British Shorthair

     British Shorthair

The British Shorthair is the pedigreed version of the traditional Britsh domestic cat, with a distinctively

chunky body, dense coat, and broad face. The most familiar colour variant is the “British blue “ a solid blue-gray with copper eyes, medium tail, but the breed has also been developed in a widerange of other colour and patter including tabby and colourprint.

It is one of the most ancient cat breeds known, probably originating from European domestic cat imported into british by the invading Romans in the first century AD. In modern times, it remains the most popular pedigreed breed in its native country, as registered by the UK Governing Council of cat fancy.

The breed good natural appearance and relatively calm temperament make it a frequent media star, notably as the inspiration for John Tenniel famous illustration of the Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland. The CFA profile reads “When a gracelessness is observed the British shorthair is duly embarrassed, quickly recovering with a Cheshire cat smile.

Source:Google

History

The origins of the british Shorthair most likely date back to the First Century AD, making it one of the most ancient identifiable cat breed in the world. It is thought that the invading Roman initially brought Egyptian domestic cat to Great Britain, these cats then interbred with the Local European wildcat populations. Over the centuries, naturally isolated descendants developed into distinctively large, robust cats with a short but very thick coat, the better to withstand conditions on their native islands. Based on artist representation, the modern British Shorthair is basically unchanged from this initial type.

Selective breeding of the best examples of the type began in the nineteenth century, with emphasis on developing the usual blue grey variant called the “British Blue” or “English type” in particular. Sources directly credit UK artist and pioneering cat fancier Harrison Weir with the initial concept of standardizing the breed, others suggest group of breeders may have been involved. The new british shorthair was featured at the first ever cat show, organized by Weir and held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1871, and enjoyed great initial popularity.

By the 1890s, With the advent of newly imported Persian and other long haired breeds, British Shorthair had fallen out of favor, and breeding stock had become critically rare by Wolrd War 1. The genes thus introduced would eventually become the basis for the British Longhair, at the time, any long haired cats produced were placed into the Persian breeding programs. As all cats the “blue”colouration were then judged together as variants on a “de facto” single breed, the Blue shorthair, outcrossing of the British with the Russian Blue were also common.

After the war, in an attempt to maintaind the breed standard, the GCCF decided to accept only third generation Persian/British Shorthaird crosses. This contributed to another Blue were reintroduced into the mix. British Shorthaired breeders also worked with the French Chartreux, another ancient breed, which although genetically unrelated to the British Blue is a very similar cat in appearance. After the war, breeders worked to re-establish the true British type, and by the late 1970s the distinctive british Shorthair had achieved formal recognition from both American (CFA) and The International Cat Association. According to the GCCF 2013 registry data, it is once again the most popular pedigreed in its native country.

Description

Appearance

The British Shorthair is a relatively powerful looking large cat, having a broad chest, strong thick set legs with rounded paws and medium length, blunt tipped tail. The head is relatively large and rounded, with a short muzzle, broad cheeks (most noticeable in mature males, who tend to developed prominent jowls) and large round eyes that are deep coppery orange in the British Blue and vary in colour depending on the coat. Their large ears are broad and widely set. The ‘British

Blue’variant con often be confused with grey Scottish Fold. The Shorthair can be characterized by having its pointy triangle ears, whereas the Fold has softer, folded ears.

They are slow to mature in comparison with most cat breeds, reaching full physical development at approximately three year of age. Unusually among domestic cats they are a noticeably sexually dimorphic breed, with male averaging 9-17 lb (4.1 to 7.7 kg) and female 7-12 lb (3.2 to 5.4 kg).

Coat,colour and patterns

The British Shorthair coat is one of the breed defining featured. It is very dense but does not have an undercoat. Thus the textures are plush rather than wolly or fluffy, with a firm, “crisp” pile that breaks noticeably over the cat body as it moves.

Although the British Blue remains the most familiar variant, British shorthair has been developed in much other colour and pattern. Black, blue, white, red, cream, silver, golden and most recently cinnamon and fawn are accepted by all official standard, either solid or in colourpoint, tabby, shaded and bicolour patterns, GCCF, FIFE, and TICA also accept chocolate and its dilute lilac, disallow in the CFA standard. All colour and patters also have tortoiseshell variants.

The tabby patterns include Classic Tabby, Mackerel tabby, Spotted and Ticked tabby. The non-tabby patterns include Tortoiseshell, Bicolour, Van patterns Bicolour and white, Smoke, Tipped and colourpointed.

Source:Google

 

Temperament

They are an easygoing and dignified breed, not as active and playful as many but sweet-natured and devoted to their owners, making them as favourite of animal trainers. They tend to be safe around other pets since they will tolerate a fair amount of physical interaction, but as a rule do not like to be picked up or carried. They require only minimal grooming and take well to being kept as indoor only cats; they can be prone to obesity unless care is taken with their diet.

Health

The UK breed committee considers British Shorthair a long lived cat, with an anticipation of 14 to 20 years (Vet clinic data from European country shows a median lifespan of 11.8 years). (Swedish insurance data puts the median lifespan of the breed at twelve.5 years. 82% of british shorthairs lived to 10 years or additional and 54% lived to 12.5 years or more.)

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM) can be problem in the  breed. A Danish prevalence study with  ore than 329 cats showed that 20.4% of males and 2.1% of the females had HCM. On top of this 6.8% of males and 3.9% of females were judged to be equivocal. HCM testing of males used for breeding is now mandatory for breeders organized under the Danish fife member, FElis Dancia

This breed is thought to be at high risk of (Polycystic Kidney Disease). A DNA test lab has noted a significant decrease of the PKD mutations in tested population. Carrier frequency is now at 1%.