Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds

Copyright

Text and Illustrations © 2013, 1997 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

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ISBN 978-0-7641-6580-1

eISBN 978-1-4380-9207-2

First eBook Publication: April 2013

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 2012037188

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Helgren, J. Anne.

Barron’s encyclopedia of cat breeds : a complete guide to the domestic cats of North America / J. Anne Helgren ; with photographs by Bob Schwartz ; illustrations by Michele Earle-Bridges. — 2nd edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7641-6580-1

1. Cat breeds—Encyclopedias.

2. Cats—Encyclopedias.

3. Cat breeds—North America—Encyclopedias.

4. Cats—North America—Encyclopedias. I. Title. II. Title: Encyclopedia of cat breeds.

SF442.2.H448 2013

636.8003—dc23

2012037188

Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

1 FELINE HISTORY

Evolution

Divergence

The Cat Family

Domestication

The Spread of the Feline

In the Future

2 WHAT IS A PUREBRED?

Defining a Purebred

Why Pedigrees?

New Breeds

Establishing New Breeds

3 FELINE GENETICS

Basic Genetics

Mutation

Genetic Symbols

Polygenes

Breeding Methods

4 CONFORMATION, COLOR, AND COAT

Conformation

Color and Pattern

Black and Its Dilutes

The Pointed Pattern

Sex-Linked Orange

White Spotting Factor

Dominant White

Chinchilla, Shaded, and Smoke

Golden Color

Coat

5 THE CAT FANCY

History of the Cat Fancy

Cat Associations

Why So Many Cat Registries?

Cat Shows

How a Show Works

6 THE RECOGNIZED BREEDS

Introduction

Abyssinian

American Bobtail

American Curl

American Shorthair

American Wirehair

Balinese

Bengal

Birman

Bombay

British Shorthair

Burmese

Chartreux

Colorpoint Shorthair

Cornish Rex

Cymric

Devon Rex

Egyptian Mau

European Burmese

Exotic

Havana Brown

Himalayan

Japanese Bobtail

Korat

LaPerm

Maine Coon

Manx

Norwegian Forest Cat

Ocicat

Oriental

Persian

Pixiebob

RagaMuffin

Ragdoll

Russian Blue

Scottish Fold

Selkirk Rex

Siamese

Siberian

Singapura

Somali

Sphynx

Thai

Tonkinese

Turkish Angora

Turkish Van

7 NEW OR EXPERIMENTAL BREEDS

Introduction

Burmilla

Munchkin

Nebelung

Savannah

Snowshoe

York Chocolate

8 THE AMERICAN DOMESTIC

The Random-bred Cat

History of the American Domestic

Obtaining a Random-bred Cat

The Household Pet Class

Household Pet Standard

9 WHICH BREED IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

Choosing a Breed

Give It Some Thought

Compatible Breeds

10 CHOOSING A PUREBRED CAT

Finding a Breeder

Questions You Should Ask

Visiting the Cattery

Questions the Breeder May Ask

Pedigreed Quality

Price

Choosing a Kitten

The Sales Contract

11 SHOWING YOUR CAT

Before the First Show

Which Association?

Preparing Your Cat

Entering the Show

Grooming

Attending the Show

GLOSSARY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

About the Author

J. Anne Helgren has written six books for Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.: Abyssinian Cats, A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual; Himalayan Cats: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual; Barron’s Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds; It’s Showtime (co-authored); Communicating with Your Cat; and Rex Cats: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual. Himalayan Cats and Barron’s Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds received Certificates of Excellence from the Cat Writers’ Association, and Communicating with Your Cat and Rex Cats won CWA’s top award, the Muse Medallion. A revised edition of Himalayan Cats: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual was released in fall of 2006.

