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British Shorthair Cats, the History of Breed
After its official recognition (about 100 years ago) the breed has been continuously improved. Long and laborious selection work led to the establishment of a powerful, stocky cat with a heavy round head, thick cheeks, large bright orange eyes and a distinctive plush hair, which is the hallmark of the breed. In general, the cat looks like a teddy bear. Sexual dimorphism is rather high, which means that male cats are much larger than females. Modern standards recognize about a hundred colour variations of British Shorthair cats.
The breed is recognized by all major international feline organizations and it is now in the prime of popularity. Until now, both among breeders and among enthusiasts the most popular colour of British Shorthair cats is blue. This is due to not only the fact that the British cats typically look good in blue. The fact that the blue hair predisposes to silky, elastic, “dual texture”; besides the British blue color is often characterized by an outstanding type, strong bones, remarkable proportions of the head to the body and very bright eyes. This facts do not detract from the dignity of the other colours of the British cats, however, the breeders of rare colours cats have to aspire to get cats with the same texture of hair as Blue British cats. The blue British cats have its own nuances and requirements for coat colour. The hair of lighter colour is usually caused lightening hair tips, so-called “silver”, which is a disadvantage. It is not allowed that undercoat has some shade (apart from blue). The pure light blue color without ticking or tipping is the most valued.
There are many no less spectacular colours that can compete with classic blue. Especially if remember, that British exotic colors{such as purple, chocolate, color-points) have been bred rather long time in Belarus, which increases interest from exhibition to exhibition. And of course, on the exhibitions it is often possible to see remarkable representatives of the British breed in lilac, tortoiseshell (blue or purple), Colorno or patterned version.
Oh, the dominance of blue colour is due not only to the good type (wrong breeding, and simply “stamping” can spoil any bloodlines, even if all the ancestors in the pedigree are completely blue, and blue colour cats cannot be the guarantor of a good type ), but also to wildly popularity among cat lovers. The kittens of a blue colour are the most consumer demand, so that the blue color can be called commercial.
The standards and requirements to the breed are applicable to all colours in general. The standarts for the colour of the eyes are the only different. So, bleached purple orange British chinchilla can have green eyes, while color-point cat can have violet. If to speak about the description of the overall impression produced by the perfect representative of the British breed, then all standards should have solidarity: size is medium to large, powerful animal, dense, with a broad chest and powerful lower legs (not to be confused with short, as shortening is a mutation and it is inherent in the breed Munchkin) . Equally, all standards define the shape of the head as a “round.” All standards are the same in the requirements for the eyes: round, open and widely spaced.