the mutation first arose.
Given the Isle’s closed environment and small gene pool, the dominant gene that governs the Manx’s taillessness easily passed from one generation to the next. Soon a thriving population of tailless cats of various colors, patterns, and hair lengths roamed the green hills and wooded glens of the Isle of Man, playing hide and squeak with the resident mice.
In North America, the Manx was recognized as a breed in the 1920s. Ellen and Ruth Carlson of Chicago, very active in showing Manx in the 1930s, achieved the first Manx grand champion in the American Cat Association (ACA). Today the Manx enjoys championship status in all North American associations.
In 1994, CFA added the longhaired Cymric (Longhair Manx) to the Manx standard-in CFA, TICA, and TCA the Cymric is considered a division of the Manx breed, although the other associations that accept the Cymric (only CFF does not) consider it a separate breed.
Ocicat
Description
This breed evokes images of a wild jungle cat with its short coat, striking spots and powerful appearance. The Ocicat is a medium to large cat with substantial bone structure and muscle development. The powerful legs are well-muscled, medium-long, and in good proportion to the body. The feet are oval and compact. The torso is solid and hard, and the cat has surprising weight for its size. The tail is fairly long and medium-slim, with a slight taper and a dark tip. Like its Abyssinian kin, the Ocicat is athletic and lithe, but the breed owes its brawn to the American Shorthair. Adult males range from 10 to 15 pounds; adult females range from 7 to 12 pounds.
The head is neither the long, tapering wedge of the Siamese nor the slightly rounded wedge of the Abyssinian, but rather, a modified wedge showing a slight curve from muzzleto cheek, with a visible but gentle rise from the bridge of the nose to the brow. The muzzle is broad and well defined with a suggestion of squareness. In profile it shows good length, a strong chin and firm jaw—a clearly different look than any of the three parent breeds. The ears are alert, moderately large and set so they corner the upper, outside dimensions of the head. Tufting and lynx tips are a bonus. The wide-set eyes are large, almond-shaped and angle slightly upward toward the ears. All eye colors except blue are accepted; eye color has no relation to coat color. Depth of color is preferred.
The close-lying, short coat is long enough to carry several bands of ticking. It is lustrous, smooth and satiny with no suggestion of wooliness. The Ocicat is an agouti breed, like the Abyssinian; if you look closely at the spots, you’ll see each hair has bands of alternating color. All hairs are ticked except the tip of the tail.
Ideally, the rows of spots run along the spine from shoulder blades to tail. In addition, the spots are scattered across the shoulders and hindquarters and extend as far as possible down the legs. Large thumbprint-shaped spots on the sides of the torso give the subtle suggestion of the classic tabby bull’s eye pattern. The belly is well spotted. A tabby "M" decorates the forehead, and there should be broken bracelets on the lower legs and broken necklaces at the throat. The contrast between the spots and the background color adds to the striking appearance of the Ocicat.
The accepted coat colors are tawny spotted, cinnamon spotted, chocolate spotted, blue spotted, fawn spotted, lavender spotted, ebony silver spotted, cinnamon silver spotted, chocolate silver spotted, blue silver spotted, fawn silver spotted and lavender silver spotted. All colors should be clear and pleasing. The lightest color is found on the face around the eyes, and usually also on the chin and lower jaw. The darkest colors are found on the tip of the tail. Reds, creams, and torbies are disqualified, as are any cats with white lockets or spotting, or white anywhere other than around eyes, nostrils, chin, and upper throat.
In 1986, CFA closed the gene pool to Siamese and American Shorthair outcrosses. However, to help keep the gene pool healthy and large, Abyssinians are allowed in Ocicat litters born on or before January 1, 2015. TICA permits Siamese as well as Abyssinian outcrosses with no cutoff date for either as yet.
History
The Ocicat’s creation was a happy accident. In the early 1960s, breeder Virginia Daly of Michigan set out to breed a Siamese with Abyssinian-colored points. Daly developed a breeding plan that called for a close encounter between a ruddy Abyssinian male and a large seal point Siamese female. Since the Abyssinian pattern and coloration is dominant over the Siamese pattern, the subsequent kittens all looked like Abyssinians but carried the recessive gene for the Siamese pointed pattern . Daly then bred one of the female kittens to a champion chocolate point Siamese male. This litter produced Daly’s objective-Aby-pointed Siamese kittens.
The next litter, however, produced something entirely unexpected: an ivory male with golden spots and striking copper-colored eyes. Daly named this handsome youngster Tonga, and Daly’s daughter labeled the cat an "Ocicat" because with his vivid spots reminded her of a baby ocelot.
Tonga was lovely and unique, but Daly’s goal was to create Aby-pointed Siamese, so she sold Tonga as a pet. Later, however, Daly mentioned Tonga to geneticist Clyde Keeler of Georgia University, who was thrilled about her accidental discovery because he wanted to recreate the extinct Egyptian spotted fishing cat. Keeler sent Daly a detailed breeding plan that prominently featured Tonga as the sire of the new breed. Unfortunately, the plan was impossible to implement since Tonga had already been neutered. However, Tonga’s parents produced another spotted male, Dalai Dotson, and the Ocicat breed was officially launched, using Clyde Keeler’s detailed breeding plan with Dalai, not Tonga, as the father of the new breed.
The first Ocicat (Tonga) was exhibited at a CFA show in 1965, and in 1966 CFA accepted the Ocicat for registration. Daly registered Dalai Dotson with CFA and began a breeding program to produce more spotted kittens. Being accepted for registration doesn’t guarantee a breed will go on to become an accepted new breed-many requirements must be met along the way-but Daly was hopeful since the Ocicat was striking and unique. Other breeders, captivated by the spotted wonders, joined forces with Virginia Daly and began their own breeding programs.
In the minutes of the CFA annual meeting recognizing the Ocicat for registration, the breed was described as a cross between the Abyssinian and the American Shorthair. When the error was brought to their attention, "Siamese" was added to the wording. This error turned out to be a boon for the breed; Ocicat breeders added American Shorthairs into their Ocicat lines, and the beautiful silver colors of the American Shorthair were added to the gene pool. The American Shorthair influence also added size and musculature to a breed that at first resembled the lithe Abyssinian and the svelte Siamese.
The Ocicat was off to a great start, but the breed didn’t get far-at least not immediately. In the late 1960s, Daly took an 11-year break from cat breeding to care for an ailing family member. At the time, she was the driving force behind the breed, so the Ocicat developed slowly for the next decade. In the early 1980s, however, Daly returned to breeding Ocicats, and her efforts and those of other Ocicat breeders and enthusiasts brought the breed full recognition. In May of 1986, the Ocicat achieved CFA provisional status, and was granted championship status only one year later. Today, all North American cat associations recognize the Ocicat for championship except for the Traditional Cat Association (because no traditional version of the Ocicat exists.).
This breed evokes images of a wild jungle cat with its short coat, striking spots and powerful appearance. The Ocicat is a medium to large cat with substantial bone structure and muscle development. The powerful legs are well-muscled, medium-long, and in good proportion to the body. The feet are oval and compact. The torso is solid and hard, and the cat has surprising weight for its size. The tail is fairly long and medium-slim, with a slight taper and a dark tip. Like its Abyssinian kin, the Ocicat is athletic and lithe, but the breed owes its brawn to the American Shorthair. Adult males range from 10 to 15 pounds; adult females range from 7 to 12 pounds.
The head is neither the long, tapering wedge of the Siamese nor the slightly rounded wedge of the Abyssinian, but rather, a modified wedge showing a slight curve from muzzleto cheek, with a visible but gentle rise from the bridge of the nose to the brow. The muzzle is broad and well defined with a suggestion of squareness. In profile it shows good length, a strong chin and firm jaw—a clearly different look than any of the three parent breeds. The ears are alert, moderately large and set so they corner the upper, outside dimensions of the head. Tufting and lynx tips are a bonus. The wide-set eyes are large, almond-shaped and angle slightly upward toward the ears. All eye colors except blue are accepted; eye color has no relation to coat color. Depth of color is preferred.
The close-lying, short coat is long enough to carry several bands of ticking. It is lustrous, smooth and satiny with no suggestion of wooliness. The Ocicat is an agouti breed, like the Abyssinian; if you look closely at the spots, you’ll see each hair has bands of alternating color. All hairs are ticked except the tip of the tail.
Ideally, the rows of spots run along the spine from shoulder blades to tail. In addition, the spots are scattered across the shoulders and hindquarters and extend as far as possible down the legs. Large thumbprint-shaped spots on the sides of the torso give the subtle suggestion of the classic tabby bull’s eye pattern. The belly is well spotted. A tabby "M" decorates the forehead, and there should be broken bracelets on the lower legs and broken necklaces at the throat. The contrast between the spots and the background color adds to the striking appearance of the Ocicat.
The accepted coat colors are tawny spotted, cinnamon spotted, chocolate spotted, blue spotted, fawn spotted, lavender spotted, ebony silver spotted, cinnamon silver spotted, chocolate silver spotted, blue silver spotted, fawn silver spotted and lavender silver spotted. All colors should be clear and pleasing. The lightest color is found on the face around the eyes, and usually also on the chin and lower jaw. The darkest colors are found on the tip of the tail. Reds, creams, and torbies are disqualified, as are any cats with white lockets or spotting, or white anywhere other than around eyes, nostrils, chin, and upper throat.
In 1986, CFA closed the gene pool to Siamese and American Shorthair outcrosses. However, to help keep the gene pool healthy and large, Abyssinians are allowed in Ocicat litters born on or before January 1, 2015. TICA permits Siamese as well as Abyssinian outcrosses with no cutoff date for either as yet.
History
The Ocicat’s creation was a happy accident. In the early 1960s, breeder Virginia Daly of Michigan set out to breed a Siamese with Abyssinian-colored points. Daly developed a breeding plan that called for a close encounter between a ruddy Abyssinian male and a large seal point Siamese female. Since the Abyssinian pattern and coloration is dominant over the Siamese pattern, the subsequent kittens all looked like Abyssinians but carried the recessive gene for the Siamese pointed pattern . Daly then bred one of the female kittens to a champion chocolate point Siamese male. This litter produced Daly’s objective-Aby-pointed Siamese kittens.
The next litter, however, produced something entirely unexpected: an ivory male with golden spots and striking copper-colored eyes. Daly named this handsome youngster Tonga, and Daly’s daughter labeled the cat an "Ocicat" because with his vivid spots reminded her of a baby ocelot.
Tonga was lovely and unique, but Daly’s goal was to create Aby-pointed Siamese, so she sold Tonga as a pet. Later, however, Daly mentioned Tonga to geneticist Clyde Keeler of Georgia University, who was thrilled about her accidental discovery because he wanted to recreate the extinct Egyptian spotted fishing cat. Keeler sent Daly a detailed breeding plan that prominently featured Tonga as the sire of the new breed. Unfortunately, the plan was impossible to implement since Tonga had already been neutered. However, Tonga’s parents produced another spotted male, Dalai Dotson, and the Ocicat breed was officially launched, using Clyde Keeler’s detailed breeding plan with Dalai, not Tonga, as the father of the new breed.
The first Ocicat (Tonga) was exhibited at a CFA show in 1965, and in 1966 CFA accepted the Ocicat for registration. Daly registered Dalai Dotson with CFA and began a breeding program to produce more spotted kittens. Being accepted for registration doesn’t guarantee a breed will go on to become an accepted new breed-many requirements must be met along the way-but Daly was hopeful since the Ocicat was striking and unique. Other breeders, captivated by the spotted wonders, joined forces with Virginia Daly and began their own breeding programs.
In the minutes of the CFA annual meeting recognizing the Ocicat for registration, the breed was described as a cross between the Abyssinian and the American Shorthair. When the error was brought to their attention, "Siamese" was added to the wording. This error turned out to be a boon for the breed; Ocicat breeders added American Shorthairs into their Ocicat lines, and the beautiful silver colors of the American Shorthair were added to the gene pool. The American Shorthair influence also added size and musculature to a breed that at first resembled the lithe Abyssinian and the svelte Siamese.
The Ocicat was off to a great start, but the breed didn’t get far-at least not immediately. In the late 1960s, Daly took an 11-year break from cat breeding to care for an ailing family member. At the time, she was the driving force behind the breed, so the Ocicat developed slowly for the next decade. In the early 1980s, however, Daly returned to breeding Ocicats, and her efforts and those of other Ocicat breeders and enthusiasts brought the breed full recognition. In May of 1986, the Ocicat achieved CFA provisional status, and was granted championship status only one year later. Today, all North American cat associations recognize the Ocicat for championship except for the Traditional Cat Association (because no traditional version of the Ocicat exists.).
Oriental
Description
The Oriental Shorthair comes in every kitty color you've ever imagined, and likely some you haven’t. As CFA’s breed standard says, “the Oriental’s reason for being is the coat color, whether it is solid, shaded, smoke, parti-color, bi-color or tabby patterned.” Sometimes called "Ornamentals" because of the more than 300 possible color and pattern combinations, the breed is essentially a Siamese not confined to the colorpoint pattern or the four traditional colors. OSHs may well be the most colorful cat breed on the planet—masterpieces that would have made Leonardo da Vinci proud.
The Oriental Shorthair has the Siamese body type—the ideal Oriental is a svelte cat with long, tapering lines, very lithe but muscular, fine-boned, elongated and tubular. The head is a long, tapering wedge in good proportion to body. The total wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle with no break at the whiskers. The neck is slender. Adult males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. Show cats are in excellent condition and are not flabby, bony, or fat.
The ears are strikingly large, pointed, wide at the base, continuing the lines of the wedge. The legs are long and thin in good proportion to body with the hind legs higher than the front, and dainty, small, and oval paws.
The tail is long, tapering, and not kinked. The eyes are almond-shaped, medium in size, not crossed, and are either blue, green or odd-eyed, depending upon the coat color and pattern. The eyes are set not less than one eye width apart, with a slight slant toward the nose. The OSH can be outcrossed to the Siamese and the Colorpoint Shorthair in CFA; in TICA the Balinese is also an allowable outcross.
History
Although the Oriental Shorthair wasn’t developed until the 1950s, its parent breed, the Siamese, has been around for centuries. In the past, blue-eyed, pointed-pattern cats were owned by religious leaders and royalty and were kept in Siam's temples and Royal Palace.
However, the breed we call Siamese was only one of several varieties native to that area. The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript written in Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350 and 1767, describes and shows a variety of native cats, including solid black, black and white bicolor, solid brown, solid blue (known also as gray), and shaded silver, as well as the royal cats bearing the pointed color pattern. In fact, the first cats imported to Britain from Thailand in the 1800s were often solid brown or blue. It wasn’t until the 1920s that the blue-eyed, pointed cat became the Siamese norm in Britain.
Today’s Oriental Shorthair is not a direct import from Thailand, but rather a Siamesehybrid. The breed’s creation was deliberate and planned. Breeders wanted a cat similar to the Siamese but in a wider range of colors and patterns. In the 1950s, British breeders crossed Siamese cats with domestic shorthairs and Russian Blues. In the late 1960s, American breeders, excited by the British success, crossed Siamese, domestic shorthairs and Abyssinians to create new colors. The sleek, lean body style of the Siamese was not sacrificed for color and pattern, and by crossing back to the Siamese the breeders preserved the body type and personality traits of the Siamese.
At first, some cat fanciers weren’t happy about the creation of yet another Siamese hybrid, since the Siamese has been used in the matrix of so many of our modern breeds, but soon the charming personality and striking colors and patterns of the new hybrid won over the opposition.
In 1972, CFA accepted the Oriental Shorthair for registration. In 1976, the breed was given provisional status, and only one year later was granted full championship status. Since then the Oriental Shorthair has rapidly increased in popularity. In recent years the Oriental Shorthair has consistently ranked high among the shorthaired breeds. Today, all North American associations recognize the Oriental Shorthair and now many Siamese breeders breed both Orientals and Siamese.
In 1995, two major changes occurred in CFA for the Oriental Shorthair. First, the Oriental Shorthair and the Oriental Longhair became a single breed called the Oriental. Before this time, the Oriental Longhair was a separate breed and therefore if two Oriental Shorthairs produced longhaired kittens (possible if both parents possessed the recessive longhair gene), those kittens could not be shown as either Oriental Longhairs or Oriental Shorthairs. Now offspring can be registered and shown in whatever division they belong.
Second, the CFA accepted a new color class- bicolor . Bicolors were previously relegated to the non-champion Any Other Variety (AOV) class. Now those cats can be shown for CFA championship. This decision doubled the number of accepted colors and patterns.
The Oriental Shorthair comes in every kitty color you've ever imagined, and likely some you haven’t. As CFA’s breed standard says, “the Oriental’s reason for being is the coat color, whether it is solid, shaded, smoke, parti-color, bi-color or tabby patterned.” Sometimes called "Ornamentals" because of the more than 300 possible color and pattern combinations, the breed is essentially a Siamese not confined to the colorpoint pattern or the four traditional colors. OSHs may well be the most colorful cat breed on the planet—masterpieces that would have made Leonardo da Vinci proud.
The Oriental Shorthair has the Siamese body type—the ideal Oriental is a svelte cat with long, tapering lines, very lithe but muscular, fine-boned, elongated and tubular. The head is a long, tapering wedge in good proportion to body. The total wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle with no break at the whiskers. The neck is slender. Adult males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. Show cats are in excellent condition and are not flabby, bony, or fat.
The ears are strikingly large, pointed, wide at the base, continuing the lines of the wedge. The legs are long and thin in good proportion to body with the hind legs higher than the front, and dainty, small, and oval paws.
The tail is long, tapering, and not kinked. The eyes are almond-shaped, medium in size, not crossed, and are either blue, green or odd-eyed, depending upon the coat color and pattern. The eyes are set not less than one eye width apart, with a slight slant toward the nose. The OSH can be outcrossed to the Siamese and the Colorpoint Shorthair in CFA; in TICA the Balinese is also an allowable outcross.
History
Although the Oriental Shorthair wasn’t developed until the 1950s, its parent breed, the Siamese, has been around for centuries. In the past, blue-eyed, pointed-pattern cats were owned by religious leaders and royalty and were kept in Siam's temples and Royal Palace.
However, the breed we call Siamese was only one of several varieties native to that area. The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript written in Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350 and 1767, describes and shows a variety of native cats, including solid black, black and white bicolor, solid brown, solid blue (known also as gray), and shaded silver, as well as the royal cats bearing the pointed color pattern. In fact, the first cats imported to Britain from Thailand in the 1800s were often solid brown or blue. It wasn’t until the 1920s that the blue-eyed, pointed cat became the Siamese norm in Britain.
Today’s Oriental Shorthair is not a direct import from Thailand, but rather a Siamesehybrid. The breed’s creation was deliberate and planned. Breeders wanted a cat similar to the Siamese but in a wider range of colors and patterns. In the 1950s, British breeders crossed Siamese cats with domestic shorthairs and Russian Blues. In the late 1960s, American breeders, excited by the British success, crossed Siamese, domestic shorthairs and Abyssinians to create new colors. The sleek, lean body style of the Siamese was not sacrificed for color and pattern, and by crossing back to the Siamese the breeders preserved the body type and personality traits of the Siamese.
At first, some cat fanciers weren’t happy about the creation of yet another Siamese hybrid, since the Siamese has been used in the matrix of so many of our modern breeds, but soon the charming personality and striking colors and patterns of the new hybrid won over the opposition.
In 1972, CFA accepted the Oriental Shorthair for registration. In 1976, the breed was given provisional status, and only one year later was granted full championship status. Since then the Oriental Shorthair has rapidly increased in popularity. In recent years the Oriental Shorthair has consistently ranked high among the shorthaired breeds. Today, all North American associations recognize the Oriental Shorthair and now many Siamese breeders breed both Orientals and Siamese.
In 1995, two major changes occurred in CFA for the Oriental Shorthair. First, the Oriental Shorthair and the Oriental Longhair became a single breed called the Oriental. Before this time, the Oriental Longhair was a separate breed and therefore if two Oriental Shorthairs produced longhaired kittens (possible if both parents possessed the recessive longhair gene), those kittens could not be shown as either Oriental Longhairs or Oriental Shorthairs. Now offspring can be registered and shown in whatever division they belong.
Second, the CFA accepted a new color class- bicolor . Bicolors were previously relegated to the non-champion Any Other Variety (AOV) class. Now those cats can be shown for CFA championship. This decision doubled the number of accepted colors and patterns.
Ragdoll
Description
The Ragdoll is medium to large, with a long, broad, heavily boned body and an impression of graceful, flowing movement and subdued power. The body is large and long, broad and solid, firm and muscular, with heavy boning. It’s rectangular in shape, with a full chest and equal width across the shoulders and hindquarters. While not fat, a moderate stomach pad on the lower abdomen is acceptable. The legs are heavily boned, medium length with the back legs slightly longer than the front. The tail is long.
Ragdolls are moderate in all ways, with no extremes. Mature males weigh 12 to 20 pounds; mature females weigh 8 to 15 pounds. Females may be substantially smaller in size. Altered males are more likely to reach 20 pounds than whole males. No outcrossesare allowed.