Ms. Helgren has been published in national and regional magazines including Cat Fancy, Purina ProCare, and I Love Cats. A contributing writer for Cats Magazine from June 1992 until August 2001, Ms. Helgren wrote a monthly cat breed profile for which she was awarded CWA Certificates of Excellence in 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1999, and Muse Medallions in 1997 and 1999. In 2005, she received a CWA Muse Medallion for the breed profile in the May 2005 issue of Cat Fancy. In addition, she’s written more than forty articles for PetPlace.com and fifty breed profiles and supporting text for Telemark Productions, Inc. (www.iams.com/pet-health/cat-breeds), for which she was awarded the Purina ProPlan Pedigreed Cats Award in November 2007. While specializing in companion animal content in general and cats in particular, Ms. Helgren has also written articles and stories on many other topics for national and regional magazines, newspapers, and websites. Ms. Helgren has been a professional member of the Cat Writers’ Association since 1993. In addition to her writing career, Ms. Helgren was a writing instructor for the Long Ridge Writers’ Group for more than ten years.

Born in Southern California, Ms. Helgren earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University. She now lives in Northern California with her husband, Bill, and a family of random-bred domestic cats.

DEDICATION

To Bill, Libby, Rose, and all my cat companions, with love always. In memory of Bitty and Squeak.

—J. Anne Helgren

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank Anna E. Damaskos, Senior Editor and project editor, for all her invaluable help, hard work, and guidance; Wayne Barr, Barron’s Managing Editor, Amy Shojai, and the members of the Cat Writers’ Association; the American Association of Cat Enthusiasts, American Cat Association, Canadian Cat Association, American Cat Fanciers Association, Cat Fanciers’ Association, Cat Fanciers Federation, The International Cat Association, and the United Feline Organization. The author would also like to thank Bill Helgren for his support and advice, Libby Basore, and Rose Basore for their love and encouragement, Darlene Arden for her assistance and friendship, and last but certainly not least Clancy, Frodo, Bear, Tripod, Sherbert, Sheriff, Prancer, and Skittles for the love, companionship, and the cat hairs on my keyboard.

IMPORTANT NOTE

When you handle cats, you may sometimes get scratched or bitten. If this happens, have a doctor treat the injuries immediately. Make sure your cat receives all the necessary shots and dewormings; otherwise serious danger to the animal and to human health may arise. A few diseases and parasites can be communicated to humans. If your cat shows any signs of illness, you should consult a veterinarian. If you are worried about your own health, see your doctor, and tell him or her that you have cats.

Some people have allergic reactions to cats. If you think you might be allergic, see your doctor before you get a cat.

It is possible for a cat to cause damage to someone else’s property and even to cause accidents. For your own protection you should make sure your insurance covers such eventualities, and you should definitely have liability insurance.

Preface

It is difficult to obtain the friendship of a cat. It is a philosophic animal . . . one that does not place its affections thoughtlessly. —Theophile Gautier (1811–1872)

To us cat lovers nothing is more natural than loving our feline friends for their grace, beauty, independent personalities, and myriad other attractive qualities. The fascination of cats is hard to define—if you are a cat lover, you understand; if you are not, no amount of mere words could persuade you. Since you are reading this, I assume that you are acquainted with the charm and joy of having a feline companion.

In the more than 20 years that I’ve been researching and profiling pedigreed breeds, I’ve developed a real love for these beautiful and intriguing cats. Exploring their histories, personalities, and myriad colors, patterns, and fur types have been a personal journey into the mystery and magic of the feline. In this book I’ll try to share that journey with you.

The fascination with pedigreed cats is easy to understand since these beautifully colored and coated examples of the species seem to legitimize our feelings about felines. It’s natural to want others to look at our beloved kitties with as much admiration as we do ourselves. These cats, with their colorful coats, histories, and temperaments, fascinate the novice and experienced cat fancier alike. Still, the cat fancy—the common term used to describe the people involved with showing or breeding cats—has become so much more than that. For many of those involved, it’s a way of life, a community of people dedicated to breeding, showing, and loving cats.

