Category: Cat Breeds

The Birman cat, also called the Sacred Cat of Burma, is distinguished by its silky long hair, deep blue eyes and pure white feet. Legend claims that a white long-haired temple cat called Sinh came to the aid of a Buddhist priest who was being killed by robbers. When the cat jumped onto the priest’s body to guard him, the priest’s soul passed into the cat. As this happened, Sinh’s white coat was shaded with gold reflected from the temple statue and the feet remained white where they touched the priest’s body. The cat’s face, ears, legs and tail took on the color of the earth and its amber eyes turned deep blue. The modern history of the Birman is almost as shrouded in mystery as the legend. What is known is that about 1919, two Birman cats were shipped to France by temple priests. The male died during the journey but the pregnant female survived and the Birman breed was established in Europe.

The American Curl cat is an unusual breed with distinctive ears that gently curve backward. The backward curling ears are a result of a dominant mutation. This mutation was first documented in 1981 when a stray long-haired cat with curled ears was taken in by Grace Ruga and named “Shulasmith”. A subsequent unplanned litter resulted in two of the four kittens having curled ears. The first time these American curls, Shulasmith and the 2 kittens, were shown was at Palm Springs in 1983 where they created a lot of interest and excitement. Since the curled ears seemed to be a dominant mutation, Joe and Grace Ruga and a friend, Nancy Keister, started a selective breeding program with the intent of developing a new cat breed. The American Curl was first recognized in the US by the International Cat Association and later in 1991 was given provisional recognition by the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA). Cat size Small/Medium Exercise Requires little or no exercise Grooming Low shedding/Minimal grooming Temperament Pleasant,

The Abyssinian cat or Aby is one of the most popular short-haired cat breeds and one that is instantly recognizable because of its unusual ticked or agouti coat. The early history of the Abyssinian is hard to establish. Some similarities seem to exist between the depiction of the ancient Egyptian cats and the modern Abyssinian. Studies by geneticists seem to point to the Aby originating somewhere in South East Asia. However, all that is really known is that the first Abyssinian was listed in Britain around 1882 and was called the British Ticked cat by the British cat fancy in 1900. The first Abyssinians came to the US about that time but the cat breed wasn’t fully established in the US until the 1930’s. Cat size Medium Exercise Active cat: moderate exercise Grooming Minimal but ears need regular cleaning Temperament Gentle Characteristics Of Abyssinian Cat The Aby is a medium sized cat breed that is slender,

The Balinese cat is a Siamese cat dressed up in a medium-long silky white coat and a plumed tail. When they first appeared in the 1940’s, breeders thought they were just anomalies in the pure Siamese bloodlines. However, in the 1950’s, a breeder in New York and a breeder in California independently began to develop the new breed. Since long hair in a Siamese is a recessive gene, it takes a pair of long-haired Siamese to produce a long-haired kitten. The New York breeder, Helen Smith, chose the name “Balinese” because the graceful movements of the cat reminded her of the graceful dancers of the island of Bali. The first Longhaired Siamese was shown at a New York cat show in 1961. The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) only recognizes the four official Siamese color varieties as Balinese and calls all other longhaired color varieties Javanese. Other cat fancy organization in the US and Britain allow many other longhaired color varieties to be grouped under the Balinese.

The Japanese Bobtail Cat has been a popular domestic cat in Japan, China and Korea for many centuries. The Bobtail was mentioned in Japanese literature almost 1000 years ago and was portrayed in woodcuts and silkscreen paintings that date back to the early 17th century. One famous tale concerns a small bobtail female cat named Maneki-Neko that raised a paw and beckoned to strangers giving them good fortune. Stylized renditions of the maneki-neko are found on the façade of a Buddhist temple near Tokyo and on many store fronts and in many restaurants. While these cats are usually only seen at cat fancy shows in the US, they can be seen everywhere in Japan. Tri-colored (white with patches of red and black) cats are called Mi-Ke (mee-kay) and are very popular in Japan. However the formal US breeding program was started by Elizabeth Freret when she imported 3 Bobtails from Japan in 1968. The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) accepted the breed for registration in 1969 and accepted the Japanese Bobtail for Championship status in 1976.