The head is proportionately large with a broad, modified wedge that is equilateral in shape, where all sides are of equal length as measured from the outside of the base of the ear to the end of the gently rounded muzzle, with the appearance of a flat plane between the ears. The cheeks are in line with the wedge. The chin is well developed and the neck is heavy and strong. The profile is slightly curving, ending in a straight, medium-length nose. The chin is well-developed, strong, and in line with nose and upper lip.
The ears are medium in size, wide set and moderately flared, continuing the line of the wedge. They’re wide at the base, have rounded tips, and tilt forward. The large eyes are vivid blue ovals, wide set and moderately slanted, complementing the wedge.
The naturally non-matting, moderately long coat is characterized by abundant guard hairsand minimal woolly undercoat. It flows with the body. The fur is short on the face, longer on the ruff, and shorter on the shoulder blades, lengthening toward the tail. The fur on the front legs is short to medium; the fur on the hind legs is medium to medium-long with full, feathery britches. The tail has a full plume.
All Ragdolls are pointed, but points are partially overlaid with white in the bicolor and van patterns. The points may be solid, shaded, smoke, lynx, tortie or tortie-lynx. The Ragdoll comes in six colors: seal, blue, chocolate, lilac, red and cream. Patterns accepted for championship competition are bicolor, van, colorpoint, and mitted. In 2008, CFA accepted the colorpoint and mitted patterns for championship; previously these patterns were in the non-champion AOV class. Other associations have accepted these patterns for years. Ragdolls can take three years, sometimes more, to reach their full color potential.
History
The Ragdoll, a large blue-eyed breed dressed in long, silky fur and sporting the colorpointpattern, is well-loved by an ever-growing group of fanciers addicted to the breed’s charms. Despite a bewildering past, the breed’s sweet nature, non-matting fur, and lovely colors and patterns have helped the Ragdoll overcome myth and mystery to claw its way up to become one of the most popular longhairs, topped only by the Persian and the Maine Coon. The Ragdoll’s history is as confusing as it is controversial. Instead of facts, we have colorful narratives, speculation, hypotheses and flat-out fiction.
The Ragdoll was developed in the 1960s by the late Ann Baker of Riverside, California, a former Persian breeder. In fact, who, where and when are just about the only details involving the breed’s origins that are not subject to debate. Now that Baker has passed on, it’s likely the true story will never be told.
According to Baker, in the early 1960s the Ragdoll’s foundation cat, a longhaired white Angora look-alike named Josephine, was taken to a laboratory after being hit by a car, where she was genetically altered as part of a secret government experiment. All subsequent offspring possessed the same characteristics: non-matting fur, docile nature, large size, and the tendency to go limp in your arms like a child’s rag doll—thus the breed's name. However, this couldn’t be confirmed, Baker claimed, since the government suppressed all the evidence.
While most well-balanced people scoff at this conspiracy theory, and genetics experts say that this kind of genetic engineering wasn’t even possible in the 1960s, this story and other Twilight Zone tales uttered by Baker have plagued Ragdoll breeders for years, since cat associations found it hard to take the breed seriously. According to the Ragdoll Connection Network, a group committed to promoting the breed, Baker’s claims became even more strange and hard to believe as time went on. For example, they say she claimed Ragdolls were crossbred with skunks to improve the cats’ tails and also represented a link between humans and extraterrestrials.
It’s more likely that Josephine simply possessed a pleasing combination of recessive genetic traits. When bred to males who added aesthetic traits of their own, Josephine produced eye-catching offspring. These attention-getting progeny, however they were produced, became the foundation of the Ragdoll breed. In particular, three of Josephine’s progeny were noteworthy—Buckwheat, Fugianna and Daddy War Bucks—and evidently all subsequent Ragdoll generations can be traced back to them. Apparently, none of these cats or their parents were purebreds, although that can’t be proven since Baker didn’t document the trysts and in fact didn’t even own Josephine, who was a semi-feral cat who lived on the property of Mr. and Mrs. Pennels, Baker’s neighbors.
Josephine and a Birman look-alike owned by the Pennels produced Daddy War Bucks, who also resembled a Birman. Baker referred to him as the father of the Ragdoll look. Josephine mated with Daddy War Bucks and produced Fugianna. Buckwheat was the daughter of Josephine and an unknown male, possibly Daddy War Bucks. Baker acquired all three offspring from the Pennels. At this point, according to some sources, Josephine was euthanized by Mr. Pennels, along with many of her offspring who were living on the Pennels’ property.
Baker bred Buckwheat to Daddy War Bucks and produced two solid colored cats and two colorpoint cats. These two colorpoints, Kyoto (a seal mitted colorpoint) and Tiki (a seal colorpoint), were registered as Ragdolls with the National Cat Fanciers' Association (NCFA) on December 30, 1966.
Over the next few years Baker increased her breeding stock and band of breeders. In 1971, Baker founded her own registry called the International Ragdoll Cat Association (IRCA), and, in an attempt to protect her proprietary interests and keep control of the breed, she trademarked the Ragdoll name. The trademark was valid until 2005.
She sold Ragdoll franchises, which meant IRCA breeders had to pay licensing fees, breed according to Baker’s carefully controlled guidelines and get her approval for all Ragdoll matings in order to use the Ragdoll name. In addition, breeders had to pay a 10 percent royalty for each kitten they sold. IRCA Ragdolls could only be registered with IRCA, and were not allowed to be shown or registered with the mainstream cat associations.
Many breeders were not pleased with this arrangement, and also wanted to distance themselves from the questionable claims being made about their beloved breed. These breeders split from Baker and IRCA and in 1975 formed the Ragdoll Society, later changing it to the Ragdoll Fanciers’ Club International (RFCI). Founded by Denny and Laura Dayton, the first breeders to buy Ragdolls from Baker, this group was dedicated to developing the breed and achieving recognition with the mainstream cat associations. The Daytons and the other breakaway breeders felt the Ragdoll’s trademark didn’t apply to them, since they had purchased their cats before the breed name was trademarked. Baker didn’t agree, and years of bitter litigation followed.
Later, other breed groups affiliated with the mainstream cat associations formed to promote the Ragdoll, such as the CFA-affiliated Ragdolls of America Group (RAG) in 1993. It took many years to overcome the past controversy, but the RFCI and RAG breeders and other breeders not affiliated with IRCA finally advanced the Ragdoll to championship status in every major North American cat association—even CFA, which belatedly granted championship in 2000. The Ragdoll has earned its place in the spotlight, just as it has earned its place in the laps and hearts of fanciers everywhere. Misinformation still creates occasional confusion, but Ragdoll fanciers are striving to move past all that, and look toward a bright future with one of the cat fancy’s rising stars.
The Ragdoll is medium to large, with a long, broad, heavily boned body and an impression of graceful, flowing movement and subdued power. The body is large and long, broad and solid, firm and muscular, with heavy boning. It’s rectangular in shape, with a full chest and equal width across the shoulders and hindquarters. While not fat, a moderate stomach pad on the lower abdomen is acceptable. The legs are heavily boned, medium length with the back legs slightly longer than the front. The tail is long.
Ragdolls are moderate in all ways, with no extremes. Mature males weigh 12 to 20 pounds; mature females weigh 8 to 15 pounds. Females may be substantially smaller in size. Altered males are more likely to reach 20 pounds than whole males. No outcrossesare allowed.
The head is proportionately large with a broad, modified wedge that is equilateral in shape, where all sides are of equal length as measured from the outside of the base of the ear to the end of the gently rounded muzzle, with the appearance of a flat plane between the ears. The cheeks are in line with the wedge. The chin is well developed and the neck is heavy and strong. The profile is slightly curving, ending in a straight, medium-length nose. The chin is well-developed, strong, and in line with nose and upper lip.
The ears are medium in size, wide set and moderately flared, continuing the line of the wedge. They’re wide at the base, have rounded tips, and tilt forward. The large eyes are vivid blue ovals, wide set and moderately slanted, complementing the wedge.
The naturally non-matting, moderately long coat is characterized by abundant guard hairsand minimal woolly undercoat. It flows with the body. The fur is short on the face, longer on the ruff, and shorter on the shoulder blades, lengthening toward the tail. The fur on the front legs is short to medium; the fur on the hind legs is medium to medium-long with full, feathery britches. The tail has a full plume.
All Ragdolls are pointed, but points are partially overlaid with white in the bicolor and van patterns. The points may be solid, shaded, smoke, lynx, tortie or tortie-lynx. The Ragdoll comes in six colors: seal, blue, chocolate, lilac, red and cream. Patterns accepted for championship competition are bicolor, van, colorpoint, and mitted. In 2008, CFA accepted the colorpoint and mitted patterns for championship; previously these patterns were in the non-champion AOV class. Other associations have accepted these patterns for years. Ragdolls can take three years, sometimes more, to reach their full color potential.
History
The Ragdoll, a large blue-eyed breed dressed in long, silky fur and sporting the colorpointpattern, is well-loved by an ever-growing group of fanciers addicted to the breed’s charms. Despite a bewildering past, the breed’s sweet nature, non-matting fur, and lovely colors and patterns have helped the Ragdoll overcome myth and mystery to claw its way up to become one of the most popular longhairs, topped only by the Persian and the Maine Coon. The Ragdoll’s history is as confusing as it is controversial. Instead of facts, we have colorful narratives, speculation, hypotheses and flat-out fiction.
The Ragdoll was developed in the 1960s by the late Ann Baker of Riverside, California, a former Persian breeder. In fact, who, where and when are just about the only details involving the breed’s origins that are not subject to debate. Now that Baker has passed on, it’s likely the true story will never be told.
According to Baker, in the early 1960s the Ragdoll’s foundation cat, a longhaired white Angora look-alike named Josephine, was taken to a laboratory after being hit by a car, where she was genetically altered as part of a secret government experiment. All subsequent offspring possessed the same characteristics: non-matting fur, docile nature, large size, and the tendency to go limp in your arms like a child’s rag doll—thus the breed's name. However, this couldn’t be confirmed, Baker claimed, since the government suppressed all the evidence.
While most well-balanced people scoff at this conspiracy theory, and genetics experts say that this kind of genetic engineering wasn’t even possible in the 1960s, this story and other Twilight Zone tales uttered by Baker have plagued Ragdoll breeders for years, since cat associations found it hard to take the breed seriously. According to the Ragdoll Connection Network, a group committed to promoting the breed, Baker’s claims became even more strange and hard to believe as time went on. For example, they say she claimed Ragdolls were crossbred with skunks to improve the cats’ tails and also represented a link between humans and extraterrestrials.
It’s more likely that Josephine simply possessed a pleasing combination of recessive genetic traits. When bred to males who added aesthetic traits of their own, Josephine produced eye-catching offspring. These attention-getting progeny, however they were produced, became the foundation of the Ragdoll breed. In particular, three of Josephine’s progeny were noteworthy—Buckwheat, Fugianna and Daddy War Bucks—and evidently all subsequent Ragdoll generations can be traced back to them. Apparently, none of these cats or their parents were purebreds, although that can’t be proven since Baker didn’t document the trysts and in fact didn’t even own Josephine, who was a semi-feral cat who lived on the property of Mr. and Mrs. Pennels, Baker’s neighbors.
Josephine and a Birman look-alike owned by the Pennels produced Daddy War Bucks, who also resembled a Birman. Baker referred to him as the father of the Ragdoll look. Josephine mated with Daddy War Bucks and produced Fugianna. Buckwheat was the daughter of Josephine and an unknown male, possibly Daddy War Bucks. Baker acquired all three offspring from the Pennels. At this point, according to some sources, Josephine was euthanized by Mr. Pennels, along with many of her offspring who were living on the Pennels’ property.
Baker bred Buckwheat to Daddy War Bucks and produced two solid colored cats and two colorpoint cats. These two colorpoints, Kyoto (a seal mitted colorpoint) and Tiki (a seal colorpoint), were registered as Ragdolls with the National Cat Fanciers' Association (NCFA) on December 30, 1966.
Over the next few years Baker increased her breeding stock and band of breeders. In 1971, Baker founded her own registry called the International Ragdoll Cat Association (IRCA), and, in an attempt to protect her proprietary interests and keep control of the breed, she trademarked the Ragdoll name. The trademark was valid until 2005.
She sold Ragdoll franchises, which meant IRCA breeders had to pay licensing fees, breed according to Baker’s carefully controlled guidelines and get her approval for all Ragdoll matings in order to use the Ragdoll name. In addition, breeders had to pay a 10 percent royalty for each kitten they sold. IRCA Ragdolls could only be registered with IRCA, and were not allowed to be shown or registered with the mainstream cat associations.
Many breeders were not pleased with this arrangement, and also wanted to distance themselves from the questionable claims being made about their beloved breed. These breeders split from Baker and IRCA and in 1975 formed the Ragdoll Society, later changing it to the Ragdoll Fanciers’ Club International (RFCI). Founded by Denny and Laura Dayton, the first breeders to buy Ragdolls from Baker, this group was dedicated to developing the breed and achieving recognition with the mainstream cat associations. The Daytons and the other breakaway breeders felt the Ragdoll’s trademark didn’t apply to them, since they had purchased their cats before the breed name was trademarked. Baker didn’t agree, and years of bitter litigation followed.
Later, other breed groups affiliated with the mainstream cat associations formed to promote the Ragdoll, such as the CFA-affiliated Ragdolls of America Group (RAG) in 1993. It took many years to overcome the past controversy, but the RFCI and RAG breeders and other breeders not affiliated with IRCA finally advanced the Ragdoll to championship status in every major North American cat association—even CFA, which belatedly granted championship in 2000. The Ragdoll has earned its place in the spotlight, just as it has earned its place in the laps and hearts of fanciers everywhere. Misinformation still creates occasional confusion, but Ragdoll fanciers are striving to move past all that, and look toward a bright future with one of the cat fancy’s rising stars.
Russian Blue
Description
The Russian Blue is a fine-boned, muscular cat known for its beautiful silver-tipped blue fur, dramatic emerald green eyes, and mysterious Mona Lisa smile. Combined with an elegant, refined body style, the Russian Blue is a strikingly beautiful breed.
The body is long, firm and muscular. The Blue is lithe and graceful in outline and carriage without being tubular in appearance. Fine boned and without excessive bulk, the Blue may appear a bit chunkier because of the dense coat. The legs are long, ending with small, slightly rounded paws. The tail is long but in proportion to the body and tapers from a moderately thick base. Adult males weigh 7 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is a smooth, medium wedge, neither long and tapering nor short and massive. The blunt muzzle is a smooth, flowing shape without prominent whisker pads, whisker pinches or whisker breaks. The upturned corners of the mouth form the unique smile. The top of the skull is long and flat in profile, gently descending to slightly above the eyes and continuing at a slight downward angle in a straight line to the tip of the nose. The medium length nose is without a break or stop. The face is broad across the eyes due to the wide-set eyes and the thick fur.
The eyes are rounded and are a vivid green. The ears are rather large and wide at the base, with tips that are more pointed than rounded. They are set far apart, as much on the side as on the top of the head. The skin of the ears is thin and translucent, with little insidefurnishings. The outside of the ear is scantily covered with short, very fine hair.
The short, double coat is dense and so plush that it stands out from the body. The texture is soft and silky, but it’s the silver-tipped blue color that catches the eye. In North America and many other countries, the Russian Blue comes in one color only—blue (called gray outside the cat fancy). The blue is even and bright throughout, with lighter shades preferred. The guard hairs have silver tipping that reflects light, giving the coat a silvery sheen. . In Australian and New Zealand, however, the breed is called the "Russian" and is accepted in blue, white, and black.
History
In the late 1800s, the Russian Blue was well known in Britain. But this breed had been around long before that. Exactly how long and from where the breed originated we may never know, since the Russian Blue’s origins are based largely on conjecture and legend. The tale most commonly told is that Russian Blues originated in northern Russia, and in the 1860s were transported to Great Britain from the port city of Arkhangelsk. This is the reason the breed was once called the Archangel Blue.
No direct evidence confirms the story, but we have none that disproves it, either. According to fanciers, similar cats can be found today in the colder regions of Russia. The Russian Blue’s plush double coat would certainly be an advantage in an area that’s close to the Arctic Circle-Arkhangelsk lies on the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea. The chief seaport of medieval Russia, the city was icebound five months of the year before improvements were made in icebreaker ships. A dense fur coat is survival gear in that frigid climate.
The story of the Archangel Blue also maintains that these cats lived in the wild and were hunted for their beaver-like fur, which could explain both their intelligence and their wariness around strangers. Folklore also has it that Russian Blues are descended from the royal cats of Russian czars, but the legend is silent regarding exactly when these cats were czar companions.
Fanciers believe sailors brought the cats from Arkhangelsk to Northern Europe and England in the 1860s and the cats quickly became favorites of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). If so, the queen likely loved the color blue, since she reportedly also had a number of blue Persians.
The documented history of the breed began in the late 1800s in Great Britain. Russian Blues were first shown in 1875 at London’s Crystal Palace in under the name Archangel Cat. A newspaper writer of the time dubbed the breed "a very handsome cat, coming from Archangel . . . particularly furry. . . . They resemble mostly the common wild gray rabbit."
Unfortunately for the Russian Blue, the British cat fancy grouped all shorthaired blue cats into one category, despite obvious differences in coat, body and head type. Since Harrison Weir, considered the father of the cat fancy, favored the sturdy British Blues (known today as the British Shorthair), they invariably won the show ribbons while the Russian Blues-as beautiful and elegant as they were-lost out to their stockier competitors.
Finally in 1912, to the delight of the Russian Blue fanciers, the British registry GCCFrecognized the Russian Blue as a separate breed and granted it a class of its own, described as "Blue Foreign type." Interest in the breed rekindled and the Russian Blue made good progress until World War II, when the breed nearly ceased to exist, as did many other breeds in Europe. In those terrible times, few British fanciers had enough resources to preserve their breeds.
After the war, independent groups of breeders in Britain, Sweden, Finland and Denmark worked to bring the Blue back from the brink. Since so few purebred Russian Blues remained, they accomplished this by crossbreeding. In Britain, the remaining Russian Blues were crossed with bluepoint Siamese and British Blues. In the Scandinavian countries, breeders crossed blue cats from Finland with Siamese in an attempt to recreate the breed. Because of this, the coat, body and head type varied, sometimes vastly, depending upon the breeders and where they lived.
The first Russian Blues arrived in America in the early 1900s, but it wasn’t until after World War II that recorded breeding programs began there. British and Swedish breeders provided much of the foundation stock. In 1949, CFA accepted the Russian Blue for registration. However, the breed didn’t catch on immediately because of inconsistency in the breeding cats. Some breeders were working with lines from the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, while others worked with British stock, neither of which met the ideal. In the 1960s, to achieve a consistent body, head and coat type, breeders shared their stock and worked together to combine the plush, silver-tipped pale blue coats and refined boning of the British bloodlines with the lovely emerald green eyes, attractive head type and elegant bodies of the Scandinavian bloodlines. After many years of hard work, breeders achieved a uniform look very close to the original appearance, and the Russian Blue began to gain popularity.
Success in the show ring followed the conformation improvements, and all North American cat associations now accept the breed for championship competition. Even though its numbers are still relatively small, the Russian Blue has a loyal following and does well in shows. The comparatively small group of North American Russian Blue breeders is close-knit and possessive of their breed-they are dedicated to protecting the breed they’ve worked so hard to perfect.
The Russian Blue is a fine-boned, muscular cat known for its beautiful silver-tipped blue fur, dramatic emerald green eyes, and mysterious Mona Lisa smile. Combined with an elegant, refined body style, the Russian Blue is a strikingly beautiful breed.
The body is long, firm and muscular. The Blue is lithe and graceful in outline and carriage without being tubular in appearance. Fine boned and without excessive bulk, the Blue may appear a bit chunkier because of the dense coat. The legs are long, ending with small, slightly rounded paws. The tail is long but in proportion to the body and tapers from a moderately thick base. Adult males weigh 7 to 11 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is a smooth, medium wedge, neither long and tapering nor short and massive. The blunt muzzle is a smooth, flowing shape without prominent whisker pads, whisker pinches or whisker breaks. The upturned corners of the mouth form the unique smile. The top of the skull is long and flat in profile, gently descending to slightly above the eyes and continuing at a slight downward angle in a straight line to the tip of the nose. The medium length nose is without a break or stop. The face is broad across the eyes due to the wide-set eyes and the thick fur.
The eyes are rounded and are a vivid green. The ears are rather large and wide at the base, with tips that are more pointed than rounded. They are set far apart, as much on the side as on the top of the head. The skin of the ears is thin and translucent, with little insidefurnishings. The outside of the ear is scantily covered with short, very fine hair.
The short, double coat is dense and so plush that it stands out from the body. The texture is soft and silky, but it’s the silver-tipped blue color that catches the eye. In North America and many other countries, the Russian Blue comes in one color only—blue (called gray outside the cat fancy). The blue is even and bright throughout, with lighter shades preferred. The guard hairs have silver tipping that reflects light, giving the coat a silvery sheen. . In Australian and New Zealand, however, the breed is called the "Russian" and is accepted in blue, white, and black.