Keep in mind, however, that pedigreed cats comprise less than five percent of the total cat population in the United States today, and cat lovers are of two minds when it comes to pedigreed cats. On one side, cat lovers wish to retain the right to breed the cats they have worked so hard to protect, promote, and perfect. On the other, cat lovers watch as an endless tide of equally beautiful and worthy cats are euthanized because there aren’t enough homes for them all. Do pedigreed breeds contribute to the overpopulation problem? Yes. Would the overpopulation problem end if all pedigreed breeding stopped tomorrow? No. Pedigreed cats make up too small a percentage. It will take an effort on the part of all of us cat owners to put an end to what is certainly a national tragedy. I offer this book as a modest tribute to the lovely pedigreed and random-bred members of the species Felis silvestris catus, and urge that you think long and hard before you decide to breed cats—pedigreed or random-bred.

1

CHAPTER ONE

FELINE HISTORY

If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence.

—Will Cuppy

EVOLUTION

The official connection between the domestic cat and us mere humans started at least 9,500 years ago, but in actuality, the cat’s journey to its present form began about 54 million years ago, give or take a year. Around the time Australia split from Antarctica and moved northward, ecological niches not previously available to mammals opened up by the passing of the dinosaurs. The mammals (warm-blooded vertebrates that suckle their young) then came into their own and flourished, diverged, and evolved in an intricate, complex dance of life.

All carnivorous mammals developed from the miacids. The first ancestor of the modern-day cat, the Dinictis, dates from the Eocene Epoch, approximately 56 to 34 million years ago.

After the dinosaurs became extinct, mammals became the dominant life forms, and they still reign today. A group of forest-dwelling mammals called the miacids developed around 54 million years ago; these animals evolved into subgroups that include the ancestors of our modern species of cats, bears, beavers, raccoons, weasels, hyenas, and dogs. In fact, all carnivorous mammals developed from the miacids. We would not have recognized our feline companions then, of course. Short-legged, long-bodied, and pea-brained, the miacids looked more like modern weasels than they did our feline friends. However, without the miacids we wouldn’t have the felids we know and love today.

Saber-toothed cats developed around 40 million years ago. Extinct now, some saber-toothed cats were still alive as recently as 13,000 years ago.

From the miacids developed Dinictis, a lynx-sized animal with catlike teeth for stabbing prey. Dinictis was the first modern day cat look-alike, and was an important ancestor in the felid evolutionary line. The Dinictis’ brain was much smaller than today’s intelligent feline’s. To compensate, its teeth were bigger.

From the Dinictis, felid evolution diverged. In one branch were the saber-toothed cats, in which the canine teeth became true stabbing weapons. These cats were found worldwide from the mid-Eocene Epoch (around 42 million years ago) to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 11,000 years ago, when the last of the subspecies became extinct). The other branch, in which the upper canine teeth became smaller and the brain larger, developed later, around 15 million years ago. The smaller-toothed cats, quicker and smarter than the saber-toothed cats, continued to adapt and thrive into the 36 recognized felid species that exist in the world today—all descended from the same ancestor.

DIVERGENCE

When animals first began to evolve into identifiable mammals, the enormous supercontinent called Pangaea was moving apart in a process known as continental drift, eventually becoming the continents of the world we know today. Of course, the continents are still drifting. What the planet will look like in the expanse of time is still being debated.

Panthera leo, the lion.

When the continents began drifting apart, the plants and animals that existed at that time drifted as well. That’s why the species of cats are located as they are. No indigenous cats can be found in Antarctica or Australia, and cats have only arrived in South America in the last two million years. The southern continents split away from Pangaea around 180 million years ago, before any modern-type mammals evolved.

Marsupials (mammals whose young are born at an early stage and continue their development in a pouch) evolved in Australia where they developed into the most advanced mammals in the area. They then spread into modern North America, which was still attached to Eurasia at that time. They then spread to South America, which was still connected to North America until around 65 million years ago.