The American Wirehair is another uniquely American cat breed that began as a result of a spontaneous genetic mutation on a farm in upstate New York. In 1966 one of a litter of six American Shorthair kittens exhibited an unusual sparse and wiry red and white coat. The aberrant male kitten, named Adam, was bred with other American Shorthair cats. It soon became obvious that the wirehair gene was dominant as litters sired by Adam were half Wirehair kittens. An analysis of Adam’s coat by geneticists showed that this was a previously unknown coat type. A selective breeding program was started with the only out-crosses being to carefully selected American Shorthair cats. Wirehairs were first recognized by the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) in 1967 and accepted for championship competition in 1978. There are sufficient numbers of Wirehairs now to indicate that they have some significant differences, apart from the coat, to distinguish the breed from the American Shorthair.

The American Shorthair (ASH) cat is descended from European cats brought to North America with the early European settlers who carried cats on their boats to hunt ship’s rats. These working cats flourished on pioneers’ farms and evolved to establish themselves as North America’s shorthaired cats. The ASH evolved into a versatile and hardy breed with a short dense coat to protect them against the cold winter. The hunting skills of these Shorthairs allowed them to move between households, farms, and feral life without going hungry. Selective breeding was started to preserve these beautiful cats and preserve the uniqueness of the North American Shorthair. In 1906 the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) officially recognized this breed which was known as the Domestic Shorthair. The cat breed was renamed the American Shorthair in 1966 to reflect its American heritage and is one of the top ten most popular breeds registered by the CFA. Cat size Medium/Large Exercise Requires little or no exercise Grooming Minimal grooming –

The Chartreux Cat or Chartreuse cat is native to France and is not recognized in Great Britain because of its similarities to the blue British Shorthair. However in the rest of Europe and North America, differences between the two breeds are emphasized and it is classed as a separate cat breed. The name, Chartreux, has been associated with this breed since the 16th century. Some historians claim that the breed is named after the Carthusian monastery, the Grande Chartreuse, founded in the 11th century in south-eastern France. Others think that since the breed had a woolly coat, the name was derived from a type of Spanish wool, called “Pile de Chartreux”. The modern history of the breed began on the island of Belle-Ile off the coast of Brittany, France. The Leger sisters discovered a colony of the large blue cats and began to breed them in the late 1920’s. The first Chartreux was shown in 1931 and later descendants when on to win a number of shows before the Second World War.

The American Bobtail cat is the most recent breed that has been accepted for championship status (2006) by the Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA). The American Bobtail is easy to recognize by its wild appearance and naturally occurring bobtail. The American Bobtail is totally unrelated to the Japanese Bobtail and its stumpy tail seems to be a product of the Manx gene. The Bobtail is a purely American developed cat and at this time is not recognized by British or European cat fancy organizations. The Bobtail seems to have originated in Iowa in the early 1970’s and at some point in its development was crossed with Himalayan and Birman cats which probably accounts for the varied coat lengths which range from medium-short to semi-longhair. The Manx gene is unstable so Bobtail kittens can be born with no tail, longer tail of the bobtail. In 1990 the CFA and the International Cat Association started to accept American Bobtails for registration.

The British Shorthair or European Shorthair is probably the oldest English breed and one whose ancestors came to Europe and Britain with the Roman soldiers. The Romans used these cats to protect their food supplies from rodents and as companions. The British and European Shorthair cats are identical and the name just reflects where you live. In Britain and North America we refer to them as British Shorthairs or Brits. The founder of the British cat fancy, Harrison Weir, is largely responsible for turning the domestic British cat into a recognized breed. He organized the first cat fancy show in 1871 which was dominated by the British Shorthairs. However by the turn of the century the Persians began to dominate and by the Second World War the British Shorthairs were in short supply. Some cross-breeding to Persians was introduced to save the breed and some hint of the Persian can still be seen in the Brit’s head shape.