History
In the late 1800s, the Russian Blue was well known in Britain. But this breed had been around long before that. Exactly how long and from where the breed originated we may never know, since the Russian Blue’s origins are based largely on conjecture and legend. The tale most commonly told is that Russian Blues originated in northern Russia, and in the 1860s were transported to Great Britain from the port city of Arkhangelsk. This is the reason the breed was once called the Archangel Blue.
No direct evidence confirms the story, but we have none that disproves it, either. According to fanciers, similar cats can be found today in the colder regions of Russia. The Russian Blue’s plush double coat would certainly be an advantage in an area that’s close to the Arctic Circle-Arkhangelsk lies on the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea. The chief seaport of medieval Russia, the city was icebound five months of the year before improvements were made in icebreaker ships. A dense fur coat is survival gear in that frigid climate.
The story of the Archangel Blue also maintains that these cats lived in the wild and were hunted for their beaver-like fur, which could explain both their intelligence and their wariness around strangers. Folklore also has it that Russian Blues are descended from the royal cats of Russian czars, but the legend is silent regarding exactly when these cats were czar companions.
Fanciers believe sailors brought the cats from Arkhangelsk to Northern Europe and England in the 1860s and the cats quickly became favorites of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). If so, the queen likely loved the color blue, since she reportedly also had a number of blue Persians.
The documented history of the breed began in the late 1800s in Great Britain. Russian Blues were first shown in 1875 at London’s Crystal Palace in under the name Archangel Cat. A newspaper writer of the time dubbed the breed "a very handsome cat, coming from Archangel . . . particularly furry. . . . They resemble mostly the common wild gray rabbit."
Unfortunately for the Russian Blue, the British cat fancy grouped all shorthaired blue cats into one category, despite obvious differences in coat, body and head type. Since Harrison Weir, considered the father of the cat fancy, favored the sturdy British Blues (known today as the British Shorthair), they invariably won the show ribbons while the Russian Blues-as beautiful and elegant as they were-lost out to their stockier competitors.
Finally in 1912, to the delight of the Russian Blue fanciers, the British registry GCCFrecognized the Russian Blue as a separate breed and granted it a class of its own, described as "Blue Foreign type." Interest in the breed rekindled and the Russian Blue made good progress until World War II, when the breed nearly ceased to exist, as did many other breeds in Europe. In those terrible times, few British fanciers had enough resources to preserve their breeds.
After the war, independent groups of breeders in Britain, Sweden, Finland and Denmark worked to bring the Blue back from the brink. Since so few purebred Russian Blues remained, they accomplished this by crossbreeding. In Britain, the remaining Russian Blues were crossed with bluepoint Siamese and British Blues. In the Scandinavian countries, breeders crossed blue cats from Finland with Siamese in an attempt to recreate the breed. Because of this, the coat, body and head type varied, sometimes vastly, depending upon the breeders and where they lived.
The first Russian Blues arrived in America in the early 1900s, but it wasn’t until after World War II that recorded breeding programs began there. British and Swedish breeders provided much of the foundation stock. In 1949, CFA accepted the Russian Blue for registration. However, the breed didn’t catch on immediately because of inconsistency in the breeding cats. Some breeders were working with lines from the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, while others worked with British stock, neither of which met the ideal. In the 1960s, to achieve a consistent body, head and coat type, breeders shared their stock and worked together to combine the plush, silver-tipped pale blue coats and refined boning of the British bloodlines with the lovely emerald green eyes, attractive head type and elegant bodies of the Scandinavian bloodlines. After many years of hard work, breeders achieved a uniform look very close to the original appearance, and the Russian Blue began to gain popularity.
Success in the show ring followed the conformation improvements, and all North American cat associations now accept the breed for championship competition. Even though its numbers are still relatively small, the Russian Blue has a loyal following and does well in shows. The comparatively small group of North American Russian Blue breeders is close-knit and possessive of their breed-they are dedicated to protecting the breed they’ve worked so hard to perfect.
Scottish Fold
Description
The Scottish Fold’s unique ears are produced by a dominant gene that affects their cartilage, causing the ears to fold forward and downward, giving the head a rounded appearance. The ears are small with rounded tips; smaller, tightly folded ears are preferred over loose folds and large ears. They should be set in a caplike fashion to expose a rounded cranium, and are not set high on the head.
Despite being folded, the ears are still expressive. They swivel to listen, lay back in anger, and perk up when something interesting is happening. The fold in the ear will become less pronounced when the cat is ill, in heat or in distress. The folded ears do not make the breed susceptible to ear infections, mites or hearing problems. The ears are not more difficult to clean or medicate than those of other breeds, although they should be handled carefully.
The Fold’s overall appearance is well rounded with medium bone structure. The cat should stand firm with a well-padded body. There is no hint of thickness or lack of mobility in the cat due to short, coarse legs. The toes are neat and well rounded. Overall appearance is that of a well rounded cat with medium bone structure. The tail is medium to long but in proportion to the body. The tail is flexible and tapering and may end in a round tip. A longer, tapering tail is preferred. Males weigh 9 to 13 pounds; females weigh 6 to 9 pounds. Outcrossing is allowed to the British Shorthair and the American Shorthair (TICA also allows the British Longhair). Since the Fold cannot breed true, outcrosses will always be necessary.
The head is well rounded with a firm chin and jaw, which blends into a short neck. The face has prominent cheeks and the muzzle has well-rounded whisker pads. The nose is short with a gentle curve; a brief stop is permitted. In profile the nose is moderate in appearance. The large, well-rounded eyes are wide open with a sweet expression, and are separated by a broad nose. Eye color corresponds with the coat color. Blue eyes and odd-eyes and are allowed in solid whites, bicolors, and van patterns. Odd-eyed cats have one blue and one gold eye of equal color depth.
The Scottish Fold comes in both longhair and shorthair. The longhair coat is medium-long to long in length. A full coat on the face and body is desirable but short hair is permissible on the face and legs. A ruff is desirable. A tail plume, britches, toe tufts and ear furnishings should be clearly visible. A cottony coat is seriously penalized or disqualified in many associations.
The shorthair coat is short to medium-short and dense, plush and even. It’s soft in texture and full of life, standing away from the body due to the coat density. Coat texture may vary due to color and regional and seasonal changes.
In most associations, the Fold is accepted in all colors and patterns with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, thepointed pattern, or these combinations with white. In TICA and CFF, all colors and patterns are accepted, including pointed.
History
The foundation of today’s Scottish Fold is a barn cat named Susie, a unique folded-ear white feline found in 1961 on the McRae farm near Coupar Angus in the Tayside region of Scotland. All Scottish Folds can trace their pedigrees back to Susie. British Shorthair breeder William Ross noticed the unique cat, and he and his wife, Mary, fell in love with her. They also recognized her potential as a new breed. Ross asked the McRaes about the cat, and was promised a kitten from Susie’s first litter. Susie’s mother was a straight-eared white cat and her father was unknown, so it’s unclear whether this litter was the first of its kind or whether the folded ears had simply never been noticed before. One of Susie’s brothers was also a Fold, but he wandered away, never to be seen again.
In 1963, the Rosses were given one of Suzie’s folded-ear kittens, a white female like her mother, whom they named Snooks. With the help of British geneticist Peter Dyte, the Rosses started a breeding program using British Shorthairs and random-bred domestic cats as outcrosses . They quickly found that the Fold gene was dominant . Originally they called the breed Lops after the lop-ear type of rabbit. In 1966, the name was changed to Scottish Fold. The same year, the Rosses registered the breed with the GCCF .
At first, a number of breeders and fanciers were fascinated by this new breed, but soon GCCF became concerned about potential health problems. At first they worried about ear mite infestations and deafness, but these concerns were unfounded. However, GCCF soon became worried about genetic problems, which were very real concerns. By 1971, GCCF closed registration to Scottish Folds and banned further registration in the United Kingdom.
Folds had to move to America to continue as a breed. They were first introduced to the United States in 1970 when three of Snooks’ daughters were sent to New England geneticist Neil Todd, who was researching spontaneous mutations in cats at the Carnivore Genetics Research Center in Newtownville, Massachusetts. Manx breeder Salle Wolf Peters of Pennsylvania acquired one of the cats, a daughter of Snooks named Hester. She was the first of many breeders to fall in love with the Fold, and she was instrumental in recruiting other breeders and advancing and developing the breed.
Since the gene governing the Scottish Fold’s ears is dominant, all Scottish Folds must have at least one folded-ear parent to have folded ears themselves. It was quickly discovered that breeding two Folds increased the number of Fold kittens, but also greatly increased the chances of serious skeletal problems related to the Fold gene. Homozygous Folds (Folds who inherit the dominant folded-ear gene from both parents) are much more likely to develop a genetic condition that causes crippling distortion and enlargement of the bones. Not breeding Fold to Fold reduces the problem, and responsible breeders became very careful not to breed Fold to Fold and to use outcrosses to widen the gene pool. However, controversy arose because of the defect. "Why breed cats who might develop serious health problems?", some fanciers asked.
Despite the controversy, the Scottish Fold was accepted for registration by CFA in 1974. In 1977 the breed was granted provisional status, and in 1978 the breed achieved CFAchampionship status. In this amazingly short period (for a new breed), the Fold earned itself a place in the North American cat fancy. Soon all other associations accepted the breed as well.
The longhaired version of the breed was not officially recognized until the mid-1980s, although longhair kittens have been appearing in Scottish Fold litters since the breed’s beginning. Suzie may have carried the recessive longhair gene. The use of Persians in early breeding programs also spread the gene for long hair. In 1993, the longhaired Scottish Fold was recognized for CFA championship. Today, all North American cat associations accept both lengths for championship. However, the longhair’s name varies depending upon the association. Like some breeds with two hair lengths, the Scottish Fold is considered a single breed in CFA, CCA, TCA and TICA . Other associations consider them separate breeds; AACE, ACFA, and UFO call the longhair the Highland Fold, while CFFcalls it the Longhair Fold.
The Scottish Fold’s unique ears are produced by a dominant gene that affects their cartilage, causing the ears to fold forward and downward, giving the head a rounded appearance. The ears are small with rounded tips; smaller, tightly folded ears are preferred over loose folds and large ears. They should be set in a caplike fashion to expose a rounded cranium, and are not set high on the head.
Despite being folded, the ears are still expressive. They swivel to listen, lay back in anger, and perk up when something interesting is happening. The fold in the ear will become less pronounced when the cat is ill, in heat or in distress. The folded ears do not make the breed susceptible to ear infections, mites or hearing problems. The ears are not more difficult to clean or medicate than those of other breeds, although they should be handled carefully.
The Fold’s overall appearance is well rounded with medium bone structure. The cat should stand firm with a well-padded body. There is no hint of thickness or lack of mobility in the cat due to short, coarse legs. The toes are neat and well rounded. Overall appearance is that of a well rounded cat with medium bone structure. The tail is medium to long but in proportion to the body. The tail is flexible and tapering and may end in a round tip. A longer, tapering tail is preferred. Males weigh 9 to 13 pounds; females weigh 6 to 9 pounds. Outcrossing is allowed to the British Shorthair and the American Shorthair (TICA also allows the British Longhair). Since the Fold cannot breed true, outcrosses will always be necessary.
The head is well rounded with a firm chin and jaw, which blends into a short neck. The face has prominent cheeks and the muzzle has well-rounded whisker pads. The nose is short with a gentle curve; a brief stop is permitted. In profile the nose is moderate in appearance. The large, well-rounded eyes are wide open with a sweet expression, and are separated by a broad nose. Eye color corresponds with the coat color. Blue eyes and odd-eyes and are allowed in solid whites, bicolors, and van patterns. Odd-eyed cats have one blue and one gold eye of equal color depth.
The Scottish Fold comes in both longhair and shorthair. The longhair coat is medium-long to long in length. A full coat on the face and body is desirable but short hair is permissible on the face and legs. A ruff is desirable. A tail plume, britches, toe tufts and ear furnishings should be clearly visible. A cottony coat is seriously penalized or disqualified in many associations.
The shorthair coat is short to medium-short and dense, plush and even. It’s soft in texture and full of life, standing away from the body due to the coat density. Coat texture may vary due to color and regional and seasonal changes.
In most associations, the Fold is accepted in all colors and patterns with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender, thepointed pattern, or these combinations with white. In TICA and CFF, all colors and patterns are accepted, including pointed.
History
The foundation of today’s Scottish Fold is a barn cat named Susie, a unique folded-ear white feline found in 1961 on the McRae farm near Coupar Angus in the Tayside region of Scotland. All Scottish Folds can trace their pedigrees back to Susie. British Shorthair breeder William Ross noticed the unique cat, and he and his wife, Mary, fell in love with her. They also recognized her potential as a new breed. Ross asked the McRaes about the cat, and was promised a kitten from Susie’s first litter. Susie’s mother was a straight-eared white cat and her father was unknown, so it’s unclear whether this litter was the first of its kind or whether the folded ears had simply never been noticed before. One of Susie’s brothers was also a Fold, but he wandered away, never to be seen again.
In 1963, the Rosses were given one of Suzie’s folded-ear kittens, a white female like her mother, whom they named Snooks. With the help of British geneticist Peter Dyte, the Rosses started a breeding program using British Shorthairs and random-bred domestic cats as outcrosses . They quickly found that the Fold gene was dominant . Originally they called the breed Lops after the lop-ear type of rabbit. In 1966, the name was changed to Scottish Fold. The same year, the Rosses registered the breed with the GCCF .
At first, a number of breeders and fanciers were fascinated by this new breed, but soon GCCF became concerned about potential health problems. At first they worried about ear mite infestations and deafness, but these concerns were unfounded. However, GCCF soon became worried about genetic problems, which were very real concerns. By 1971, GCCF closed registration to Scottish Folds and banned further registration in the United Kingdom.
Folds had to move to America to continue as a breed. They were first introduced to the United States in 1970 when three of Snooks’ daughters were sent to New England geneticist Neil Todd, who was researching spontaneous mutations in cats at the Carnivore Genetics Research Center in Newtownville, Massachusetts. Manx breeder Salle Wolf Peters of Pennsylvania acquired one of the cats, a daughter of Snooks named Hester. She was the first of many breeders to fall in love with the Fold, and she was instrumental in recruiting other breeders and advancing and developing the breed.
Since the gene governing the Scottish Fold’s ears is dominant, all Scottish Folds must have at least one folded-ear parent to have folded ears themselves. It was quickly discovered that breeding two Folds increased the number of Fold kittens, but also greatly increased the chances of serious skeletal problems related to the Fold gene. Homozygous Folds (Folds who inherit the dominant folded-ear gene from both parents) are much more likely to develop a genetic condition that causes crippling distortion and enlargement of the bones. Not breeding Fold to Fold reduces the problem, and responsible breeders became very careful not to breed Fold to Fold and to use outcrosses to widen the gene pool. However, controversy arose because of the defect. "Why breed cats who might develop serious health problems?", some fanciers asked.
Despite the controversy, the Scottish Fold was accepted for registration by CFA in 1974. In 1977 the breed was granted provisional status, and in 1978 the breed achieved CFAchampionship status. In this amazingly short period (for a new breed), the Fold earned itself a place in the North American cat fancy. Soon all other associations accepted the breed as well.
The longhaired version of the breed was not officially recognized until the mid-1980s, although longhair kittens have been appearing in Scottish Fold litters since the breed’s beginning. Suzie may have carried the recessive longhair gene. The use of Persians in early breeding programs also spread the gene for long hair. In 1993, the longhaired Scottish Fold was recognized for CFA championship. Today, all North American cat associations accept both lengths for championship. However, the longhair’s name varies depending upon the association. Like some breeds with two hair lengths, the Scottish Fold is considered a single breed in CFA, CCA, TCA and TICA . Other associations consider them separate breeds; AACE, ACFA, and UFO call the longhair the Highland Fold, while CFFcalls it the Longhair Fold.
Siamese
Description
With its big, baby blue eyes, beautiful and distinctive pattern, and sleek, super-short fur, the Siamese is the most universally recognized cat breed on the planet. They are graceful, elegant and long—long bodies, long heads, long tails, long necks, long legs. The unique,tubular body is fine-boned, trim, elongated, svelte and muscular. The head is a medium-size tapering wedge with a flat forehead and a fine, wedge-shaped muzzle. The wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle, with no break at the whiskers. In profile, a straight line can be drawn from the top of the head to the tip of the nose. Ears are very large, pointed, wide at the base and set wide on the head, continuing the lines of the wedge.
The neck is slender, the legs long and thin, and the tail is long and tapering, without kinks. The almond-shaped eyes are medium in size, uncrossed, and deep vivid blue. They are set not less than one eye width apart, with a slight slant toward the nose. Extreme males weigh 7 to 9 pounds; females weigh 5 to 7 pounds. Traditional males weigh 11 to 15 pounds; females weigh 8 to 12 pounds. Show cats can not be flabby, bony or fat.
Although at most cat shows you will see only the variety of Siamese just described-the Extreme-in fact, two varieties exist, each with its own group of proponents who are just as vocal about their chosen variety as the cats are themselves. Regardless of which type you prefer, both make great pets.
The Traditional Siamese, sometimes called the Old Style or Applehead, is a medium to large cat with a rounder, more moderate body and head type. The body is long, substantial and solid, and is neither cobby nor svelte in type, nor in any way extreme. The cat presents a well-balanced appearance with all elements in proportion. The overall impression should be of a cat who is robust and muscular but also lithe and graceful. The head can be described as rounded and broad compared to the Extreme, although it still has that distinctive Oriental look. The ears are alert, not overly large, medium in length, almost as wide at the base as they are tall and rounded at the tip. They are set as much to the side as on the top of the head. Acceptable colors are seal point, chocolate point, blue point and lilac point. There are no allowable outcrosses.
Traditional Siamese are popular as pets, but they can be shown as pedigreed cats only in a few cat associations; UFO and TCA accept the Traditional Siamese under that name, CFFaccepts the Traditional Siamese under the name "Old Style Siamese", and TICA accepts the Traditional Siamese under the name "Thai.". While they cannot be shown in any other organizations (except in the Household Pet category), Traditional Siamese can be registered as Siamese in some associations. According to Traditional fanciers, the Traditional is generally healthier and hardier, and lacks many of the inherited diseases and conditions found in some Extreme bloodlines.
History
The Royal Cat of Siam has been around for many centuries, but no one knows for sure exactly when the breed originated. According to historical accounts, these living works of art were treasured in their native land for hundreds of generations and were the companions of royalty and religious leaders.
The Siamese was described and depicted in The Cat-Book Poems, which confirms that the breed has existed in Siam (now Thailand) for many centuries. The manuscript was written in the city of Ayudha in Siam some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was burned by Burmese invaders (the people, not the cat breed). The illustrations in the manuscript clearly show cats with pale coats and dark points on the ears, tails, faces and feet.
Exactly when the document was written is unknown because the original, painstakingly handwritten and decorated with illustrations and gold leaf, was made of palm leaf or bark. When the document became too fragile, a fresh copy was made and the new scribe would sometimes bring his own interpretation to the work. This makes it difficult to date. But whether it was written more than 650 years ago or only 300, 's still very old-likely the oldest manuscript about cats in existence. A copy of The Cat-Book Poems is kept secured and preserved in Bangkok's National Library.
Because the Siamese was so valued in its native land, the cats were rarely given to outsiders, so the rest of the world didn't become acquainted with the breed until the 1800s. Siamese cats were exhibited in 1871 in the first modern-style cat show at London's Crystal Palace. At the event, one journalist described the new breed as "an unnatural, nightmare kind of cat."
Others fell in love with the exotic breed’s unique color pattern and lithe, graceful body style. In spite of early naysayers and the difficulty of importing the cats, the Siamese rocketed to popularity in Europe. The first Siamese standard, written in 1892 in Great Britain, described the Siamese as "a striking-looking cat of medium size, if weighty, not showing bulk, as this would detract from the admired svelte appearance ... often distinguished by a kink in the tail." At that time, the admired svelte appearance was not nearly as lithe as the Extreme Siamese type of today. Kinked tails and crossed eyes were common, although both are now faults.
The Siamese was brought to the United States around 1890 and quickly became established with the growing American cat fancy. Although the cat fancy endured ups and downs during the troubled years of the Great Depression and World War II, the Siamese maintained its popularity and today is one of the most popular shorthaired breeds.
With its big, baby blue eyes, beautiful and distinctive pattern, and sleek, super-short fur, the Siamese is the most universally recognized cat breed on the planet. They are graceful, elegant and long—long bodies, long heads, long tails, long necks, long legs. The unique,tubular body is fine-boned, trim, elongated, svelte and muscular. The head is a medium-size tapering wedge with a flat forehead and a fine, wedge-shaped muzzle. The wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight lines to the tips of the ears, forming a triangle, with no break at the whiskers. In profile, a straight line can be drawn from the top of the head to the tip of the nose. Ears are very large, pointed, wide at the base and set wide on the head, continuing the lines of the wedge.
The neck is slender, the legs long and thin, and the tail is long and tapering, without kinks. The almond-shaped eyes are medium in size, uncrossed, and deep vivid blue. They are set not less than one eye width apart, with a slight slant toward the nose. Extreme males weigh 7 to 9 pounds; females weigh 5 to 7 pounds. Traditional males weigh 11 to 15 pounds; females weigh 8 to 12 pounds. Show cats can not be flabby, bony or fat.