Because no true cats made it to Australia, marsupials evolved to inhabit the same ecological niches as do cats in other parts of the world. Thus, the marsupial cats, while not true members of the felid family, evolved similar characteristics. For example, the Miocene marsupial lion Thylacoleo was the size of a leopard and even had teeth similar to the saber-toothed cats of North America. These marsupials lived in Australia from about two million to 46,000 years ago, when they became extinct.

South America had no felines until the Isthmus of Panama formed to connect Central America and South America, and cats migrated down from North America. With the forming of this land bridge about three million years ago, many kinds of animals (including cats) traveled down into South America, and many marsupials (and other animals) subsequently became extinct, likely because of competition for the available ecological niches.

THE CAT FAMILY

All of the nonroaring cats are members of the genus Felis. For example, Felis silvestris catus is the name for the domestic cat, the mountain lion (also called the cougar) is Felis concolor, and the bobcat is Felis rufus. The roaring cats are members of the genus Panthera, which includes, among others, the lion Panthera leo, the leopard Panthera pardus, and the tiger Panthera tigris. A third genus of cat, called Acinonyx, has just one existing member—Acinonyx jubatus, the cheetah. It warrants a genus of its own because, among other differences, its claws are not fully retractable like other members of the cat family. The genuses Felis and Panthera are divided not because of size, but because of the differences in construction of the vocal apparatus. The hyoid bone at the base of the tongue is partially made of cartilage in the great cats, which gives the vocal apparatus the mobility necessary to produce roaring sounds.

Acinonyx Jubatus, the cheetah. Current DNA studies show that cheetahs are closely related to pumas.

The classification of cat species is not easy, and not all experts agree on the number or placement of each. For example, some authorities place the clouded leopard in a genus of its own, Neofelis, because of its very long upper canine teeth, among other differences. Some experts divide lynxes, ocelots, and Geoffroy’s cat into genuses of their own. Despite these disagreements, most experts agree on the basic classifications.

Our domestic cats most likely descended from the African wildcat Felis silvestris lybica. A 2007 genetic study indicated that all domestic cats descended from as few as five female African wildcats in the Mid-East around 8000 B.C.E. (10,000 years ago). Native to Africa, western Asia, Scotland, and southern Europe, the African wildcat has the same structure and number of chromosomes as the domestic cat. If you put one beside the other, you might have a difficult time distinguishing the African wildcat from its domestic buddy. Felis silvestris lybica is lithe, tabby striped, tan in color, and bears ticking similar to the Abyssinian. F. lybica interbreeds easily with domestics, so much so that it is teetering on the brink of extinction as a pure species. Unlike other wildcats, F. lybica is fairly easily domesticated and often lives near humans to prey on the small animals that live on human stores of foods. Many of the cat remains mummified by the cat cult that existed some 4,000 years ago in Egypt are F. lybica.

It’s possible that later on the European wildcat Felis silvestris and the jungle cat Felis chaus played some role in the development of the domestic. F. silvestris has well-defined mackerel tabby markings and could have introduced this pattern into the species—a pattern that provided better camouflage in wooded areas, and that all modern domestic cats possess (see Chapter Four). A certain amount of crossbreeding likely occurred, and it is thought that the more stocky breeds such as the Persian and British Shorthair were influenced by the stocky body types of the European wildcats, while the slimmer foreign and Oriental breeds show more of the F. lybica influence.

DOMESTICATION

Cats were one of the last animals to be domesticated. Before humans settled down to an agrarian culture, humans domesticated animals, such as goats, pigs, and sheep so they could transport with them a ready supply of food. Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), too, became allies in hunting and in defending the herds from predators. Being pack animals, dogs were (and still are) more easily trained than cats when raised among humans. Estimates vary, but archaeologists have found that the earliest known domestication of the gray wolf (Canis lupus, from which domestic dogs developed), occurred approximately 30,000 B.C.E. The present bloodlines of Canis lupus familiaris arose about 16,000 years ago. Cats, on the other hand, have been tamed for about 9,500 years (that we know of) and have always accepted domestication with reservations.

