British Shorthair is a pedigreed breed of old
British domestic cat with a distinctively heavy physique, solid coat, and wide
face. The most acquainted color variant is ‘British Blue’. The cat has a solid
blue-gray coat, copper-eyes, and a medium-sized tail. This breed has also been produced
in extensive color varieties and designs comprising tabby and color-point.
British Shorthair is one of the earliest cat
breeds originating from ‘European’ domestic cats which were imported to Great Britain
by the occupying Romans in 1st century AD. Now the breed has become
very famous pedigreed breed in its native country.
British Shorthair Personality
British Shorthair is comparatively a strong and
big cat with a wide chest, healthy thick-set legs with rounded and medium-sized
paws, and a blunt-tipped tail. The cat has a reasonably large and rounded head,
small muzzle, and wide cheeks. The eyes are big and rounded with deep coppery
orange color in “British Blue” breed and it may vary in colors depending on the
coat color. The ears are large and widely-set.
The “British Blue” variant can sometimes
be mixed up with “Grey-Scottish Fold”. However, Shorthair breed can be identified
by seeing its pointy triangle ears; while the “Grey-Scottish Fold” has softer
and folded ears.
Growth and Weight
British Shorthair cats have a slow growth rate to
get maturity as compared to various other cat breeds. They reach full physical
development at the age of 3 years. The average weight of males ranges between 4.1
kg to 7.7 kg (9 lb to 17 lb), whereas, the females between 3.2 kg to 5.4 kg (7
lb to 12 lb).
British Shorthair Colours and Coat
The coat of ‘British Shorthair’ cat is very
dense. It doesn’t have an undercoat. Therefore, the texture is plush instead of
woolly or fluffy. Albeit “British Blue” remains the most acquainted color
variety, the British Shorthairs have also been bred in various other colors and
designs. The most accepted colors by all official standards include Black,
blue, white, red, cream, silver, and golden. More recently the color patterns: ‘cinnamon’
and ‘fawn’ (either solid or in color-point, tabby, shaded and bicolor) have
also been accepted. The GCCF, FIFe, and TICA also recognize chocolate color in
the CFA standard, however, disallowed its dilute lilac color.
Tabby designs comprise: ‘classic tabby’, ‘mackerel
tabby’, ‘spotted and ticked tabby’, whereas, non-Tabby designs contain: ‘tortoiseshell’,
‘bi-color’, ‘van patterns bi-color and white’, ‘smoke’, and ‘tipped & color-pointed’.
British Shorthair Temperament
British Shorthair cat has a good appearance and
comparatively calm temperament. It is a tolerant and distinguished breed rather
than active and playful. The breed is very sweet-natured and devoted to its owners
which make the cat a favorite domestic pet. Due to its calm nature, British
Shorthair tends to be safe around the children as well as other pets and does
not like to be picked up or carried. The breed needs slight grooming and takes
well to being kept indoors.
History
The origins of “British Shorthair” is more probably
date back to the 1st century AD which makes the cat one of the most
ancient breeds in the world. It is believed that occupying Romans first brought
‘Egyptian Domestic Cats’ to Great Britain. These cats were then reproduced
with the local European wild-cats. Over the centuries, their obviously isolated
offspring were developed into typically large and healthy cats, with a short
but dense coat.
The selective breeding was started in the 19th
century with a view to producing unusual blue-grey variant which is known as
‘British Blue’ or ‘English type’. The new “British Shorthair” was presented at
the first-ever show of cats in 1871; held at Crystal Palace (London) and
conducted by Weir. The breed gained great initial popularity from this show.
With the newly introduced ‘Persian’ and other ‘Long-haired’
breeds in 1890, British Shorthair had dropped its popularity. Resultantly it's breeding
stock had become very scarce by World War I.
After the war, Governing Council of the Cat
Fancy (GCCF) planned to accept only 3rd generation Persian or British
Shorthair crosses to uphold the breed standard. This also reduced pure-breeding
stock by World War II when ‘Persian’ and ‘Russian Blue’ breeds were introduced
again into the mix. The breeders of British Shorthair also worked with “French
Chartreux” which is another old breed to reproduce ‘true British type’. By the late 1970s, a unique British Shorthair breed had attained proper recognition from CFA
(Cat Fanciers' Association) and TICA (The International Cat Association). The
breed, once again, was more famous pedigreed breed in its native country.
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