Although at most cat shows you will see only the variety of Siamese just described-the Extreme-in fact, two varieties exist, each with its own group of proponents who are just as vocal about their chosen variety as the cats are themselves. Regardless of which type you prefer, both make great pets.
The Traditional Siamese, sometimes called the Old Style or Applehead, is a medium to large cat with a rounder, more moderate body and head type. The body is long, substantial and solid, and is neither cobby nor svelte in type, nor in any way extreme. The cat presents a well-balanced appearance with all elements in proportion. The overall impression should be of a cat who is robust and muscular but also lithe and graceful. The head can be described as rounded and broad compared to the Extreme, although it still has that distinctive Oriental look. The ears are alert, not overly large, medium in length, almost as wide at the base as they are tall and rounded at the tip. They are set as much to the side as on the top of the head. Acceptable colors are seal point, chocolate point, blue point and lilac point. There are no allowable outcrosses.
Traditional Siamese are popular as pets, but they can be shown as pedigreed cats only in a few cat associations; UFO and TCA accept the Traditional Siamese under that name, CFFaccepts the Traditional Siamese under the name "Old Style Siamese", and TICA accepts the Traditional Siamese under the name "Thai.". While they cannot be shown in any other organizations (except in the Household Pet category), Traditional Siamese can be registered as Siamese in some associations. According to Traditional fanciers, the Traditional is generally healthier and hardier, and lacks many of the inherited diseases and conditions found in some Extreme bloodlines.
History
The Royal Cat of Siam has been around for many centuries, but no one knows for sure exactly when the breed originated. According to historical accounts, these living works of art were treasured in their native land for hundreds of generations and were the companions of royalty and religious leaders.
The Siamese was described and depicted in The Cat-Book Poems, which confirms that the breed has existed in Siam (now Thailand) for many centuries. The manuscript was written in the city of Ayudha in Siam some time between 1350 when the city was founded and 1767 when the city was burned by Burmese invaders (the people, not the cat breed). The illustrations in the manuscript clearly show cats with pale coats and dark points on the ears, tails, faces and feet.
Exactly when the document was written is unknown because the original, painstakingly handwritten and decorated with illustrations and gold leaf, was made of palm leaf or bark. When the document became too fragile, a fresh copy was made and the new scribe would sometimes bring his own interpretation to the work. This makes it difficult to date. But whether it was written more than 650 years ago or only 300, 's still very old-likely the oldest manuscript about cats in existence. A copy of The Cat-Book Poems is kept secured and preserved in Bangkok's National Library.
Because the Siamese was so valued in its native land, the cats were rarely given to outsiders, so the rest of the world didn't become acquainted with the breed until the 1800s. Siamese cats were exhibited in 1871 in the first modern-style cat show at London's Crystal Palace. At the event, one journalist described the new breed as "an unnatural, nightmare kind of cat."
Others fell in love with the exotic breed’s unique color pattern and lithe, graceful body style. In spite of early naysayers and the difficulty of importing the cats, the Siamese rocketed to popularity in Europe. The first Siamese standard, written in 1892 in Great Britain, described the Siamese as "a striking-looking cat of medium size, if weighty, not showing bulk, as this would detract from the admired svelte appearance ... often distinguished by a kink in the tail." At that time, the admired svelte appearance was not nearly as lithe as the Extreme Siamese type of today. Kinked tails and crossed eyes were common, although both are now faults.
The Siamese was brought to the United States around 1890 and quickly became established with the growing American cat fancy. Although the cat fancy endured ups and downs during the troubled years of the Great Depression and World War II, the Siamese maintained its popularity and today is one of the most popular shorthaired breeds.
Siberian
Description
The Siberian is a large, strong, luxuriously furred cat who takes up to five years to attain its full size and splendor. At maturity, these cats are powerfully built, with an overall appearance of strength and size, along with excellent physical condition. However, the facial expression reveals the breed’s true nature: sweet, loving, and thoroughly domesticated.
The overall appearance is one of roundness and circles rather than rectangles and triangles. The body is medium in length and well muscled, with the back arched slightly higher than the shoulders. A barrel-shaped, firm belly gives a sense of solid weight. The boning and musculature are substantial. On average, males weigh 12 to 16 pounds and females weigh 8 to 12 pounds, although some breeders report larger sizes (nothing close to 45 pounds, though). Size as well as coat colors and patterns are secondary to body type. No outcrosses are allowed.
The legs are medium in length and have substantial boning. The hind legs are powerful and slightly longer than the front legs. Because of this, Siberians are extremely agile and are exceptional leapers. The feet are big and rounded with toe tufts desirable. The tail is medium in length, somewhat shorter than the length of the body. It’s wide at the base, tapers slightly to a blunt tip without thickening or kinks, and is evenly and thicklyfurnished.
The head is a medium to large modified wedge with rounded contours, in good proportion to the body, set on a rounded, sturdy, well-muscled neck. The head is broader at the top of the skull and narrows slightly to a full, rounded muzzle. The muzzle is moderately short, full and rounded. It curves slightly, but the transition between the side of the head and the muzzle is gentle and inconspicuous.
The top of the head is almost flat, with a gentle slope from the forehead to the nose and a slight concave curvature before the tip of the nose when viewed in profile. The cheekbones are neither high-set nor prominent. There’s a slight dome between the ears and an almost flat area on the forehead. The chin is well rounded but not protruding and is in line with the nose.
The ears are medium-large, rounded, wide at the base and tilted slightly forward. They are set as much on the sides of the head as on the top. The hair over the backs of the ears is short and thin. From the middle of the ear, the furnishings become longer and cover the base of the ear. The eyes are medium to large and almost round. The outer corners are angled slightly toward the base of the ears. The eyes are set more than one eye width apart and should be open, alert and expressive. There is no relationship between eye color and coat or color pattern, except for pointed pattern Siberians, who have blue eyes.
As befits a cat who has survived Siberia’s harsh winters, the Siberian has a moderately long to long triple-layered coat. The tight undercoat in mature cats is thicker in cold weather. The hair on the shoulder blades and lower part of the chest is thick and slightly shorter. An abundant, full collar ruff sets off the head in adults. The hair may thicken to curls on the belly and britches , but a wavy coat is not typical of the breed. The texture varies from coarse to soft, according to the color and pattern.
Before 2011, in CFA all colors and patterns with or without white are accepted, with the exception of those showing hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender (lilac), or these combinations with white. As of 2011, however, CFA joined the other associations and accepted all colors, patterns, and combinations, including the pointed pattern. Colors are accepted with or without white; white is allowed in any amount and in all areas. White or off-white is allowed on the chin, breast and stomach of tabbies. Buttons, spots and lockets are also allowed. Strong colors and clear patterns are desirable.
History
The Siberian may be new to North America, but it’s not a new breed. Russian longhairs have been around for hundreds of years. According to some Siberian fanciers, Russians immigrating (or being exiled) to Siberia brought their cats with them. Due to the merciless climate, these cats developed-or acquired through mating with the local cats-longer hair, weatherproof coats and larger, stockier bodies.
The Russian cats who basked in the limelight at the first modern cat show in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London may or may not have been Siberians, since apparently no records of these cats were kept in Russia at that time. Harrison Weir, who organized the show and wrote the standards by which all the breeds were judged, referred to the cats as Russian Longhairs. He wrote that he was not able to discover from where in Russia such cats originated.
Until the 1980s, the government of the former Soviet Union discouraged its citizens from owning any kind of household pet, pedigreed or otherwise, because of housing and food shortages. However those who could afford to keep and breed dogs and cats did so; owning handsome companion animals was a status symbol. No organizations existed and few records were kept. Other cats lived in Russia during that time as well, but they earned their own keep by working as perfect mouse traps in barns, fields, and factories. It’s likely that Siberians developed in just that way, given their hardy constitutions, strong jaws, and large agile bodies.
In 1987, the government lifted restrictions on house pets, and breeders and fanciers formed cat clubs and began keeping breeding records. In 1988, the first Russian cat show was held in Moscow, and the Siberian was there in fine form. Whether these cats actually originated in Siberia is anyone’s guess; it’s possible the breed was so named to give the breed an air of romance and mystery.
The end of the Cold War opened the doors for Siberians to be imported into the United States. The first Siberians arrived in America as the result of a trade in the early 1990s.Himalayan breeder Elizabeth Terrell, then of Louisiana, read an editorial in a publication of the Atlantic Himalayan Club that said no Himalayans existed in the former Soviet Union. Breeders were asked to donate or trade Himalayans to help establish the breed. Terrell contacted Nelli Sachuk, a member of the newly formed Kotofei Cat Club (pronounced COT-ah-fay) that was affiliated with the international division of ACFA. Kotofei was one of the two Russian cat clubs to provide official pedigrees (the Fauna Club was the other). Terrell arranged to send Sachuk two Himalayans, a male and a pregnant female, and receive several Siberians in return.
After many months of delays, headaches and expense (communicating with the former Soviet Union wasn’t easy and for a time Sachuk’s letters had to be hand-carried out of Russia by visitors to the United States), in June of 1990 Terrell finally received her long-awaited cat comrades. She received three Siberian kittens: a brown tabby with white male named Kaliostro Vasenjkovich, a brown tabby with white female named Ofelia Romanova, and a brown tabby female named Naina Romanova. Soon after, she received the kittens’ metrukas (certificates of birth), which detailed their names, dates of birth, colors and patterns.
Just a month after Terrell received her Siberians, fancier David Boehm imported Siberians of his own. Instead of waiting for the cats to be sent, he booked a flight to Russia and bought every Siberian he could find. On July 4th he returned with his collection of 15 cats. He didn’t find out until he got back that he wasn’t the first to import Siberians. However, his Siberians did produce the first litter in North America, and were invaluable in enlarging the gene pool.
Terrell contacted the cat associations to announce her new arrivals and to start the process toward acceptance for the Siberian. She kept careful records over the years, which provided documentation. She asked for the help of breeders, judges and fanciers, and many mobilized to support, promote and propagate the breed. Since ACFA was affiliated with the Kotofei Cat Club, this association was the first to accept the breed for registration. Within several months, many other associations had followed suit.
Terrell received copies of the Siberian breed standards (in Russian) with her Siberians. She had them translated and, with the help of the Kotofei Cat Club, adapted them to the American associations’ formats. The Russian breeders also sent her a letter warning her that not every cat from Russia called a Siberian is actually a pedigreed Siberian, and that many people call all longhaired cats Siberians. This was particularly true when the Siberian became popular in America; some people were eager to sell any longhaired cat to Americans looking for Siberians.
In 1992, Siberian breeders started an American breed club called Taiga (pronounced Tie-GAH, a Russian word for forest) and provided award rosettes to any show in which a Siberian was entered. The best Siberian in each ring was presented with a special Taiga rosette. Any Siberian who didn’t take an award at a show was given a Certificate of Appreciation and an Honorable Mention ribbon. The club wanted to encourage Siberian fanciers to get these cats into the show ring, since show numbers were important in advancing the breed.
The Siberian has purred its way into the hearts of American cat fanciers in record time. The Siberian, known as the Siberian Cat in a number of associations and as the Traditional Siberian Forest Cat in TCA, is accepted for championship by all North American associations. While still rare, the breed has a solid fan base. Breeders usually maintain waiting lists since demand exceeds supply.
The Siberian is a large, strong, luxuriously furred cat who takes up to five years to attain its full size and splendor. At maturity, these cats are powerfully built, with an overall appearance of strength and size, along with excellent physical condition. However, the facial expression reveals the breed’s true nature: sweet, loving, and thoroughly domesticated.
The overall appearance is one of roundness and circles rather than rectangles and triangles. The body is medium in length and well muscled, with the back arched slightly higher than the shoulders. A barrel-shaped, firm belly gives a sense of solid weight. The boning and musculature are substantial. On average, males weigh 12 to 16 pounds and females weigh 8 to 12 pounds, although some breeders report larger sizes (nothing close to 45 pounds, though). Size as well as coat colors and patterns are secondary to body type. No outcrosses are allowed.
The legs are medium in length and have substantial boning. The hind legs are powerful and slightly longer than the front legs. Because of this, Siberians are extremely agile and are exceptional leapers. The feet are big and rounded with toe tufts desirable. The tail is medium in length, somewhat shorter than the length of the body. It’s wide at the base, tapers slightly to a blunt tip without thickening or kinks, and is evenly and thicklyfurnished.
The head is a medium to large modified wedge with rounded contours, in good proportion to the body, set on a rounded, sturdy, well-muscled neck. The head is broader at the top of the skull and narrows slightly to a full, rounded muzzle. The muzzle is moderately short, full and rounded. It curves slightly, but the transition between the side of the head and the muzzle is gentle and inconspicuous.
The top of the head is almost flat, with a gentle slope from the forehead to the nose and a slight concave curvature before the tip of the nose when viewed in profile. The cheekbones are neither high-set nor prominent. There’s a slight dome between the ears and an almost flat area on the forehead. The chin is well rounded but not protruding and is in line with the nose.
The ears are medium-large, rounded, wide at the base and tilted slightly forward. They are set as much on the sides of the head as on the top. The hair over the backs of the ears is short and thin. From the middle of the ear, the furnishings become longer and cover the base of the ear. The eyes are medium to large and almost round. The outer corners are angled slightly toward the base of the ears. The eyes are set more than one eye width apart and should be open, alert and expressive. There is no relationship between eye color and coat or color pattern, except for pointed pattern Siberians, who have blue eyes.
As befits a cat who has survived Siberia’s harsh winters, the Siberian has a moderately long to long triple-layered coat. The tight undercoat in mature cats is thicker in cold weather. The hair on the shoulder blades and lower part of the chest is thick and slightly shorter. An abundant, full collar ruff sets off the head in adults. The hair may thicken to curls on the belly and britches , but a wavy coat is not typical of the breed. The texture varies from coarse to soft, according to the color and pattern.
Before 2011, in CFA all colors and patterns with or without white are accepted, with the exception of those showing hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lavender (lilac), or these combinations with white. As of 2011, however, CFA joined the other associations and accepted all colors, patterns, and combinations, including the pointed pattern. Colors are accepted with or without white; white is allowed in any amount and in all areas. White or off-white is allowed on the chin, breast and stomach of tabbies. Buttons, spots and lockets are also allowed. Strong colors and clear patterns are desirable.
History
The Siberian may be new to North America, but it’s not a new breed. Russian longhairs have been around for hundreds of years. According to some Siberian fanciers, Russians immigrating (or being exiled) to Siberia brought their cats with them. Due to the merciless climate, these cats developed-or acquired through mating with the local cats-longer hair, weatherproof coats and larger, stockier bodies.
The Russian cats who basked in the limelight at the first modern cat show in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London may or may not have been Siberians, since apparently no records of these cats were kept in Russia at that time. Harrison Weir, who organized the show and wrote the standards by which all the breeds were judged, referred to the cats as Russian Longhairs. He wrote that he was not able to discover from where in Russia such cats originated.
Until the 1980s, the government of the former Soviet Union discouraged its citizens from owning any kind of household pet, pedigreed or otherwise, because of housing and food shortages. However those who could afford to keep and breed dogs and cats did so; owning handsome companion animals was a status symbol. No organizations existed and few records were kept. Other cats lived in Russia during that time as well, but they earned their own keep by working as perfect mouse traps in barns, fields, and factories. It’s likely that Siberians developed in just that way, given their hardy constitutions, strong jaws, and large agile bodies.
In 1987, the government lifted restrictions on house pets, and breeders and fanciers formed cat clubs and began keeping breeding records. In 1988, the first Russian cat show was held in Moscow, and the Siberian was there in fine form. Whether these cats actually originated in Siberia is anyone’s guess; it’s possible the breed was so named to give the breed an air of romance and mystery.
The end of the Cold War opened the doors for Siberians to be imported into the United States. The first Siberians arrived in America as the result of a trade in the early 1990s.Himalayan breeder Elizabeth Terrell, then of Louisiana, read an editorial in a publication of the Atlantic Himalayan Club that said no Himalayans existed in the former Soviet Union. Breeders were asked to donate or trade Himalayans to help establish the breed. Terrell contacted Nelli Sachuk, a member of the newly formed Kotofei Cat Club (pronounced COT-ah-fay) that was affiliated with the international division of ACFA. Kotofei was one of the two Russian cat clubs to provide official pedigrees (the Fauna Club was the other). Terrell arranged to send Sachuk two Himalayans, a male and a pregnant female, and receive several Siberians in return.
After many months of delays, headaches and expense (communicating with the former Soviet Union wasn’t easy and for a time Sachuk’s letters had to be hand-carried out of Russia by visitors to the United States), in June of 1990 Terrell finally received her long-awaited cat comrades. She received three Siberian kittens: a brown tabby with white male named Kaliostro Vasenjkovich, a brown tabby with white female named Ofelia Romanova, and a brown tabby female named Naina Romanova. Soon after, she received the kittens’ metrukas (certificates of birth), which detailed their names, dates of birth, colors and patterns.
Just a month after Terrell received her Siberians, fancier David Boehm imported Siberians of his own. Instead of waiting for the cats to be sent, he booked a flight to Russia and bought every Siberian he could find. On July 4th he returned with his collection of 15 cats. He didn’t find out until he got back that he wasn’t the first to import Siberians. However, his Siberians did produce the first litter in North America, and were invaluable in enlarging the gene pool.
Terrell contacted the cat associations to announce her new arrivals and to start the process toward acceptance for the Siberian. She kept careful records over the years, which provided documentation. She asked for the help of breeders, judges and fanciers, and many mobilized to support, promote and propagate the breed. Since ACFA was affiliated with the Kotofei Cat Club, this association was the first to accept the breed for registration. Within several months, many other associations had followed suit.
Terrell received copies of the Siberian breed standards (in Russian) with her Siberians. She had them translated and, with the help of the Kotofei Cat Club, adapted them to the American associations’ formats. The Russian breeders also sent her a letter warning her that not every cat from Russia called a Siberian is actually a pedigreed Siberian, and that many people call all longhaired cats Siberians. This was particularly true when the Siberian became popular in America; some people were eager to sell any longhaired cat to Americans looking for Siberians.
In 1992, Siberian breeders started an American breed club called Taiga (pronounced Tie-GAH, a Russian word for forest) and provided award rosettes to any show in which a Siberian was entered. The best Siberian in each ring was presented with a special Taiga rosette. Any Siberian who didn’t take an award at a show was given a Certificate of Appreciation and an Honorable Mention ribbon. The club wanted to encourage Siberian fanciers to get these cats into the show ring, since show numbers were important in advancing the breed.
The Siberian has purred its way into the hearts of American cat fanciers in record time. The Siberian, known as the Siberian Cat in a number of associations and as the Traditional Siberian Forest Cat in TCA, is accepted for championship by all North American associations. While still rare, the breed has a solid fan base. Breeders usually maintain waiting lists since demand exceeds supply.
Singapura
Description
The Pura is a small cat with large eyes and ears. The Pura’s body is moderately stocky and muscular with a firm midsection. The legs are heavy and muscled at the body, tapering down to small, short, oval feet. The tail length is short of the shoulder when laid alongside the torso. It tends toward slender but is not whippy and has a blunt tip. Adult males weigh 6 to 8 pounds; adult females weight 4 to 6 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The skull is rounded from front to back and from side to side, with rounded width at the outer eye narrowing to a definite whisker break and a medium-short, broad muzzle with a blunt nose. In profile, the rounded skull has a slight curve well below eye level. The chin is well developed and the neck is short and thick. The ears are large, slightly pointed, wide open at the base and have a deep cup. The ear-set is medium. The outer lines of the ear extend upward at a slightly wide angle. The eyes are large, neither protruding nor recessed, almond shaped, wide open but showing a slant. The eyes are not less than one eye width apart. Acceptable colors are hazel, green and yellow, with brilliance preferred.
The coat is fine and very short with a silky texture, lying close to the body. Only one color, sepia, and one pattern, agouti (also called ticked tabby), is accepted. The color is dark brown ticking on a warm, old ivory ground color. Each hair must be long enough to have at least two bands of dark ticking separated by light bands. The first light band is next to the skin and the last dark band is at the tip of the hairs. The muzzle, chin, chest and underside are the color of unbleached muslin. The cat shows some barring on the inner front legs and the back knees only. The fur between the toes is dark brown. Facial markings with dark brown lines extend from the brows and outside corners of the eyes, and downward alongside the nose bridge from the inner corners of the eyes. Cheekbone shading is desirable.
History
The Singapura took its name from the Malay word for the Republic of Singapore, Singapura, which means "lion city." Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Singapuras are known as little lions of love. Located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, the island city-state of Singapore is only 263 square miles, the smallest country in Southeast Asia. Because Singapore is located at a focal point of international shipping, the island has its share of feral felines who prowl the fishing docks, hoping to grab a much-needed meal. These cats vary in color, body type and tail length.