African wildcat Felis silvestris libyca.

Domestication is somewhat of a mysterious process that is not yet fully understood. That this process has a genetic basis seems clear, since the docile behavior and dependency of domestic animals develop after years of selective breeding. One likely theory is that cat domestication occurred gradually, since the cats that tended to hang around humans would interbreed and pass along their docile genes, while the less docile specimens would leave for less inhabited regions.

Domestic cats have smaller brains than their wild cousins, and this may be a factor in the domestication process (in other words, the smaller your brain, the more likely you are to trust humans). However, other experts believe the reason for the smaller brain size is due to the lack of the need of certain parts of the brain relating to vigilance and sensorial processing, which are needed for survival in the wild.

At any rate, cats cannot be defined as truly domesticated animals since they could still return to the wild and survive, as a species if not as individuals. Most cat lovers would agree that it’s the feline’s independent spirit and devotion to its human companions despite its inclinations otherwise that make it so worthy of our love.

With that said, some experts believe that cats domesticated humankind, rather than the other way around. At times it certainly seems that way, since cats manage to get what they want from us humans without undue effort on their part. When humans evolved from hunter-gatherers to an agricultural existence, cats may have learned that humans provided a reliable food source in the vermin attracted to stored grain. In effect, these cats filled a newly developed ecological niche. Humans soon learned that felines were invaluable in controlling the rodent populations that destroyed their crops and ate their stored food. Somewhere along the way, humans also discovered that it was pleasant to sit by the fire with a lapful of warm cat.

THE SPREAD OF THE FELINE

Since Felis silvestris lybica originally came from Africa, the Mid-East, and southern Europe, it’s logical to assume that domestication first occurred there. Evidence exists that cats were kept as pets at least 9,500 years ago; on the Island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, a kitten was unearthed in a young girl’s grave. Radiocarbon dating determined the kitten was 9,500 years old. Since Cyprus has no indigenous wild cats, including African Wildcats, this indicates cats were domesticated thousands of years before the Egyptian cat cult left written records of their alliance with cats.

Cats became household companions to the Egyptians between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago, as evidenced by the period’s writings and the depictions of cats on ornaments, statues, bas-reliefs, and paintings. Although presumably at first they were welcomed for their rodent-catching abilities, later they became much more than that. They were treated as beloved household companions, much as they are today. Plutarch, the Greek philosopher and biographer (46–120 C.E.), commented that the Egyptians were noted for breeding their cats for comparable traits. If true, the Egyptians were the first known cat fanciers to breed domestic cats for specific characteristics.

At one point, cats were also worshipped as the physical manifestations of the gods. In Egyptian theology, the cat was identified with the goddess Bast (also known as Ubastet, Bastet, and Pasht), who was often depicted as a woman with the head of a cat. The loved companion of the great sun god Ra, Bast symbolized the sun’s gentle, life-giving warmth, and also was associated with fertility and the Moon. The way cats’ eyes reflect light was compared with the way the moon reflects the sun’s light. Cats were therefore believed to have power over darkness. Mau is the Egyptian word for cat and also meant to see.

For a time, felines were so revered as Bast’s physical symbol by the people of Lower Egypt that the Egyptians would go into deep mourning upon the death of a cat, shaving their eyebrows as a sign of their grief. The penalty for killing a cat was severe. A Sicilian historian tells of a Roman soldier who killed a cat by running it down with his chariot. Some accounts say it was an accident. Despite King Ptolemy’s pleas for clemency (he didn’t want to antagonize the powerful Roman Empire), the soldier was killed by the outraged mob.

Like humans, cats were often mummified so they could rejoin their human companions after death. Archaeologists found thousands of such cats buried with mummified mice and shrews preserved to sustain the cats on their journey to the afterlife.

However, researchers who have X-rayed mummified cat remains have found that a great many of the mummified cats were under two years old and had their necks broken, indicating that in some areas of Egypt people sacrificed felines to the cat goddess. These mummies date from 330 to 30 B.C.E. No evidence of animal sacrifice has been found before or after that time.

Morrison Scott of the British Museum examined mummified cats and came to the conclusion that these spotted cats were Felis lybica ocreata, a subspecies of the African wildcat originally from the Ethiopian highlands.

The Egyptians were fiercely protective of their cats, but eventually Phoenician traders transported domesticated felines to Europe and the British Isles, where the cats were used to control rodent populations. Romans smuggled cats out of Egypt and brought them into conquered regions, such as France, Germany, Holland, England, and Spain. Monks transported cats to the Orient. Slowly, domestic cats spread. The development of specific breeds within the domestic cat species was still hundreds of years away, but because of geographical location, climatic conditions, human intervention, and other factors, specific traits and breeds slowly began to develop (see the breed profiles in Chapter Six).

An ancient Egyptian statue representing the goddess Bast.

An Egyptian mummy of a ram. The Egyptians mummified various animals, including many cats.

By the birth of Christ, many cultures, such as those of the Japanese, Siamese, East Indians, and Chinese, had come to appreciate felines for their beauty, wisdom, and usefulness. For a long time in the Hindu religion, for example, believers were required to feed and shelter at least one cat.

Not all cultures appreciated cats, however. Religious sects in Europe, beginning around the middle of the thirteenth century, persecuted and killed cats for a supposed link with the devil. The reason for this may have been genuine, if misguided, religious fervor, but the coincidental timing suggests political reasons as well. The Middle Ages was a time when the Christian church had strong motivation to discourage the practice of the pagan religions, particularly those that worshipped deities, such as the Egyptian goddess Bast and the Norse goddess Freyia who rode about the skies in a cat-drawn chariot. Therefore, pagan deities were often cast as devils or servants of Satan. Cats and other animals previously worshipped were tortured and killed in the most terrible ways. Mass purges required that cats be rounded up and destroyed, and ritualistic ceremonies were held to symbolize casting out evil by the killing of cats. For example, as late as 1757, an annual celebration in Provence, France, required that a live tomcat be thrown into a blazing bonfire built in the city square. This ritual apparently had the full support of the church, since church officials sang anthems in honor of the ritual during the performance. These were bad times for cats and humans alike because, of course, the animals were not alone in the persecution. People suspected of witchcraft (sometimes the owners of cats) were also persecuted, tortured, and killed.

It has been theorized that the reduced cat population in Europe contributed to the spread of the bubonic plague. Rodents and their fleas flourished at this time and with them so did the Black Death, which from 1347 to 1351 C.E. killed approximately one third to one half of the population of Europe. Even after the great plague ended, outbreaks continued even into the 1900s; however, domestic cats later played a role in reducing outbreaks by ridding towns and villages of disease-bearing rodents. Even though the people of the time didn’t know of the connection between plague and rats, the ability to eliminate vermin helped increase cats’ popularity and eventually end the persecution.

With the advent of sailing ships, domestic cats spread. In addition to (and maybe because of) their usefulness in catching rodents, it was thought that having cats aboard ship brought good luck, and thus cats spread across the globe and eventually came to the New World (see Chapter Eight for the history of their arrival).

IN THE FUTURE

Where will cat evolution go from here? Of course, no one really knows. Cats, great and small, are among the world’s most efficient predators, and that is why they have thrived for so many millions of years on so many of the world’s continents. However, humankind’s predation and encroachment upon habitat has severely limited the populations of many wild cat species. Without our help many will become extinct.

In After Man: A Zoology of the Future, a fanciful but scientifically based book by Dougal Dixon (St. Martin’s Griffin), the author predicts that in 50 million years the only remaining descendant of the true cats will be the striger, a tiger-striped creature with opposable claws and a prehensile tail that allows the animal to swing through the trees in search of prey. But humankind, Dixon predicts, will have gone the way of the dodo long before that time. Who knows? Perhaps we will.