In some pocket areas, small brown cats with ticked coats fought for their share of fish, and these cats are thought to be the foundation of the Singapura breed. These cats were disdainfully called "drain cats" because they often took refuge in the city’s storm drains. Feral cats were treated as nuisances and efforts were made to exterminate them, until an American breeder discovered the ticked felines and promoted them as a new breed. In the 1990s when the Singapura became popular in America, the breed became the official mascot of Singapore. An ad campaign featuring the breed beckoned tourists, and two statues were positioned on the Singapore River in the area where the breed was said to have originated. Interestingly, the Singapuras used as models for the statues were imported from the United States.
These former drain cats came to the attention of American cat fanciers in 1975. Tommy Meadow, a former allbreed judge for CFF and breeder of Abyssinians and Burmese, lived for a time in Singapore with her husband, Hal. In 1975, they returned to the United States with three ticked, sepia-colored cats named Tess, Tickle and Puss, whom Tommy said she had found on the streets of Singapore. These cats became the foundation for the breed she named the Singapura. A fourth cat was obtained from the Singapore SPCA by Brad and Sheila Bowers in 1980, and this cat was also used in the breed’s bloodlines.
Other breeders soon joined the Meadows in their efforts to promote their new breed, and in 1982 the breed was accepted for CFA registration. In 1984, Tommy Meadow founded the United Singapura Society (USS) to bring together Singapura fanciers. In 1988, CFAaccepted the breed for championship status. Tommy established guidelines for USS members to follow, which included a test mating program to eliminate the undesirable solid color gene from the bloodlines and a consolidated waiting list to distribute the limited number of kittens to the large number of expectant owners. The USS treasury kept 10 percent of the purchase price of each kitten sold.
As can happen when groups of humans feel passionately about something, disagreements over the USS’s policies began to divide the Singapura fanciers in the mid-1980s. Some breeders were concerned about the small gene pool and the small litter sizes, since the breed was developed from only four cats. Because of this and other disputes, some Singapura breeders broke away from the USS and formed other groups. In the late 1980s, breeders formed the International Singapura Alliance (ISA). One of their main goals was to persuade CFA to allow the registration of additional cats from Singapore to expand the limited gene pool, since no outcrosses were allowed.
More controversy arose in 1987, when breeder Jerry Mayes made a cat-gathering trip to Singapore. With the help of the Singapore Cat Club, Mayes brought back a dozen or so Singapore cats, and some startling news: that when Hal and Tommy Meadow entered Singapore in 1974, they already had three cats named Tess, Tickle and Puss. Mayes alerted Singapore reporter Sandra Davie, and in August 1990 Davie interviewed Tommy Meadow for an article in Singapore’s The Straits Times. Tommy admitted to a reporter that these three cats, which she originally claimed she found in Singapore in 1974, were really the grandchildren of four cats Hal Meadow sent home to Tommy when he was in Singapore in 1971.
In 1991, the CFA board of directors asked Tommy and Hal Meadow to explain the discrepancy. The Meadows said that in 1971 Hal had gathered four cats from the docks of Singapore and sent them to Tommy. Because of the politically sensitive nature of Hal’s work, Hal had asked Tommy not to tell anyone about the cats’ true origins. Hal produced passports and visas to document his 1971 visits to Singapore, but explained that no papers were filed for the cats since they were transported aboard a company ship. After deliberation, the CFA board found no probable cause of wrongdoing and voted to take no action against the Meadows.
Some breeders felt that it mattered little whether the Singapura was imported from Singapore in 1971 or in 1975. However, other breeders weren’t satisfied with the explanation, and some believed the three original cats were actually Abyssinian-Burmese crosses bred in Texas and imported to Singapore as part of a money-making scheme. Since some breeders were already unhappy with the USS’s policies, the controversy fueled the rift.
Despite the discord among the human fanciers, the Singapura gained new breeders and association support, since fanciers agreed on one thing: Singapuras are wonderful cats. Today, although the Singapura is still a rare breed, it is recognized worldwide and is being shown and bred in many countries besides the United States.
The Pura is a small cat with large eyes and ears. The Pura’s body is moderately stocky and muscular with a firm midsection. The legs are heavy and muscled at the body, tapering down to small, short, oval feet. The tail length is short of the shoulder when laid alongside the torso. It tends toward slender but is not whippy and has a blunt tip. Adult males weigh 6 to 8 pounds; adult females weight 4 to 6 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The skull is rounded from front to back and from side to side, with rounded width at the outer eye narrowing to a definite whisker break and a medium-short, broad muzzle with a blunt nose. In profile, the rounded skull has a slight curve well below eye level. The chin is well developed and the neck is short and thick. The ears are large, slightly pointed, wide open at the base and have a deep cup. The ear-set is medium. The outer lines of the ear extend upward at a slightly wide angle. The eyes are large, neither protruding nor recessed, almond shaped, wide open but showing a slant. The eyes are not less than one eye width apart. Acceptable colors are hazel, green and yellow, with brilliance preferred.
The coat is fine and very short with a silky texture, lying close to the body. Only one color, sepia, and one pattern, agouti (also called ticked tabby), is accepted. The color is dark brown ticking on a warm, old ivory ground color. Each hair must be long enough to have at least two bands of dark ticking separated by light bands. The first light band is next to the skin and the last dark band is at the tip of the hairs. The muzzle, chin, chest and underside are the color of unbleached muslin. The cat shows some barring on the inner front legs and the back knees only. The fur between the toes is dark brown. Facial markings with dark brown lines extend from the brows and outside corners of the eyes, and downward alongside the nose bridge from the inner corners of the eyes. Cheekbone shading is desirable.
History
The Singapura took its name from the Malay word for the Republic of Singapore, Singapura, which means "lion city." Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Singapuras are known as little lions of love. Located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, the island city-state of Singapore is only 263 square miles, the smallest country in Southeast Asia. Because Singapore is located at a focal point of international shipping, the island has its share of feral felines who prowl the fishing docks, hoping to grab a much-needed meal. These cats vary in color, body type and tail length.
In some pocket areas, small brown cats with ticked coats fought for their share of fish, and these cats are thought to be the foundation of the Singapura breed. These cats were disdainfully called "drain cats" because they often took refuge in the city’s storm drains. Feral cats were treated as nuisances and efforts were made to exterminate them, until an American breeder discovered the ticked felines and promoted them as a new breed. In the 1990s when the Singapura became popular in America, the breed became the official mascot of Singapore. An ad campaign featuring the breed beckoned tourists, and two statues were positioned on the Singapore River in the area where the breed was said to have originated. Interestingly, the Singapuras used as models for the statues were imported from the United States.
These former drain cats came to the attention of American cat fanciers in 1975. Tommy Meadow, a former allbreed judge for CFF and breeder of Abyssinians and Burmese, lived for a time in Singapore with her husband, Hal. In 1975, they returned to the United States with three ticked, sepia-colored cats named Tess, Tickle and Puss, whom Tommy said she had found on the streets of Singapore. These cats became the foundation for the breed she named the Singapura. A fourth cat was obtained from the Singapore SPCA by Brad and Sheila Bowers in 1980, and this cat was also used in the breed’s bloodlines.
Other breeders soon joined the Meadows in their efforts to promote their new breed, and in 1982 the breed was accepted for CFA registration. In 1984, Tommy Meadow founded the United Singapura Society (USS) to bring together Singapura fanciers. In 1988, CFAaccepted the breed for championship status. Tommy established guidelines for USS members to follow, which included a test mating program to eliminate the undesirable solid color gene from the bloodlines and a consolidated waiting list to distribute the limited number of kittens to the large number of expectant owners. The USS treasury kept 10 percent of the purchase price of each kitten sold.
As can happen when groups of humans feel passionately about something, disagreements over the USS’s policies began to divide the Singapura fanciers in the mid-1980s. Some breeders were concerned about the small gene pool and the small litter sizes, since the breed was developed from only four cats. Because of this and other disputes, some Singapura breeders broke away from the USS and formed other groups. In the late 1980s, breeders formed the International Singapura Alliance (ISA). One of their main goals was to persuade CFA to allow the registration of additional cats from Singapore to expand the limited gene pool, since no outcrosses were allowed.
More controversy arose in 1987, when breeder Jerry Mayes made a cat-gathering trip to Singapore. With the help of the Singapore Cat Club, Mayes brought back a dozen or so Singapore cats, and some startling news: that when Hal and Tommy Meadow entered Singapore in 1974, they already had three cats named Tess, Tickle and Puss. Mayes alerted Singapore reporter Sandra Davie, and in August 1990 Davie interviewed Tommy Meadow for an article in Singapore’s The Straits Times. Tommy admitted to a reporter that these three cats, which she originally claimed she found in Singapore in 1974, were really the grandchildren of four cats Hal Meadow sent home to Tommy when he was in Singapore in 1971.
In 1991, the CFA board of directors asked Tommy and Hal Meadow to explain the discrepancy. The Meadows said that in 1971 Hal had gathered four cats from the docks of Singapore and sent them to Tommy. Because of the politically sensitive nature of Hal’s work, Hal had asked Tommy not to tell anyone about the cats’ true origins. Hal produced passports and visas to document his 1971 visits to Singapore, but explained that no papers were filed for the cats since they were transported aboard a company ship. After deliberation, the CFA board found no probable cause of wrongdoing and voted to take no action against the Meadows.
Some breeders felt that it mattered little whether the Singapura was imported from Singapore in 1971 or in 1975. However, other breeders weren’t satisfied with the explanation, and some believed the three original cats were actually Abyssinian-Burmese crosses bred in Texas and imported to Singapore as part of a money-making scheme. Since some breeders were already unhappy with the USS’s policies, the controversy fueled the rift.
Despite the discord among the human fanciers, the Singapura gained new breeders and association support, since fanciers agreed on one thing: Singapuras are wonderful cats. Today, although the Singapura is still a rare breed, it is recognized worldwide and is being shown and bred in many countries besides the United States.
Snowshoe
Description
Snowshoes are often favored by people who like the Siamese look but are not fond of the extremely svelte body and head type of today’s show Siamese. A number of today’s Showshoe breeders also breed Traditional Siamese and other traditional breeds. The Snowshoe is a medium-sized shorthaired cat with a semi-foreign body style that combines the heftiness of its American Shorthair ancestors with the body length of its Siamese ancestors. Power and agility are evident, but with the look of a runner rather than a weight lifter. The body is moderately long with surprising weight for its size, firm and muscular but neither extreme, Oriental, nor cobby. The legs are of good length with medium boning and in proportion to the torso. The tail is medium at the base, slightly and gradually tapering to the end; the length is in proportion to the torso.
The head is a broad modified wedge shape with high-set cheekbones with gentle contours; the head is nearly as wide as it is long and resembles an equilateral triangle. The muzzle is neither extremely broad, square, nor pointed, but is in proportion to the head with a gentle break . The nose is of good length in proportion to the rest of the head. In profile, two distinct, even planes can be seen, separated by a slight stop or gentle curve at the nose bridge. The chin is firm. The ears are medium in size, alert, slightly rounded at the tips and broad at the base. The eyes are medium in size, oval or rounded oval with greater length than width, and slanted to the base of the ears. The eyes do not protrude. Bright, sparkling blue eyes that stand out against the contrasting color of the points is preferred; in TICA any shade of blue is acceptable.
The coat is smooth, short to medium-short, moderately close-lying and single-coated. As for pattern, Snowshoes are like snowflakes—no two are alike. However, color and pattern are considered to be just as important as type. In most cat associations, the Snowshoe breed standard is strict when it comes to the acceptable pattern. The ideal Snowshoe is a pointed cat, with the color of the mask, tail, ears and legs dense, clearly defined, and all the same shade. The mask covers the entire face, except in the white areas, and may be connected to the ears by tracings. Color patterns consist of the "preferred" white patterning and "accepted" minimum/maximum white patterning. The preferred pattern consists of a white inverted "V" extending from the mouth to the whisker tufts above the eyes, with even white boots extending to the bend of the ankle on the front feet and to just below the hock on the back feet.
The acceptable minimum/maximum pattern allows as little as a pronounced solid white mustache or an unbroken blaze, to a "V" as broad as halfway under the eyes with or without a white chin. The front feet have white toes to as high as the dew claw and the back feet are white from one-fourth inch above the toes to as high as one-fourth inch above the hock joint at its point. White on the feet should be as even and regular as possible on both the front and back feet.
In TICA, however, two patterns are accepted: mitted and bicolor. In mitted, the ideal cat is about one-quarter white with white limited to the paws, back legs, chest and chin. The ideal bicolor has an inverted white V on the face that begins at the middle of the forehead and continues to the muzzle. White areas are usually on the legs, thighs, chest and chin; the bicolor is usually one-quarter to one-half white, with less white preferred. TICA’s standard also allows for more variation in pattern in show-quality cats. Some Snowshoes who are considered pet quality in the other associations can be shown for championship in TICA.
Allowed point color also depends upon the association. Most associations accept only seal point and blue point, while TICA accepts chocolate, lilac, cinnamon and fawn, red and cream.
Adult males weigh 9 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 10 pounds. Females have finer boning. Depending upon the association, allowable outcrosses are American Shorthairs, Oriental Shorthairs and Siamese, although most breeders don’t use the American Shorthair. The Traditional Siamese is often used as an outcross since the body and head types are much closer to the Snowshoe ideal than that of the Extreme Siamese.
History
In the early 1960s, Siamese breeder Dorothy Hinds-Daugherty of Philadelphia found three unique kittens in an otherwise ordinary Siamese litter. These kittens had the Siamesepointed pattern but each also had four white mittens (white paws). Most breeders would be horrified to find the white spotting factor (controlled by a gene responsible for mittens and other white spots) in their purebred Siamese litters because it’s not supposed to be there, but Hinds-Daugherty was charmed by the look of these tiny nonconformists. Since the happy mistake was never again repeated by accident, she set out to reproduce the look by breeding a seal point Siamese with a bicolor American Shorthair (then called the Domestic Shorthair). The resulting offspring lacked the Siamese pointed pattern, since both parents must possess the recessive gene for the pattern to appear in the offspring; two copies of a recessive gene, one from each parent, are necessary for offspring to exhibit the trait. By breeding the resulting kittens to Siamese mates, however, she achieved the desired result. She named the new breed Snowshoe, since the kittens looked like they had just romped through glistening snow. Continued breeding with bicolor American Shorthairs produced a variety with a white splash in the shape of an inverted V on the nose and muzzle. She promoted her new and as-yet-unrecognized breed at local shows. Contrary to some early published sources, the Snowshoe is not a shorthairedBirman and has never been outcrossed to the Birman or the Ragdoll.
After a few years, Hinds-Daugherty abandoned her breeding program. Fortunately for Snowshoe fans, breeder Vikki Olander of Virginia continued working with the breed. She wrote a breed standard, recruited other breeders, and in 1974 obtained experimental status with CFF and the American Cat Association (ACA).
By 1977, however, Olander was the only Snowshoe breeder left, as one by one the breeders dropped out, despairing of ever producing Snowshoes that would meet the standard. After struggling for three years to keep the breed going, Olander was ready to quit, too. Help arrived just in time: Jim Hoffman and Georgia Kuhnell contacted CFF for information about the Snowshoe and CFF referred them to Olander, the only breeder left who was registered with them. Hoffman and Kuhnell took up the challenge and recruited new enthusiasts to work with the breed. Olander gave up the effort in 1989 because her fiancé was allergic to cats, but by then other dedicated breeders had joined the elite group.
Ultimately, persistence paid off. CFF granted championship status in 1982. Breeder Maia Sornson joined the group in the early 1980s and was instrumental in advancing the breed to ACFA championship in 1990. TICA joined the crowd in 1993. Today, most United States cat associations recognize the breed for championship status, the notable exceptions beingCFA and CCA. Breeders are working on recognition for the Snowshoe in the CFA Miscellaneous class, the first step toward possible championship acceptance.
Snowshoes are often favored by people who like the Siamese look but are not fond of the extremely svelte body and head type of today’s show Siamese. A number of today’s Showshoe breeders also breed Traditional Siamese and other traditional breeds. The Snowshoe is a medium-sized shorthaired cat with a semi-foreign body style that combines the heftiness of its American Shorthair ancestors with the body length of its Siamese ancestors. Power and agility are evident, but with the look of a runner rather than a weight lifter. The body is moderately long with surprising weight for its size, firm and muscular but neither extreme, Oriental, nor cobby. The legs are of good length with medium boning and in proportion to the torso. The tail is medium at the base, slightly and gradually tapering to the end; the length is in proportion to the torso.
The head is a broad modified wedge shape with high-set cheekbones with gentle contours; the head is nearly as wide as it is long and resembles an equilateral triangle. The muzzle is neither extremely broad, square, nor pointed, but is in proportion to the head with a gentle break . The nose is of good length in proportion to the rest of the head. In profile, two distinct, even planes can be seen, separated by a slight stop or gentle curve at the nose bridge. The chin is firm. The ears are medium in size, alert, slightly rounded at the tips and broad at the base. The eyes are medium in size, oval or rounded oval with greater length than width, and slanted to the base of the ears. The eyes do not protrude. Bright, sparkling blue eyes that stand out against the contrasting color of the points is preferred; in TICA any shade of blue is acceptable.
The coat is smooth, short to medium-short, moderately close-lying and single-coated. As for pattern, Snowshoes are like snowflakes—no two are alike. However, color and pattern are considered to be just as important as type. In most cat associations, the Snowshoe breed standard is strict when it comes to the acceptable pattern. The ideal Snowshoe is a pointed cat, with the color of the mask, tail, ears and legs dense, clearly defined, and all the same shade. The mask covers the entire face, except in the white areas, and may be connected to the ears by tracings. Color patterns consist of the "preferred" white patterning and "accepted" minimum/maximum white patterning. The preferred pattern consists of a white inverted "V" extending from the mouth to the whisker tufts above the eyes, with even white boots extending to the bend of the ankle on the front feet and to just below the hock on the back feet.
The acceptable minimum/maximum pattern allows as little as a pronounced solid white mustache or an unbroken blaze, to a "V" as broad as halfway under the eyes with or without a white chin. The front feet have white toes to as high as the dew claw and the back feet are white from one-fourth inch above the toes to as high as one-fourth inch above the hock joint at its point. White on the feet should be as even and regular as possible on both the front and back feet.
In TICA, however, two patterns are accepted: mitted and bicolor. In mitted, the ideal cat is about one-quarter white with white limited to the paws, back legs, chest and chin. The ideal bicolor has an inverted white V on the face that begins at the middle of the forehead and continues to the muzzle. White areas are usually on the legs, thighs, chest and chin; the bicolor is usually one-quarter to one-half white, with less white preferred. TICA’s standard also allows for more variation in pattern in show-quality cats. Some Snowshoes who are considered pet quality in the other associations can be shown for championship in TICA.
Allowed point color also depends upon the association. Most associations accept only seal point and blue point, while TICA accepts chocolate, lilac, cinnamon and fawn, red and cream.
Adult males weigh 9 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 7 to 10 pounds. Females have finer boning. Depending upon the association, allowable outcrosses are American Shorthairs, Oriental Shorthairs and Siamese, although most breeders don’t use the American Shorthair. The Traditional Siamese is often used as an outcross since the body and head types are much closer to the Snowshoe ideal than that of the Extreme Siamese.
History
In the early 1960s, Siamese breeder Dorothy Hinds-Daugherty of Philadelphia found three unique kittens in an otherwise ordinary Siamese litter. These kittens had the Siamesepointed pattern but each also had four white mittens (white paws). Most breeders would be horrified to find the white spotting factor (controlled by a gene responsible for mittens and other white spots) in their purebred Siamese litters because it’s not supposed to be there, but Hinds-Daugherty was charmed by the look of these tiny nonconformists. Since the happy mistake was never again repeated by accident, she set out to reproduce the look by breeding a seal point Siamese with a bicolor American Shorthair (then called the Domestic Shorthair). The resulting offspring lacked the Siamese pointed pattern, since both parents must possess the recessive gene for the pattern to appear in the offspring; two copies of a recessive gene, one from each parent, are necessary for offspring to exhibit the trait. By breeding the resulting kittens to Siamese mates, however, she achieved the desired result. She named the new breed Snowshoe, since the kittens looked like they had just romped through glistening snow. Continued breeding with bicolor American Shorthairs produced a variety with a white splash in the shape of an inverted V on the nose and muzzle. She promoted her new and as-yet-unrecognized breed at local shows. Contrary to some early published sources, the Snowshoe is not a shorthairedBirman and has never been outcrossed to the Birman or the Ragdoll.
After a few years, Hinds-Daugherty abandoned her breeding program. Fortunately for Snowshoe fans, breeder Vikki Olander of Virginia continued working with the breed. She wrote a breed standard, recruited other breeders, and in 1974 obtained experimental status with CFF and the American Cat Association (ACA).
By 1977, however, Olander was the only Snowshoe breeder left, as one by one the breeders dropped out, despairing of ever producing Snowshoes that would meet the standard. After struggling for three years to keep the breed going, Olander was ready to quit, too. Help arrived just in time: Jim Hoffman and Georgia Kuhnell contacted CFF for information about the Snowshoe and CFF referred them to Olander, the only breeder left who was registered with them. Hoffman and Kuhnell took up the challenge and recruited new enthusiasts to work with the breed. Olander gave up the effort in 1989 because her fiancé was allergic to cats, but by then other dedicated breeders had joined the elite group.