As far as our cat companions are concerned, humankind will have a profound influence on the future of Felis silvestris catus. Just as dog breeds have evolved, diversified, and changed, so will cat breeds. It is possible that hundreds or thousands of years from now we will have Great Dane cats, Toy Poodle cats, cats with Basset Hound ears, perhaps even cats with opposable claws (and you think the couch gets shredded now). Minor differences may become more extreme as selective breeding separates the pedigreed breeds. Is this a good thing? Not necessarily. As we’ve seen in the dog fancy, breeds can be virtually ruined by unwise breeding goals. Breeds can also be improved by responsible breeding practices. It will depend on the cat fancy and the responsibility and objectives of the breeders and exhibitors. Mother Nature is a few billion years ahead of us when it comes to selective breeding, and it stands to reason that she is rather better at shaping her creations than we are.

2

CHAPTER TWO

WHAT IS A PUREBRED?

A god among creatures! Yet also a stray like me.

—Tony Ross

DEFINING A PUREBRED

What makes a purebred different from a rough-and-tumble alley cat? The term purebred is misleading, because purebreds are really no more pure than household pets, from a certain point of view. This is why most cat fanciers prefer the term pedigreed rather than purebred.

On the most basic level, a purebred is a feline with a pedigree—the cat’s ancestry can be traced back a certain number of generations (usually four or five). Because of this pedigree, and because the cat is a member of a recognized breed, the cat can be registered with any of the cat associations that recognize the breed. Of course, it’s not as simple as that, and it would be misleading to imply that having a piece of paper stating a particular cat is a member of a specific breed is the only method of determination.

Siamese queen with her kittens. Pedigreeds generally breed true—their offspring will look like them.

Usually, a major determining factor is whether or not the cat can breed true—meaning that it produces uniform offspring. However, accepted breeds exist that do not. The Manx doesn’t breed true, and no one would deny that it’s considered an accepted breed.

If you choose to look at it another way, what constitutes a breed of cat (or any breed of domestic animal) is largely a human perception, particularly when you are referring to breeds that have been created by selective breeding. With this thinking, a cat breed is a group of felines recognized as such by an organized group of like-minded humans. But of course that doesn’t tell the whole story, either.

In the dog fancy, the original system of defining separate breeds was based on function, so the lines drawn between breeds were more clear-cut. For the most part (with the exception of show cats), all cat breeds have the same function in human society—they provide companionship and kill vermin. Also, since dogs were first domesticated an estimated 31,000 years ago, dog breeds have had more time to evolve, change, and be selectively bred for the function for which they were needed. The differences in size, conformation, ability, coat type, color, and personality are more obvious and extreme.

In the cat fancy, cat breeds are not separated by function and fewer conformation types exist; there aren’t as many sizes and shapes to help distinguish the breeds. Therefore, the term breed is used in a more flexible manner. Other features are used to define the differences between breeds, such as color, pattern, hair length and texture, and body type, including head shape, ear type, the set of the eyes and ears, and the length and type of the tail. The breeds also differ by personality and activity level.

A pedigreed breed’s standard of perfection, written (usually) by one or more breeders, is a guideline describing the characteristics that make an ideal example of the breed. A breed group or committee updates the standard as necessary. The standard is an ideal for which to strive rather than a description of each member of the breed. In the standard, each characteristic is assigned a specific number of points, depending upon the importance of the trait, equaling a total of 100 points. Undesirable characteristics (called objections, faults, or penalties depending upon the association) reduce the chances that the judge will award that cat a ribbon.

Keep in mind, however, that judges do not mentally add or subtract the standard’s points when judging a particular cat. The points simply tell the judge which attributes are most important for that breed. For example, if the coat is assigned 30 points and the eyes are assigned five points, the judge will focus his or her attention far more on the coat than the eyes. In other words, a cat could have the most magnificent eyes the judge has ever seen, but if the coat is lacking, no ribbon will be forthcoming.

The Cymric (bottom) is a longhaired version of the Manx (top).

Another factor complicating the issue is that the registries sometimes have different breed standards and policies concerning the breeds. For example, in the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), the Colorpoint Shorthair is defined as a breed that possesses the svelte body type and pointed pattern of the Siamese but that is dressed in colors that don’t conform to the four original Siamese colors the CFA recognizes. However, The International Cat Association (TICA) and some of the other associations consider these cats to be part of the Siamese breed group, since the conformation, hair length, and temperament are the same. These associations merely extended the color parameters of the breed to accommodate the new colors.

So how can we define a pedigreed breed? As an overall guideline, a breed is a group of related felines that share a unique conformation, pattern, coat length and type, color parameters, and temperament, and often come from a particular geographic region. The members of a pedigreed breed generally produce uniform offspring—you can count on certain characteristics to be passed from generation to generation. In some cases, one particular defining characteristic sets the breed apart from other cats, as in the case of the unique ears of the Scottish Fold and the American Curl. In other cases, the determining characteristics are more subtle, as in the Burmese breed with its particular color scheme and body type. To be considered a breed by the cat associations, the cats must be in some significant way different from other existing breeds, or be a distinct variant of an existing breed. Since all modern breeds arose from several original types, and interest in cat breeds didn’t really get started until the nineteenth century, the twentieth century has seen an explosion of new cat breeds accepted by the cat associations.

The American Curl (left) and the Scottish Fold (right), two breeds defined by their unusual aural arrangements.

WHY PEDIGREEDS?

Who knows what cats think about the cat fancy? They possibly consider it another of those incomprehensible things humans do with their time. Cat fanciers, however, find the preservation of pedigreed characteristics more than a passing whim. One of the goals of the cat fancy is to preserve and promote feline characteristics fanciers find attractive or unique, because otherwise many of these traits would disappear from the feline gene pool. Some of these traits are aesthetically pleasing, some give us a clearer picture of feline evolution and the history of cats, and some enhance our understanding of the feline species in general. Therefore, these characteristics are valuable to people who love, own, breed, show, and study cats. Fanciers are dedicated to preserving the infinite variety of their feline children for subsequent generations to enjoy.

Spotted Ocicat. The Ocicat was developed by crossing Abyssinians, Siamese, and American Shorthairs.

Also, knowing a breed’s characteristics allows fanciers to determine which breed is right for them. It is helpful to know a cat’s general temperament, conformation, grooming needs, and health concerns before investing time and money. While the characteristics of dog breeds vary more widely than cat breeds, it’s still possible to get a pretty good idea what a given member of a cat breed will be like by examining its forebears.

NEW BREEDS

Several methods exist for arriving at new breed varieties. The most common method is mutation. Mutations occur spontaneously within the feline gene pool—that’s the way evolution works its magic. Oftentimes, the mutation is not apparent to the eye and frequently dies out without anyone noticing. Other times, the mutation is obvious, as in the American Curl’s ears or the Munchkin’s short legs. In wild cats, many mutations cease to exist because they aren’t beneficial or suited to the cat’s environment; a new variation that decreases the cat’s effectiveness at, say, pouncing on a rodent or surviving the area’s extremes in temperature won’t survive long enough to become a unique breed. That’s the criteria Mother Nature uses to gauge mutations: Is the animal more or less likely to survive than it was before?

Sometimes, however, because of geographic conditions, serendipity, or human intervention, a mutation that’s not necessarily beneficial or that doesn’t increase survival odds thrives anyway. The Manx is a good example. Even though the mutation that causes its taillessness is potentially damaging because it can cause foreshortening of the spine, the protected and confining nature of the Isle of Man allowed it to develop and