Ultimately, persistence paid off. CFF granted championship status in 1982. Breeder Maia Sornson joined the group in the early 1980s and was instrumental in advancing the breed to ACFA championship in 1990. TICA joined the crowd in 1993. Today, most United States cat associations recognize the breed for championship status, the notable exceptions beingCFA and CCA. Breeders are working on recognition for the Snowshoe in the CFA Miscellaneous class, the first step toward possible championship acceptance.
Somali
Description
If you want a cat with the high spirits of the Abyssinian but with a glorious, semi-long coat, look no further than the Somali. Somalis are no longer simply longhaired Abyssinians—the years of selective breeding have created a number of differences. A medium to large breed, Somalis are larger than their Aby relatives. The body is medium long, lithe and graceful, showing well-developed muscular strength. The rib cage is rounded and the back is slightly arched, giving the appearance of a cat about to spring; the flank is level with notuck-up. The conformation strikes a balance between the extremes of the cobby andsvelte types. When standing, the Somali gives the impression of being nimble and quick. The legs are in proportion to the torso; the feet are oval and compact. The tail is thick at the base and tapers slightly, with the length in balance with the body. Males weigh 10 to 12 pounds; females weigh 6 to 10 pounds.
The head is a modified, slightly rounded wedge shape without flat planes. The brow, cheeks and lines of the profile all show a gentle contour, with a slight rise from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. The forehead is of good size with width between the ears flowing into the arched neck without a break. The muzzle follows the gentle contours and is not sharply pointed, with no snippiness, foxiness or whisker pinch. The chin is full, neither undershot nor overshot, and has a rounded appearance.
The ears are large, alert, moderately pointed, broad and cupped at the base. The ears are set on a line toward the rear of the skull. The inner ear has horizontal tufts that reach nearly to the other side of the ear. The eyes are almond shaped, large, brilliant, expressive, and accented by dark lids surrounded by lighter areas. Eye color is usually green or gold. The more richness and depth of color the better, although some associations accept gold, green, hazel and copper-colored eyes. Above each eye is a short, dark vertical line with a dark pencil line continuing from the upper lid toward the ears.
The medium-long fur is extremely fine, very soft to the touch and double coated, the denser the better. The hair is slightly shorter over the shoulders, but overall is long enough to accommodate four to six alternating light and dark bands of ticking. Ruff andbritches are preferred, which give a full-coated appearance to the cat. The tail has a full brush, which is fluffy and fox-like. Somali coat color develops slowly; it doesn't show mature ticking and color until the cat is about 18 months old.
The coat is ticked (both the Abyssinian and the Somali are what’s called ticked tabbies), and in most associations the accepted colors are ruddy, red (called cinammon or sorrel in some associations), blue and fawn. Other associations, such as TICA, accept the breed in the widely accepted four colors plus silver, silver ruddy, silver red, silver blue and silver fawn. AACE also accepts cinnamon silver and chocolate silver. In the silver pattern, the undercoat is icy white and the alternating light bands of ticking on each hair shaft are replaced with white (the darker bands of ticking remain the same color, i.e., for ruddy Somalis the darker bands stay dark brown or black with the darkest color decorating the hair tip). This gives the coat its sparkling silver effect. Silver is controversial, however, because some breeders believe that the gene responsible for the silver effect will ruin the ruddy coloration.
The only allowable outcross is the Abyssinian. Outcrossing to the Aby, however, produces shorthaired Somalis, since the shorthair gene is dominant; only one copy of the shorthair gene is needed for a cat to have short hair. How shorthaired Somalis are classified and whether they are allowed to compete depends upon the association.
History
The Somali shares much of its history with the Abyssinian, since the Somali comes from Abyssinian bloodlines. Although the Somali didn’t gain recognition as a breed until the 1960s, its parent breed, the Abyssinian, has been around for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years.
The Somali made its first appearance in the United States, when longhaired kittens began appearing in otherwise shorthaired Abyssinian litters. The Aby breeders, rather than being delighted with these small, furry bonuses, quietly gave away the longhaired interlopers and tried to eliminate the longhair gene from their Aby bloodlines. The recessive gene for long hair must be inherited from both parents for a kitten to have long hair, and therefore the gene can be carried for generations without anyone knowing it’s there. Because most breeders didn’t keep records of these cats (no breeder wanted it known that their Abys weren’t "pure"), it’s hard to say just how early they appeared. Without doubt they were around by the 1950s.
There are two schools of thought about the presence of the longhair gene in Aby lines. Some believe it originated in Britain when breeders used longhaired cats in their Abyssinian breeding programs after World Wars I and II. Many Abys from those periods have parents or ancestors of unknown origin in their pedigrees, any of which could have been carrying the longhair gene. Particularly after World War II, when the breed was reduced to a mere dozen or so cats, breeders were forced to crossbreed their few remaining Abys to save them from extinction, as did European fanciers of so many other breeds.
Others, however, believe the long coat was a mutation within the Abyssinian bloodline. The idea that the Somali arose spontaneously from Abyssinian lines without help from crossbreeding is popular with many fanciers, because it means the Somali is a natural breed instead of a hybrid. Spontaneous mutation is certainly a possibility.
Wherever the gene came from, longhaired Abys were treated like the cat fancy’s illegitimate children until the 1970s. Abyssinian breeder Evelyn Mague of Gillette, New Jersey, is credited with starting the Somali on the road to acceptance. New to the cat fancy, Mague and fellow Aby breeder Charlotte Lohmeyer agreed that whoever had the first male Aby would help the other by letting him father kittens. Mague won the male race and her Lord Dublin mated Lohmeyer’s Trilly. In the litter was one strange-looking fuzzy male whom they decided must be a longhair. Since they were Abyssinian breeders, they were not fans of the longhair gene in their lines. So Lohmeyer gave the kitten away at the much-too-early age of five weeks.
But by Dickensian coincidence, the cat (then named George) came back to Mague via her work with Cat Placement, an animal welfare group of which she was president. Mague thought George was the most beautiful cat she’d ever seen, and was astonished to find he was the same cat Lohmeyer had given away. George had had five homes in less than a year and never had proper socialization or care. Mague found herself becoming angry that George had been treated so poorly when his littermates, only one gene apart, were valued pedigreed cats.
Mague set out to make sure the Georges of the cat world would be given the recognition they deserved. She worked very hard to overcome the ridicule and resistance she encountered from judges, Abyssinian breeders and cat associations. Aby breeders, in particular, didn’t want to see these longhairs in the show halls-or anywhere else, for that matter. One told her the breed would be recognized "over my dead body." Indeed, the breed achieved recognition after that breeder’s death.
Aby breeders of the time were also vehemently opposed to Mague calling her new breed the Longhaired Abyssinian. So to distinguish her longhaired rebels, Mague chose the name Somali, named for a country that borders Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).
Those early years were a battle for Mague and any other breeder brave enough to join her. Mague made contact with a Canadian breeder working with Aby longhairs, Don Richings, who became an invaluable ally. Slowly her small band of breeders grew. However, the cat-loving public, unaware they were supposed to despise the upstart Somali, loved the breed for its beauty and personality.
In 1972, Mague founded the Somali Cat Club of America, which brought together those interested in working with and promoting the new breed. In 1979, the Somali received championship status in CFA. By 1980, the Somali was recognized for championship by all North American cat associations in existence at that time. At last, the Somali had won over-or outlived-most of its detractors. While numbers are still lower than its sister breed the Abyssinian, the Somali has earned its place in both the show ring and the hearts and homes of cat fanciers.
If you want a cat with the high spirits of the Abyssinian but with a glorious, semi-long coat, look no further than the Somali. Somalis are no longer simply longhaired Abyssinians—the years of selective breeding have created a number of differences. A medium to large breed, Somalis are larger than their Aby relatives. The body is medium long, lithe and graceful, showing well-developed muscular strength. The rib cage is rounded and the back is slightly arched, giving the appearance of a cat about to spring; the flank is level with notuck-up. The conformation strikes a balance between the extremes of the cobby andsvelte types. When standing, the Somali gives the impression of being nimble and quick. The legs are in proportion to the torso; the feet are oval and compact. The tail is thick at the base and tapers slightly, with the length in balance with the body. Males weigh 10 to 12 pounds; females weigh 6 to 10 pounds.
The head is a modified, slightly rounded wedge shape without flat planes. The brow, cheeks and lines of the profile all show a gentle contour, with a slight rise from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. The forehead is of good size with width between the ears flowing into the arched neck without a break. The muzzle follows the gentle contours and is not sharply pointed, with no snippiness, foxiness or whisker pinch. The chin is full, neither undershot nor overshot, and has a rounded appearance.
The ears are large, alert, moderately pointed, broad and cupped at the base. The ears are set on a line toward the rear of the skull. The inner ear has horizontal tufts that reach nearly to the other side of the ear. The eyes are almond shaped, large, brilliant, expressive, and accented by dark lids surrounded by lighter areas. Eye color is usually green or gold. The more richness and depth of color the better, although some associations accept gold, green, hazel and copper-colored eyes. Above each eye is a short, dark vertical line with a dark pencil line continuing from the upper lid toward the ears.
The medium-long fur is extremely fine, very soft to the touch and double coated, the denser the better. The hair is slightly shorter over the shoulders, but overall is long enough to accommodate four to six alternating light and dark bands of ticking. Ruff andbritches are preferred, which give a full-coated appearance to the cat. The tail has a full brush, which is fluffy and fox-like. Somali coat color develops slowly; it doesn't show mature ticking and color until the cat is about 18 months old.
The coat is ticked (both the Abyssinian and the Somali are what’s called ticked tabbies), and in most associations the accepted colors are ruddy, red (called cinammon or sorrel in some associations), blue and fawn. Other associations, such as TICA, accept the breed in the widely accepted four colors plus silver, silver ruddy, silver red, silver blue and silver fawn. AACE also accepts cinnamon silver and chocolate silver. In the silver pattern, the undercoat is icy white and the alternating light bands of ticking on each hair shaft are replaced with white (the darker bands of ticking remain the same color, i.e., for ruddy Somalis the darker bands stay dark brown or black with the darkest color decorating the hair tip). This gives the coat its sparkling silver effect. Silver is controversial, however, because some breeders believe that the gene responsible for the silver effect will ruin the ruddy coloration.
The only allowable outcross is the Abyssinian. Outcrossing to the Aby, however, produces shorthaired Somalis, since the shorthair gene is dominant; only one copy of the shorthair gene is needed for a cat to have short hair. How shorthaired Somalis are classified and whether they are allowed to compete depends upon the association.
History
The Somali shares much of its history with the Abyssinian, since the Somali comes from Abyssinian bloodlines. Although the Somali didn’t gain recognition as a breed until the 1960s, its parent breed, the Abyssinian, has been around for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years.
The Somali made its first appearance in the United States, when longhaired kittens began appearing in otherwise shorthaired Abyssinian litters. The Aby breeders, rather than being delighted with these small, furry bonuses, quietly gave away the longhaired interlopers and tried to eliminate the longhair gene from their Aby bloodlines. The recessive gene for long hair must be inherited from both parents for a kitten to have long hair, and therefore the gene can be carried for generations without anyone knowing it’s there. Because most breeders didn’t keep records of these cats (no breeder wanted it known that their Abys weren’t "pure"), it’s hard to say just how early they appeared. Without doubt they were around by the 1950s.
There are two schools of thought about the presence of the longhair gene in Aby lines. Some believe it originated in Britain when breeders used longhaired cats in their Abyssinian breeding programs after World Wars I and II. Many Abys from those periods have parents or ancestors of unknown origin in their pedigrees, any of which could have been carrying the longhair gene. Particularly after World War II, when the breed was reduced to a mere dozen or so cats, breeders were forced to crossbreed their few remaining Abys to save them from extinction, as did European fanciers of so many other breeds.
Others, however, believe the long coat was a mutation within the Abyssinian bloodline. The idea that the Somali arose spontaneously from Abyssinian lines without help from crossbreeding is popular with many fanciers, because it means the Somali is a natural breed instead of a hybrid. Spontaneous mutation is certainly a possibility.
Wherever the gene came from, longhaired Abys were treated like the cat fancy’s illegitimate children until the 1970s. Abyssinian breeder Evelyn Mague of Gillette, New Jersey, is credited with starting the Somali on the road to acceptance. New to the cat fancy, Mague and fellow Aby breeder Charlotte Lohmeyer agreed that whoever had the first male Aby would help the other by letting him father kittens. Mague won the male race and her Lord Dublin mated Lohmeyer’s Trilly. In the litter was one strange-looking fuzzy male whom they decided must be a longhair. Since they were Abyssinian breeders, they were not fans of the longhair gene in their lines. So Lohmeyer gave the kitten away at the much-too-early age of five weeks.
But by Dickensian coincidence, the cat (then named George) came back to Mague via her work with Cat Placement, an animal welfare group of which she was president. Mague thought George was the most beautiful cat she’d ever seen, and was astonished to find he was the same cat Lohmeyer had given away. George had had five homes in less than a year and never had proper socialization or care. Mague found herself becoming angry that George had been treated so poorly when his littermates, only one gene apart, were valued pedigreed cats.
Mague set out to make sure the Georges of the cat world would be given the recognition they deserved. She worked very hard to overcome the ridicule and resistance she encountered from judges, Abyssinian breeders and cat associations. Aby breeders, in particular, didn’t want to see these longhairs in the show halls-or anywhere else, for that matter. One told her the breed would be recognized "over my dead body." Indeed, the breed achieved recognition after that breeder’s death.
Aby breeders of the time were also vehemently opposed to Mague calling her new breed the Longhaired Abyssinian. So to distinguish her longhaired rebels, Mague chose the name Somali, named for a country that borders Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).
Those early years were a battle for Mague and any other breeder brave enough to join her. Mague made contact with a Canadian breeder working with Aby longhairs, Don Richings, who became an invaluable ally. Slowly her small band of breeders grew. However, the cat-loving public, unaware they were supposed to despise the upstart Somali, loved the breed for its beauty and personality.
In 1972, Mague founded the Somali Cat Club of America, which brought together those interested in working with and promoting the new breed. In 1979, the Somali received championship status in CFA. By 1980, the Somali was recognized for championship by all North American cat associations in existence at that time. At last, the Somali had won over-or outlived-most of its detractors. While numbers are still lower than its sister breed the Abyssinian, the Somali has earned its place in both the show ring and the hearts and homes of cat fanciers.
Sphynx
Description
Once you get past the shock of seeing a naked cat, you’ll notice other distinct differences. The ears, for one thing, look large enough to intercept satellite signals. And most striking of all, the perfect cat should be as wrinkled as an animated raisin. The Sphynx isn’t more wrinkled than any other cat, though—you can just see the wrinkles. Adult show cats should retain as many wrinkles as possible, particularly on the head, although the wrinkling should not be so pronounced that it affects normal feline functions.
Sphynx only appear hairless. It’s more accurate to say they are furless, since their skin is covered with a fine down that resembles the texture of suede. The body feels warm and soft to the touch, with a skin texture akin to a soft peach. Short, fine hair is allowed on the feet, outer edges of the ears, the tail, and the scrotum. The coat and skin account for 30 of the possible 100 points in the breed standard of CCA and CFA; the other associations allot 25 points with an additional 5 points for color.
Despite the minimalist coat, Sphynx come in all possible colors and patterns, including thepointed pattern , because color and pattern are more than fur deep. The only patterns not accepted are not possible because they rely on hair effects, such as smoke, shaded,ticking or tipping of the hair shafts. Eye color depends upon color and pattern. Any evidence of plucking, shaving, clipping or any other means of hair removal is cause for disqualification.
The hard, surprisingly heavy muscular body is medium length and medium-boned with a broad, rounded chest and a full, round abdomen. The body feels warm and soft to the touch with a skin texture akin to a soft peach or a smooth nectarine. The legs are well-muscled and sturdy, with the back legs slightly longer than the front. The line of the back rises just behind the shoulder blades to accommodate the longer back legs when standing. Paws are oval with well-knuckled toes and thick paw pads, giving the cat the appearance of walking on cushions. The tail is whippy and tapers to a fine point. Adult males weigh 8 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
The head is a modified wedge, slightly longer than wide, with a distinctive whisker break and prominent whisker pads giving the muzzle a squared appearance. The skull is slightly rounded with a flat plane in front of the ears. Prominent, rounded cheekbones define the eye and form a curve above the whisker break. For the most part the breed lacks whiskers; they are short and sparse if present at all. The nose is straight with a slight to moderate stop at the bridge of the nose. A strong, well-developed chin forms a perpendicular line with the upper lip.
The unusually large, upright ears are broad at the base. When viewed from the front, the outer ear base begins at the level of the eye; they are neither low set nor on top of the head. The eyes are large, set wide apart and lemon-shaped, with wide-open centers while coming to definite points on each side. They are placed at a slight upward angle, aligning with the outer base of the ear. The distance between the eyes is a minimum of one eye width.
Allowable CFA outcrosses are American Shorthairs and Domestic Shorthair/Domestic Sphynx. Sphynx born on or after December 31, 2015 may have only Sphynx parents. CCA allows the American Shorthair with no set cutoff date, and Domestic Shorthair outcrosses with a cutoff date of December 31, 2015. TICA’s allowable outcrosses are the American Shorthair and Devon Rex; no cutoff date has been set.
History
The Sphynx breed accepted today is not the first instance of hairlessness in domestic cats. This natural, spontaneous mutation has been seen in various places worldwide for the past 100 years, and probably much longer. Pictures of Mexican Hairless cats appeared in Frances Simpson’s 1903 Book of the Cat. Other hairless felines were noted in France, Morocco, Australia, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Mexico and, in 1966, Canada, where a pair of domestic shorthairs produced a litter that included a hairless kitten named Prune. A breeding program based on this cat was begun, and in 1970 CFA granted provisionalstatus to the Canadian Hairless. The next year, however, CFA withdrew the recognition due to the breed’s health problems. That particular line apparently became extinct, but three other hairless cats were found in the late 1970s on the streets of Toronto, Canada. They were thought to be related to Prune. The one male was neutered and the two females, Punkie and Paloma, were sent to Dr. Hugo Hernandez in Holland. These lines were developed in Europe and Canada by outcrosses with Devon Rexes.
In 1975, farm owners Milt and Ethelyn Pearson of Wadena, Minnesota, discovered a hairless kitten had been born to their shorthaired brown tabby, Jezabelle. This female kitten, appropriately named Epidermis, was joined the next year by another hairless kitten, a male named Dermis. Both were sold to Oregon breeder Kim Mueske. Mueske’s first efforts at breeding these cats to American Shorthairs produced only cats with ordinary coats. On the advice of Dr. Solveig Pflueger, TICA's genetics expert, Mueske then bred Epidermis to one of her sons, and the resulting litter included three hairless kittens, indicating the gene for hairlessness is recessive and must be inherited from both parents to be expressed.
In 1978, Georgiana Gattenby in nearby Brainerd, Minnesota, acquired three hairless cats from the Pearsons and, with this foundation stock, developed her own lines by outcrossingwith Rex cats. Ill health forced her to sell her cats in the mid-1980s, but her cats contributed to the bloodline of today’s Sphynx.
The breed was named after the Great Sphinx monument in Giza, Egypt. Many fanciers welcomed the Sphynx as a new and undeniably unique member of the cat fancy, but some fanciers were offended by the very idea of an unclothed cat and predicted dire health problems. However, objections were not as heated as one might expect, and association acceptance followed the breed’s creation quite rapidly for such an unusual breed. TICAaccepted the breed for championship in 1986. In 1992, CCA accepted the Sphynx for championship. In 1994 ACFA followed suit. In 1998, CFA recognized the new and improved healthy Sphynx lines for registration and in 2002 accepted the breed for championship. Today, all North American cat associations accept the Sphynx for championship.
While the Sphynx isn’t for everyone, its unique appearance and personality have won the breed an active, enthusiastic following. The Sphynx has made considerable strides since its inception, due to a growing group of dedicated fanciers who are working hard to increase and perfect the Sphynx bloodlines.
Once you get past the shock of seeing a naked cat, you’ll notice other distinct differences. The ears, for one thing, look large enough to intercept satellite signals. And most striking of all, the perfect cat should be as wrinkled as an animated raisin. The Sphynx isn’t more wrinkled than any other cat, though—you can just see the wrinkles. Adult show cats should retain as many wrinkles as possible, particularly on the head, although the wrinkling should not be so pronounced that it affects normal feline functions.
Sphynx only appear hairless. It’s more accurate to say they are furless, since their skin is covered with a fine down that resembles the texture of suede. The body feels warm and soft to the touch, with a skin texture akin to a soft peach. Short, fine hair is allowed on the feet, outer edges of the ears, the tail, and the scrotum. The coat and skin account for 30 of the possible 100 points in the breed standard of CCA and CFA; the other associations allot 25 points with an additional 5 points for color.
Despite the minimalist coat, Sphynx come in all possible colors and patterns, including thepointed pattern , because color and pattern are more than fur deep. The only patterns not accepted are not possible because they rely on hair effects, such as smoke, shaded,ticking or tipping of the hair shafts. Eye color depends upon color and pattern. Any evidence of plucking, shaving, clipping or any other means of hair removal is cause for disqualification.
The hard, surprisingly heavy muscular body is medium length and medium-boned with a broad, rounded chest and a full, round abdomen. The body feels warm and soft to the touch with a skin texture akin to a soft peach or a smooth nectarine. The legs are well-muscled and sturdy, with the back legs slightly longer than the front. The line of the back rises just behind the shoulder blades to accommodate the longer back legs when standing. Paws are oval with well-knuckled toes and thick paw pads, giving the cat the appearance of walking on cushions. The tail is whippy and tapers to a fine point. Adult males weigh 8 to 12 pounds; adult females weigh 6 to 9 pounds.
The head is a modified wedge, slightly longer than wide, with a distinctive whisker break and prominent whisker pads giving the muzzle a squared appearance. The skull is slightly rounded with a flat plane in front of the ears. Prominent, rounded cheekbones define the eye and form a curve above the whisker break. For the most part the breed lacks whiskers; they are short and sparse if present at all. The nose is straight with a slight to moderate stop at the bridge of the nose. A strong, well-developed chin forms a perpendicular line with the upper lip.
The unusually large, upright ears are broad at the base. When viewed from the front, the outer ear base begins at the level of the eye; they are neither low set nor on top of the head. The eyes are large, set wide apart and lemon-shaped, with wide-open centers while coming to definite points on each side. They are placed at a slight upward angle, aligning with the outer base of the ear. The distance between the eyes is a minimum of one eye width.
Allowable CFA outcrosses are American Shorthairs and Domestic Shorthair/Domestic Sphynx. Sphynx born on or after December 31, 2015 may have only Sphynx parents. CCA allows the American Shorthair with no set cutoff date, and Domestic Shorthair outcrosses with a cutoff date of December 31, 2015. TICA’s allowable outcrosses are the American Shorthair and Devon Rex; no cutoff date has been set.
History
The Sphynx breed accepted today is not the first instance of hairlessness in domestic cats. This natural, spontaneous mutation has been seen in various places worldwide for the past 100 years, and probably much longer. Pictures of Mexican Hairless cats appeared in Frances Simpson’s 1903 Book of the Cat. Other hairless felines were noted in France, Morocco, Australia, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Mexico and, in 1966, Canada, where a pair of domestic shorthairs produced a litter that included a hairless kitten named Prune. A breeding program based on this cat was begun, and in 1970 CFA granted provisionalstatus to the Canadian Hairless. The next year, however, CFA withdrew the recognition due to the breed’s health problems. That particular line apparently became extinct, but three other hairless cats were found in the late 1970s on the streets of Toronto, Canada. They were thought to be related to Prune. The one male was neutered and the two females, Punkie and Paloma, were sent to Dr. Hugo Hernandez in Holland. These lines were developed in Europe and Canada by outcrosses with Devon Rexes.
In 1975, farm owners Milt and Ethelyn Pearson of Wadena, Minnesota, discovered a hairless kitten had been born to their shorthaired brown tabby, Jezabelle. This female kitten, appropriately named Epidermis, was joined the next year by another hairless kitten, a male named Dermis. Both were sold to Oregon breeder Kim Mueske. Mueske’s first efforts at breeding these cats to American Shorthairs produced only cats with ordinary coats. On the advice of Dr. Solveig Pflueger, TICA's genetics expert, Mueske then bred Epidermis to one of her sons, and the resulting litter included three hairless kittens, indicating the gene for hairlessness is recessive and must be inherited from both parents to be expressed.
In 1978, Georgiana Gattenby in nearby Brainerd, Minnesota, acquired three hairless cats from the Pearsons and, with this foundation stock, developed her own lines by outcrossingwith Rex cats. Ill health forced her to sell her cats in the mid-1980s, but her cats contributed to the bloodline of today’s Sphynx.
The breed was named after the Great Sphinx monument in Giza, Egypt. Many fanciers welcomed the Sphynx as a new and undeniably unique member of the cat fancy, but some fanciers were offended by the very idea of an unclothed cat and predicted dire health problems. However, objections were not as heated as one might expect, and association acceptance followed the breed’s creation quite rapidly for such an unusual breed. TICAaccepted the breed for championship in 1986. In 1992, CCA accepted the Sphynx for championship. In 1994 ACFA followed suit. In 1998, CFA recognized the new and improved healthy Sphynx lines for registration and in 2002 accepted the breed for championship. Today, all North American cat associations accept the Sphynx for championship.
While the Sphynx isn’t for everyone, its unique appearance and personality have won the breed an active, enthusiastic following. The Sphynx has made considerable strides since its inception, due to a growing group of dedicated fanciers who are working hard to increase and perfect the Sphynx bloodlines.
Tonkinese
Description
Neither streamlined like the Siamese nor stocky like the Burmese, the Tonkinese strikes a happy medium. The conformation is midway between the extremes of the svelte body type and the cobby , body type. The Tonk has a medium-length torso that shows well-developed muscular strength without coarseness . The abdomen is taut, well-muscled and firm. The legs are fairly slim and are in proportion to the body in length and boning, with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs. The paws are more oval than round. The tapering tail is in proportion to the length of the body. Tonks are surprisingly heavy for their size. Adult males usually weigh 8 to 12 pounds and adult females usually weigh 6 to 8 pounds. Overall balance and proportion are more important than size.
The head is a slightly rounded modified wedge, somewhat longer than wide, with high, gently planed cheekbones. A slight, gently curved whisker break follows the lines of the wedge. The blunt muzzle is as long as it is wide. There is a slight nose stop at eye level. A straight line can be drawn from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin. A gentle contour, with a slight rise from the nose stop to the forehead, can be seen.
The ears are alert, medium in size, and broad at the base with oval tips. They are set as much on the sides of the head as on the top. The hair on the ears is very short and close-lying, and the skin may show through.
The open, almond-shaped eyes are in proportion to the face and are slanted along the cheekbones toward the outer edge of the ear. Eye color depends upon coat pattern; pointed Tonks have blue eyes, mink Tonks have aqua eyes, and solid Tonks have green to yellow/green eyes. Depth, clarity and brilliance of eye color is preferred, and is best seen in natural light.
The coat is medium-short and is close-lying, fine, soft and silky with a lustrous sheen. Because the Tonkinese inherited the color and pattern genes from both its parent breeds, the Tonk’s coat comes in three patterns: mink, pointed and solid (called sepia by some associations such as TICA). Contrast is the difference between the three pointed patterns: pointed Tonks have point color with high contrast to the body color; mink Tonks have point color with medium contrast to the body color, and solid Tonks have point color with low contrast to the body color. Solid Tonks are not the same as solid colors of other breeds, however; the body colors are slightly lighter shades of the point colors, with little contrast. The quality of the coat color is very important in this breed; CFA’s breed standard allots a full 25 points out of the possible 100 to the coat color.
Each of the three patterns comes in four colors: natural, champagne, blue and platinum. More contrast exists between points and body color for the champagne and platinum than for the natural and blue.
The colors can be confusing, because similar colors exist in the Siamese and Burmese breeds, but are called by other names. For example, a natural pointed Tonkinese is the same color and pattern as a seal point Siamese. A natural solid Tonkinese is the same color and pattern as a sable Burmese. Champagne point is the same color and pattern as a chocolate point Siamese, and platinum point is the same color and pattern as a lilac point Siamese.
Tonkinese colors beyond the four universally accepted colors do exist, but are not accepted by all cat associations. CCA, for example, accepts honey and fawn in addition to the traditional four, and TICA accepts seal, chocolate, cinnamon, red, blue, lilac, fawn, cream, and the tortoiseshell counterparts of these colors in patterns of pointed, mink, and solid.
In CFA, outcrossing Tonkinese with Siamese and Burmese hasn’t been allowed for many years, but in TICA Burmese, Siamese and European Burmese are allowable outcrosses. ACFA also allows Burmese and Siamese outcrosses. Since the breed has achieved its unique head and body type, many breeders rarely outcross. However, some breeders are concerned about future genetic diversity and include judicious and carefully planned outcrosses in their breeding programs.
History
The Tonk, as it’s affectionately called, is a human-made hybrid deliberately created to combine the best qualities of both its parent breeds, the Burmese and the Siamese. However, it’s very likely that natural crosses between Burmese and Siamese have existed for hundreds of years, since these two ancient breeds came from the same general area. Both breeds were depicted in the ancient text The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript written in the city of Ayudha, Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350, when the city was founded, and 1767, when the city was burned down by Burmese invaders (people, not cats). The first American Burmese, Wong Mau, who became the foundation cat for the Burmese breed in North America, was later found to be a Siamese-Burmese hybrid. Some of the "chocolate Siamese" shown in the late 1800s in British cat shows were likely what we’d call Tonkinese today.
However, the planned parenthood of the Tonkinese didn’t begin until the mid-1960s. Wanting to produce a cat with a moderate body and head type, breeder Jane Barletta of New Jersey crossed a sable Burmese with a seal point Siamese. Around the same time, Canadian breeder Margaret Conroy bred her sable Burmese female to a seal point Siamese male because she couldn’t find an acceptable Burmese mate for her timid cat. The offspring of these crosses were lovely tan cats with moderate body and head types, beautiful aqua eyes and appealing personalities. Barletta and Conroy communicated about their special new cats and worked together to develop the breed. Barletta did much to recruit breeders and promote the breed in the United States. News about the breed’s beauty and engaging personality spread, thanks to the work of the early breeders, and efforts to achieve recognition began in both the United States and Canada. Tonks were first accepted by the Canadian association CCA under the name Tonkanese. In 1971, Tonk breeders voted to use the spelling Tonkinese.
Not everyone was as enthused as the Tonk fanciers. Most Siamese and Burmese breeders wanted nothing to do with these hybrids. Siamese and Burmese were both being selectively bred to achieve the refined forms we see today: sleek and svelte for the Siamese and compact and muscular for the Burmese. The Tonkinese, whose head was rounded, and whose body type falls midway between compact and svelte, wasn’t either breed’s ideal. Achieving a uniform head and body type was also challenging for Tonkinese breeders, since the two parent breeds were dissimilar and became even more so as time passed.
However, Tonk fanciers were determined that their sleek, personable felines would have a place in the cat fancy. After many years, they achieved the look they wanted and the recognition the Tonkinese deserved. In 1971, CCA became the first cat association to grant championship status to the breed. CFF recognized the Tonkinese in 1972 and TICAfollowed in 1979, the year that association was founded. CFA belatedly granted championship status in 1984. Today, all cat associations accept the breed, including the Traditional Cat Association (TCA).
The cat loving public had no prejudice against the Tonkinese and was just as enthusiastic as Tonk breeders. Tonkinese cats are particularly popular among cat lovers who do not favor the svelte type of the Extreme Siamese or the compact type and foreshortened muzzle of the Contemporary Burmese. The Tonk’s head and body type are similar to theTraditional Siamese, since the cats used to create the breed were less extreme in type than today’s show Siamese and Burmese. Some Tonkinese breeders also breed the Traditional Siamese and other traditional breeds. Because Tonks are popular, many breeders maintain waiting lists. But fanciers say the terrific personality, moderate body style and attractive color combinations are well worth the wait.
Neither streamlined like the Siamese nor stocky like the Burmese, the Tonkinese strikes a happy medium. The conformation is midway between the extremes of the svelte body type and the cobby , body type. The Tonk has a medium-length torso that shows well-developed muscular strength without coarseness . The abdomen is taut, well-muscled and firm. The legs are fairly slim and are in proportion to the body in length and boning, with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs. The paws are more oval than round. The tapering tail is in proportion to the length of the body. Tonks are surprisingly heavy for their size. Adult males usually weigh 8 to 12 pounds and adult females usually weigh 6 to 8 pounds. Overall balance and proportion are more important than size.
The head is a slightly rounded modified wedge, somewhat longer than wide, with high, gently planed cheekbones. A slight, gently curved whisker break follows the lines of the wedge. The blunt muzzle is as long as it is wide. There is a slight nose stop at eye level. A straight line can be drawn from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin. A gentle contour, with a slight rise from the nose stop to the forehead, can be seen.
The ears are alert, medium in size, and broad at the base with oval tips. They are set as much on the sides of the head as on the top. The hair on the ears is very short and close-lying, and the skin may show through.
The open, almond-shaped eyes are in proportion to the face and are slanted along the cheekbones toward the outer edge of the ear. Eye color depends upon coat pattern; pointed Tonks have blue eyes, mink Tonks have aqua eyes, and solid Tonks have green to yellow/green eyes. Depth, clarity and brilliance of eye color is preferred, and is best seen in natural light.
The coat is medium-short and is close-lying, fine, soft and silky with a lustrous sheen. Because the Tonkinese inherited the color and pattern genes from both its parent breeds, the Tonk’s coat comes in three patterns: mink, pointed and solid (called sepia by some associations such as TICA). Contrast is the difference between the three pointed patterns: pointed Tonks have point color with high contrast to the body color; mink Tonks have point color with medium contrast to the body color, and solid Tonks have point color with low contrast to the body color. Solid Tonks are not the same as solid colors of other breeds, however; the body colors are slightly lighter shades of the point colors, with little contrast. The quality of the coat color is very important in this breed; CFA’s breed standard allots a full 25 points out of the possible 100 to the coat color.
Each of the three patterns comes in four colors: natural, champagne, blue and platinum. More contrast exists between points and body color for the champagne and platinum than for the natural and blue.
The colors can be confusing, because similar colors exist in the Siamese and Burmese breeds, but are called by other names. For example, a natural pointed Tonkinese is the same color and pattern as a seal point Siamese. A natural solid Tonkinese is the same color and pattern as a sable Burmese. Champagne point is the same color and pattern as a chocolate point Siamese, and platinum point is the same color and pattern as a lilac point Siamese.
Tonkinese colors beyond the four universally accepted colors do exist, but are not accepted by all cat associations. CCA, for example, accepts honey and fawn in addition to the traditional four, and TICA accepts seal, chocolate, cinnamon, red, blue, lilac, fawn, cream, and the tortoiseshell counterparts of these colors in patterns of pointed, mink, and solid.
In CFA, outcrossing Tonkinese with Siamese and Burmese hasn’t been allowed for many years, but in TICA Burmese, Siamese and European Burmese are allowable outcrosses. ACFA also allows Burmese and Siamese outcrosses. Since the breed has achieved its unique head and body type, many breeders rarely outcross. However, some breeders are concerned about future genetic diversity and include judicious and carefully planned outcrosses in their breeding programs.
History
The Tonk, as it’s affectionately called, is a human-made hybrid deliberately created to combine the best qualities of both its parent breeds, the Burmese and the Siamese. However, it’s very likely that natural crosses between Burmese and Siamese have existed for hundreds of years, since these two ancient breeds came from the same general area. Both breeds were depicted in the ancient text The Cat-Book Poems, a manuscript written in the city of Ayudha, Siam (now Thailand) some time between 1350, when the city was founded, and 1767, when the city was burned down by Burmese invaders (people, not cats). The first American Burmese, Wong Mau, who became the foundation cat for the Burmese breed in North America, was later found to be a Siamese-Burmese hybrid. Some of the "chocolate Siamese" shown in the late 1800s in British cat shows were likely what we’d call Tonkinese today.
However, the planned parenthood of the Tonkinese didn’t begin until the mid-1960s. Wanting to produce a cat with a moderate body and head type, breeder Jane Barletta of New Jersey crossed a sable Burmese with a seal point Siamese. Around the same time, Canadian breeder Margaret Conroy bred her sable Burmese female to a seal point Siamese male because she couldn’t find an acceptable Burmese mate for her timid cat. The offspring of these crosses were lovely tan cats with moderate body and head types, beautiful aqua eyes and appealing personalities. Barletta and Conroy communicated about their special new cats and worked together to develop the breed. Barletta did much to recruit breeders and promote the breed in the United States. News about the breed’s beauty and engaging personality spread, thanks to the work of the early breeders, and efforts to achieve recognition began in both the United States and Canada. Tonks were first accepted by the Canadian association CCA under the name Tonkanese. In 1971, Tonk breeders voted to use the spelling Tonkinese.
Not everyone was as enthused as the Tonk fanciers. Most Siamese and Burmese breeders wanted nothing to do with these hybrids. Siamese and Burmese were both being selectively bred to achieve the refined forms we see today: sleek and svelte for the Siamese and compact and muscular for the Burmese. The Tonkinese, whose head was rounded, and whose body type falls midway between compact and svelte, wasn’t either breed’s ideal. Achieving a uniform head and body type was also challenging for Tonkinese breeders, since the two parent breeds were dissimilar and became even more so as time passed.
However, Tonk fanciers were determined that their sleek, personable felines would have a place in the cat fancy. After many years, they achieved the look they wanted and the recognition the Tonkinese deserved. In 1971, CCA became the first cat association to grant championship status to the breed. CFF recognized the Tonkinese in 1972 and TICAfollowed in 1979, the year that association was founded. CFA belatedly granted championship status in 1984. Today, all cat associations accept the breed, including the Traditional Cat Association (TCA).
The cat loving public had no prejudice against the Tonkinese and was just as enthusiastic as Tonk breeders. Tonkinese cats are particularly popular among cat lovers who do not favor the svelte type of the Extreme Siamese or the compact type and foreshortened muzzle of the Contemporary Burmese. The Tonk’s head and body type are similar to theTraditional Siamese, since the cats used to create the breed were less extreme in type than today’s show Siamese and Burmese. Some Tonkinese breeders also breed the Traditional Siamese and other traditional breeds. Because Tonks are popular, many breeders maintain waiting lists. But fanciers say the terrific personality, moderate body style and attractive color combinations are well worth the wait.
Turkish Angora
Description
Poised, regal and refined, the Turkish Angora is arguably one of the world's most beautiful breeds, with its fine, silky plumage, long, elegant body, pert, pointed ears and large, lovely eyes. The Angora has a long and slender medium-size body with fine boning and firm musculature. Though muscular and strong, this breed is elegant, refined and graceful. The shoulders are the same width as the hips, and the rump is slightly higher than the shoulders. Overall balance, grace and fineness of bone are more important than size. The legs are long, with the hind legs longer than the front, ending in small, round, dainty paws.Tufts between the toes are preferred. The tail is long and tapers from a wide base to a narrow end, and possesses a full brush. Adult males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is a medium long, smooth wedge shape, small to medium in size and in balance with the length of the body and the extremities. The nose has no The head is a medium long, smooth break. The muzzle is a continuation of the smooth lines of the wedge with neither pronounced whisker pads nor a pinch.
The ears are large, vertical, wide at the base, erect, pointed and tufted. They are set close together and high on the head. The eyes are large and almond-shaped, slanting slightly upward with an open expression. Eye color has no relationship to coat color, and the color of the eyes can change, especially as the cats mature. Acceptable colors include blue (sky blue to sapphire), green (gooseberry to emerald), green-gold (any gold or amber eye with a greenish cast or ring), amber (gold to rich copper), and odd-eyed (one blue eye and one green, green-gold or amber eye). While no points are specifically allocated to eye color, deeper, richer tones are preferred. Odd-eyed cats should have similar depth of color in each eye.
The fine, silky coat shimmers with every movement. The length of the single-coated fur varies, but the hair on the tail and the ruff is long, full, finely textured and has a silk-like sheen. The hind legs have full britches. Although solid white is the best known and most popular color, all colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing hybridization, resulting in the colors lavender (lilac), choclate, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white.
History
The Turkish Angora, named for the former Turkish capital of Angora (now Ankara), has been around for thousands of years, although no one is sure when the breed originated or how it got its long, lovely locks. Most cat experts agree that it's likely the recessive gene for long hair came about through spontaneous mutation, rather than hybridization with longhaired wildcats. Some researchers speculate that the gene for long hair arose in three separate areas: Russia, Persia (now Iran) and Turkey. Other researchers believe the mutation developed in Russia and then spread to Turkey, Persia and surrounding countries. Still others think the trait developed in Turkey and was later transported to other areas. Because Turkey forms a land bridge between Europe and Asia, with the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, it was always an important trade route for Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East.
When a mutation occurs in an isolated area, the trait is more likely to be passed around the local cat population through inbreeding. Because of the high elevations and cold winter temperatures in some areas of Turkey, cats with long fur had a better chance of survival and natural selection therefore favored those cats. The long hair was perpetuated and developed in confined, mountainous areas that limited outcrossing. These hardy survivors with flowing, non-matting fur, lithe bodies and the intelligence to survive in an unforgiving environment passed on these traits to their offspring.
Either they already had the dominant white gene that is one of the distinctive characteristics of the breed, or at some point they evolved or inherited it. By the time the breed was transported to Europe, the Turkish Angora looked much as it does today. White was not the only color, however. Early writings say that Angoras came in slate blue andred, and in tabby, spotted and bicolor patterns.
In the 1600s, Turkish, Persian and Russian longhaired cats were imported to Europe and quickly became popular; they were prized because their beautiful coats were so different from the plush, short coats of European cats.
The distinctly different body and coat types of the three longhairs were established by that time. The longhairs of Persia were stocky, short-eared cats with long, double-layeredcoats. The Russian longhairs were large, powerful cats with thick, all-weather coats. The Turkish Angora was a lithe, long-bodied cat with a long, single-layered coat, beneficial for the temperature extremes in winter and summer in the areas in which it developed. The 36-volume Histoire Naturelle (Natural History, published 1749 to 1804), by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, includes an illustration that shows the long body, silky coat and tail plume of the Angora, which he noted came from the part of Turkey located in Asia.
In the 1800s, Turkish Angoras were also imported to North America, where they quickly became popular, along with Persians and other "exotic" cat breeds. Unfortunately for the Angora, in 1887 the British cat fancy decided that all longhaired cats would be grouped into the category "longhairs." Persians, Turkish Angoras and Russian Longhairs were interbred, and the Angora was extensively used in Persian breeding programs to add length and silkiness to the Persian's coat. For many years, people used the words "Angora" and "Persian" to describe any longhaired cat, creating confusion.
Gradually, the Persian became the preferred type and Angoras stopped appearing in cat show halls. They virtually ceased to exist except in their native land. In 1917, the Turkish government, seeing that their national treasure was in danger of extinction, began a breeding program at the Ankara zoo. At that time, it was decided that only white blue-eyed or odd-eyed Angoras would be included in the breeding program, since they were considered to be the only pure examples of the breed-even though other colors and patterns had existed since the breed's earliest days.
After World War II, interest in this statuesque breed was rekindled in North America, and Angoras were imported from Turkey to re-establish the blood line. Because the Turkish people valued these cats so highly, obtaining Angoras from the Ankara zoo was very difficult. Liesa Grant, wife of Army Colonel Walter Grant, who was stationed in Turkey at the time, is credited with importing the first two Angoras into the USA in 1962: Yildizcek, a white amber-eyed female, and Yildiz, a white odd-eyed male. In 1966 the Grants returned to Turkey and were able to bring home another pair to add to their breeding program. After the Grants opened the door, other breeders managed to import Angoras as well, some from Turkey and some from breeders in Europe who had managed to get cats from the Ankara zoo or from the Turkish people. A careful and cooperative breeding program established the Turkish Angora in North America. In 1970, CFA became the first North American registry to accept the Turkish Angora for registration. In 1973, CFA accepted the breed for championship. Other associations soon followed, and today all North American cat associations accept the breed.
At first, the North American cat associations accepted only white Angoras. It took breeders years to convince the associations that the Angora traditionally came in many additional colors and patterns. The dominant white gene masks other colors and patterns, so it’s impossible to tell what colors and patterns a cat may carry under that pure white fur. White-to-white matings can and do produce colorful kittens. Finally, in 1978 CFA accepted other colors and patterns for championship status. Today, all cat associations recognize the breed in other patterns and colors, and colorful Turkish Angoras are becoming increasingly well-known and popular. The CFA breed standard now says that all colors should be considered of equal value—a very different position than the breed originally enjoyed.
In an effort to preserve the small gene pool, in 1996 the Turkish government banned the export of white Turkish Angoras. However, Angoras of other colors are still being born in Turkey, so the North American Angora gene pool is still being supplemented by Turkish stock of other colors and patterns.
Poised, regal and refined, the Turkish Angora is arguably one of the world's most beautiful breeds, with its fine, silky plumage, long, elegant body, pert, pointed ears and large, lovely eyes. The Angora has a long and slender medium-size body with fine boning and firm musculature. Though muscular and strong, this breed is elegant, refined and graceful. The shoulders are the same width as the hips, and the rump is slightly higher than the shoulders. Overall balance, grace and fineness of bone are more important than size. The legs are long, with the hind legs longer than the front, ending in small, round, dainty paws.Tufts between the toes are preferred. The tail is long and tapers from a wide base to a narrow end, and possesses a full brush. Adult males weigh 7 to 10 pounds; adult females weigh 5 to 8 pounds. No outcrosses are allowed.
The head is a medium long, smooth wedge shape, small to medium in size and in balance with the length of the body and the extremities. The nose has no The head is a medium long, smooth break. The muzzle is a continuation of the smooth lines of the wedge with neither pronounced whisker pads nor a pinch.
The ears are large, vertical, wide at the base, erect, pointed and tufted. They are set close together and high on the head. The eyes are large and almond-shaped, slanting slightly upward with an open expression. Eye color has no relationship to coat color, and the color of the eyes can change, especially as the cats mature. Acceptable colors include blue (sky blue to sapphire), green (gooseberry to emerald), green-gold (any gold or amber eye with a greenish cast or ring), amber (gold to rich copper), and odd-eyed (one blue eye and one green, green-gold or amber eye). While no points are specifically allocated to eye color, deeper, richer tones are preferred. Odd-eyed cats should have similar depth of color in each eye.
The fine, silky coat shimmers with every movement. The length of the single-coated fur varies, but the hair on the tail and the ruff is long, full, finely textured and has a silk-like sheen. The hind legs have full britches. Although solid white is the best known and most popular color, all colors and patterns are accepted with the exception of those showing hybridization, resulting in the colors lavender (lilac), choclate, the pointed pattern, or these combinations with white.
History
The Turkish Angora, named for the former Turkish capital of Angora (now Ankara), has been around for thousands of years, although no one is sure when the breed originated or how it got its long, lovely locks. Most cat experts agree that it's likely the recessive gene for long hair came about through spontaneous mutation, rather than hybridization with longhaired wildcats. Some researchers speculate that the gene for long hair arose in three separate areas: Russia, Persia (now Iran) and Turkey. Other researchers believe the mutation developed in Russia and then spread to Turkey, Persia and surrounding countries. Still others think the trait developed in Turkey and was later transported to other areas. Because Turkey forms a land bridge between Europe and Asia, with the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, it was always an important trade route for Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East.
When a mutation occurs in an isolated area, the trait is more likely to be passed around the local cat population through inbreeding. Because of the high elevations and cold winter temperatures in some areas of Turkey, cats with long fur had a better chance of survival and natural selection therefore favored those cats. The long hair was perpetuated and developed in confined, mountainous areas that limited outcrossing. These hardy survivors with flowing, non-matting fur, lithe bodies and the intelligence to survive in an unforgiving environment passed on these traits to their offspring.
Either they already had the dominant white gene that is one of the distinctive characteristics of the breed, or at some point they evolved or inherited it. By the time the breed was transported to Europe, the Turkish Angora looked much as it does today. White was not the only color, however. Early writings say that Angoras came in slate blue andred, and in tabby, spotted and bicolor patterns.
In the 1600s, Turkish, Persian and Russian longhaired cats were imported to Europe and quickly became popular; they were prized because their beautiful coats were so different from the plush, short coats of European cats.
The distinctly different body and coat types of the three longhairs were established by that time. The longhairs of Persia were stocky, short-eared cats with long, double-layeredcoats. The Russian longhairs were large, powerful cats with thick, all-weather coats. The Turkish Angora was a lithe, long-bodied cat with a long, single-layered coat, beneficial for the temperature extremes in winter and summer in the areas in which it developed. The 36-volume Histoire Naturelle (Natural History, published 1749 to 1804), by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, includes an illustration that shows the long body, silky coat and tail plume of the Angora, which he noted came from the part of Turkey located in Asia.
In the 1800s, Turkish Angoras were also imported to North America, where they quickly became popular, along with Persians and other "exotic" cat breeds. Unfortunately for the Angora, in 1887 the British cat fancy decided that all longhaired cats would be grouped into the category "longhairs." Persians, Turkish Angoras and Russian Longhairs were interbred, and the Angora was extensively used in Persian breeding programs to add length and silkiness to the Persian's coat. For many years, people used the words "Angora" and "Persian" to describe any longhaired cat, creating confusion.
Gradually, the Persian became the preferred type and Angoras stopped appearing in cat show halls. They virtually ceased to exist except in their native land. In 1917, the Turkish government, seeing that their national treasure was in danger of extinction, began a breeding program at the Ankara zoo. At that time, it was decided that only white blue-eyed or odd-eyed Angoras would be included in the breeding program, since they were considered to be the only pure examples of the breed-even though other colors and patterns had existed since the breed's earliest days.
After World War II, interest in this statuesque breed was rekindled in North America, and Angoras were imported from Turkey to re-establish the blood line. Because the Turkish people valued these cats so highly, obtaining Angoras from the Ankara zoo was very difficult. Liesa Grant, wife of Army Colonel Walter Grant, who was stationed in Turkey at the time, is credited with importing the first two Angoras into the USA in 1962: Yildizcek, a white amber-eyed female, and Yildiz, a white odd-eyed male. In 1966 the Grants returned to Turkey and were able to bring home another pair to add to their breeding program. After the Grants opened the door, other breeders managed to import Angoras as well, some from Turkey and some from breeders in Europe who had managed to get cats from the Ankara zoo or from the Turkish people. A careful and cooperative breeding program established the Turkish Angora in North America. In 1970, CFA became the first North American registry to accept the Turkish Angora for registration. In 1973, CFA accepted the breed for championship. Other associations soon followed, and today all North American cat associations accept the breed.
At first, the North American cat associations accepted only white Angoras. It took breeders years to convince the associations that the Angora traditionally came in many additional colors and patterns. The dominant white gene masks other colors and patterns, so it’s impossible to tell what colors and patterns a cat may carry under that pure white fur. White-to-white matings can and do produce colorful kittens. Finally, in 1978 CFA accepted other colors and patterns for championship status. Today, all cat associations recognize the breed in other patterns and colors, and colorful Turkish Angoras are becoming increasingly well-known and popular. The CFA breed standard now says that all colors should be considered of equal value—a very different position than the breed originally enjoyed.
In an effort to preserve the small gene pool, in 1996 the Turkish government banned the export of white Turkish Angoras. However, Angoras of other colors are still being born in Turkey, so the North American Angora gene pool is still being supplemented by Turkish stock of other colors and patterns.
Turkish Van
Description
The Turkish Van is a natural breed, known for its distinctive color pattern. In fact, the word "van" is now used by the cat fancy to describe white cats with colored head and tail markings. The Van body is moderately long, broad, sturdy, deep-chested and muscular. Mature males show marked muscular development in the neck and shoulders; the shoulders are at least as broad as the head and flow into the well-rounded rib cage and then into a muscular hip and pelvic area. The legs are muscular, moderately long and set wide apart. The tail is long but in proportion to the body, with a brush appearance. Tail hair is long and full. Adult males weigh 12 to 17 pounds; adult females weigh 9 to 13 pounds. The Van can take three to five years to reach full maturity, so show judges take gender and age into account when judging the Van.
The head is a substantially broad wedge with gentle contours and a medium length nose, prominent cheekbones, and a firm chin in a straight line with the medium length nose—all harmonizing with the large, muscular body. In profile, the nose has a slight dip below eye level. The muzzle is rounded. The ears are moderately large, wide at the base, set fairly high and well apart. The tips are slightly rounded; the insides are well feathered . The clear, alert, and expressive eyes are moderately large with a rounded aperture that is slightly drawn out at the corners and set at a slant, equidistant from the outside base of the ear to the tip of the nose.
The Van’s fine, silky-smooth coat lies flat and lacks a wooly undercoat, making it gloriously touchable and resistant to matting as well. The adult coat is semi-long, soft, and water-resistant. Feathering is seen on the ears, legs, feet and belly; facial fur is short. The coat changes according to season; in summer it is short and in winter it’s substantially longer and thicker. The neck ruff and full tail plume become more prominent with age.
The only pattern accepted is glistening chalk white with colored markings, preferably only on the head and tail. In CFA, random markings of color covering up to 15 percent of the entire body (excluding head and tail color) are permissible, but not of a size or number that detract from the van pattern, making the cat appear to be bicolor rather than van. Color in excess of 15 percent is a disqualifying fault. Other associations are a bit more liberal. In TICA, AFCA, and AACE, for example, color in excess of 20 percent is merely penalized, not cause for disqualification.
Color is required on the head from eye level up to the back of the head and on the tail. Markings may be any other color and white, with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lilac, etc., and the pointed pattern. The eye colors are amber, blue or odd-eyed, and the color may fade with age. The breed has no allowable outcrosses.
History
Several tall tales are told about the origins of the Turkish Van. One that Turkish Van fanciers tell with enthusiasm involves two longhaired, ring-tailed cats who were along for the ride on Noah’s Ark. When they reached Mount Ararat in what is now Turkey, the cats leapt into the water and swam for dry land where they’ve lived ever since.
The actual history of this magnificently tailed swimming cat is at least as intriguing as the legends. Although the Turkish Van is a relative newcomer to the United States, this natural Turkish breed has lived in the Van region for thousands of years. Turkish Vans can also be found in the nearby areas of Armenia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and areas of the former Soviet Union. No kind and gentle environment here; Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey and one of the highest lakes in the world, knows extreme temperatures in both summer and winter. Since summer temperatures reach well above 100 degrees, the Van may have learned to swim to cool off. Or perhaps the breed was hunting herring, the only fish that can survive in the briny water of Lake Van. Whatever the reason for the Van’s tolerance of water, it probably explains the development of the cashmere-like, water-repellant coat, which enables the Van to swim and come out relatively dry.
No one knows for sure when the cats arrived in the Lake Van region for which the breed was named. Ornaments depicting cats who look remarkably like the Turkish Van date as far back as 5000 B.C.E. from the ancient kingdom of Urartu, centered in the mountainous region around Lake Van. If these artifacts depict actual cats, the Van could be one of the oldest cat breeds still in existence. According to some, the breed should be called the Armenian Van, since the land around Lake Van was ruled by the Armenians for many years before Turkish rule. Local Armenian folk stories and songs mention the Van cat.
In the Lake Van region and surrounding areas, the Van was and still is treasured for its hardiness, temperament and lovely fur. Turkey is largely a Muslim country, and Turkish Vans who have the "thumbprint of god" pattern are highly prized. These Vans have a color patch between the shoulder blades called the Mark of Allah, and it’s believed these special cats have been blessed.
Vans were reportedly first brought to Europe by soldiers returning from the Crusades, some time between 1095 and 1272. Over the centuries, Vans were transported throughout the Mideastern countries by the many invaders, traders and explorers.
In 1955, while photographing Lake Van, British citizens Laura Lushington and Sonia Halliday became fascinated by the beautiful Van cats of the area. Lushington was given a pair of auburn and white Van cats because of the work she had done for the Turkish Tourist Board. She began a breeding program and eventually imported three more Vans in 1959. The breed was registered with the British GCCF as "Turkish cats." In 1969, the Turkish Van was given full status by the GCCF.
The first Van kittens arrived in the United States in the 1970s, but it was not until breeders Barbara and Jack Reark imported two Vans from France in 1983 that the breed began to flourish in North America. Acceptance from many of the cat registries quickly followed. In 1985, TICA granted the Turkish Van championship status. CFA accepted the breed for championship in 1994. Today, the Turkish Van is still one of the lesser known breeds, but has a spirited group of fanciers. Since Turkish Vans are rare and breeders few, demand usually exceeds supply.
Because of a 1992 survey by a Turkish university found only 92 pure Turkish Van cats in their native region, the Turkish government officially recognized the breed in the mid-1990s and added breeding facilities at the Ankara zoo for the Van in order to preserve the breed, just as they did for the Turkish Angora. Vans are now considered a national treasure in the Republic of Turkey, and are no longer permitted to be exported; most breeding stock imported into America comes from European countries. Since the gene pool in the United States is still quite small and since breeding the Van with other breeds is not allowed, Vans from Australia, Sweden, and England are imported to add vigor to the existing lines.
The Turkish Van is a natural breed, known for its distinctive color pattern. In fact, the word "van" is now used by the cat fancy to describe white cats with colored head and tail markings. The Van body is moderately long, broad, sturdy, deep-chested and muscular. Mature males show marked muscular development in the neck and shoulders; the shoulders are at least as broad as the head and flow into the well-rounded rib cage and then into a muscular hip and pelvic area. The legs are muscular, moderately long and set wide apart. The tail is long but in proportion to the body, with a brush appearance. Tail hair is long and full. Adult males weigh 12 to 17 pounds; adult females weigh 9 to 13 pounds. The Van can take three to five years to reach full maturity, so show judges take gender and age into account when judging the Van.
The head is a substantially broad wedge with gentle contours and a medium length nose, prominent cheekbones, and a firm chin in a straight line with the medium length nose—all harmonizing with the large, muscular body. In profile, the nose has a slight dip below eye level. The muzzle is rounded. The ears are moderately large, wide at the base, set fairly high and well apart. The tips are slightly rounded; the insides are well feathered . The clear, alert, and expressive eyes are moderately large with a rounded aperture that is slightly drawn out at the corners and set at a slant, equidistant from the outside base of the ear to the tip of the nose.
The Van’s fine, silky-smooth coat lies flat and lacks a wooly undercoat, making it gloriously touchable and resistant to matting as well. The adult coat is semi-long, soft, and water-resistant. Feathering is seen on the ears, legs, feet and belly; facial fur is short. The coat changes according to season; in summer it is short and in winter it’s substantially longer and thicker. The neck ruff and full tail plume become more prominent with age.
The only pattern accepted is glistening chalk white with colored markings, preferably only on the head and tail. In CFA, random markings of color covering up to 15 percent of the entire body (excluding head and tail color) are permissible, but not of a size or number that detract from the van pattern, making the cat appear to be bicolor rather than van. Color in excess of 15 percent is a disqualifying fault. Other associations are a bit more liberal. In TICA, AFCA, and AACE, for example, color in excess of 20 percent is merely penalized, not cause for disqualification.
Color is required on the head from eye level up to the back of the head and on the tail. Markings may be any other color and white, with the exception of those showing evidence of hybridization resulting in the colors chocolate, lilac, etc., and the pointed pattern. The eye colors are amber, blue or odd-eyed, and the color may fade with age. The breed has no allowable outcrosses.
History
Several tall tales are told about the origins of the Turkish Van. One that Turkish Van fanciers tell with enthusiasm involves two longhaired, ring-tailed cats who were along for the ride on Noah’s Ark. When they reached Mount Ararat in what is now Turkey, the cats leapt into the water and swam for dry land where they’ve lived ever since.
The actual history of this magnificently tailed swimming cat is at least as intriguing as the legends. Although the Turkish Van is a relative newcomer to the United States, this natural Turkish breed has lived in the Van region for thousands of years. Turkish Vans can also be found in the nearby areas of Armenia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and areas of the former Soviet Union. No kind and gentle environment here; Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey and one of the highest lakes in the world, knows extreme temperatures in both summer and winter. Since summer temperatures reach well above 100 degrees, the Van may have learned to swim to cool off. Or perhaps the breed was hunting herring, the only fish that can survive in the briny water of Lake Van. Whatever the reason for the Van’s tolerance of water, it probably explains the development of the cashmere-like, water-repellant coat, which enables the Van to swim and come out relatively dry.
No one knows for sure when the cats arrived in the Lake Van region for which the breed was named. Ornaments depicting cats who look remarkably like the Turkish Van date as far back as 5000 B.C.E. from the ancient kingdom of Urartu, centered in the mountainous region around Lake Van. If these artifacts depict actual cats, the Van could be one of the oldest cat breeds still in existence. According to some, the breed should be called the Armenian Van, since the land around Lake Van was ruled by the Armenians for many years before Turkish rule. Local Armenian folk stories and songs mention the Van cat.
In the Lake Van region and surrounding areas, the Van was and still is treasured for its hardiness, temperament and lovely fur. Turkey is largely a Muslim country, and Turkish Vans who have the "thumbprint of god" pattern are highly prized. These Vans have a color patch between the shoulder blades called the Mark of Allah, and it’s believed these special cats have been blessed.
Vans were reportedly first brought to Europe by soldiers returning from the Crusades, some time between 1095 and 1272. Over the centuries, Vans were transported throughout the Mideastern countries by the many invaders, traders and explorers.
In 1955, while photographing Lake Van, British citizens Laura Lushington and Sonia Halliday became fascinated by the beautiful Van cats of the area. Lushington was given a pair of auburn and white Van cats because of the work she had done for the Turkish Tourist Board. She began a breeding program and eventually imported three more Vans in 1959. The breed was registered with the British GCCF as "Turkish cats." In 1969, the Turkish Van was given full status by the GCCF.
The first Van kittens arrived in the United States in the 1970s, but it was not until breeders Barbara and Jack Reark imported two Vans from France in 1983 that the breed began to flourish in North America. Acceptance from many of the cat registries quickly followed. In 1985, TICA granted the Turkish Van championship status. CFA accepted the breed for championship in 1994. Today, the Turkish Van is still one of the lesser known breeds, but has a spirited group of fanciers. Since Turkish Vans are rare and breeders few, demand usually exceeds supply.
Because of a 1992 survey by a Turkish university found only 92 pure Turkish Van cats in their native region, the Turkish government officially recognized the breed in the mid-1990s and added breeding facilities at the Ankara zoo for the Van in order to preserve the breed, just as they did for the Turkish Angora. Vans are now considered a national treasure in the Republic of Turkey, and are no longer permitted to be exported; most breeding stock imported into America comes from European countries. Since the gene pool in the United States is still quite small and since breeding the Van with other breeds is not allowed, Vans from Australia, Sweden, and England are imported to add vigor to the existing lines.