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Old 11-14-2009, 07:58 PM
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Default Cat history

Birman

History
Origins of Birman cat are not clear but they are believed to have originated in Burma where they were considered sacred. The modern History of Burman cat started in 1919 when a pair of Burman cat was brought to France from Burma. The male cat died during the journey but the female cat that was pregnant survived. The breed flourished and in 1925 the Birman was formally recognized in France. The Birman became recognized in England as a separate breed in 1966 and by The Cat Fanciers’ Association in 1967.



Burmese

History
The modern History of Burmese cat dates back to 1930 when a female cat named Wong Mau was brought to San Fransisco, USA by a naval doctor Joseph C. Thompson from Yangon, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Dr. Thompson mated Wong Mau to a cat most similar to her type - the Seal Point Siamese. The CFA accepted the Burmese in 1936. In 1947 CFA withdrew the recognition as many hybrid Burmese/Siamese cats were being sold as purebred Burmese. The CFA reinstated the Burmese for recognition in 1953, and for Championship in 1957. The renewed recognition was based on a new standard that permitted only solid coat colors without markings.


British Shorthair

History
The British Shorthair is the British counterpart of American shorthair. It is probably the oldest English breed of cat, and can trace its ancestry back to the domestic cat of Rome. In the late 1800s cat fancier Harrison Weir was instrumental in establishing the British Shorthair as an officially recognized breed. World War II resulted in their near extinction but dedicated efforts afterwards saved this species.

Bengal

History
The Bengal cat is a distinct, unique breed of spotted domestic cat originated from the ancestral crossing of a domestic cat such as an Abyssinian, American Shorthair, Burmese or Egyptian Mau with an Asian Leopard Cat. The main credit for this breed goes to Jean Sudgen of the USA. Jean Sudgen crossed a black shorthaired domestic cat with a female Asian Leopard Cat in 1963. Offspring were produced proving that a second generation was possible. Jean carried further crossing and finally in 1984 Bengal cat was recognized by the International Cat Association.



American Shorthair

History
American shorthair has a History of approximately 400 years. They arrived in America with the Europeans. Evidence indicates that several cats may have sailed over from England aboard the Mayflower in 1620. These cats were brought along to hunt rats that ate the ship’s food supplies and were first prized for their hunting abilities.With the import of foreign breeds in the early 1900s the original American Short hair bloodlines became diluted. A group of breeders began a selective breeding program to preserve the natural beauty, mild temperament, and hardiness of the American Shorthair.



American Curl

The American Curl has a very short history. The breed originated in June 1981 as a spontaneous genetic mutation in the domestic cat population. By 1986 it was recognized by two of the largest cat registries.

American Curl history began June 1981 in Lakewood, California. Two curled cats wandered up to the doorstep of cat lovers Joe and Grace Ruga. One disappeared soon after arriving. The other, a longhaired black cat that Ruga named Shulamith stayed . In December 1981, Shulamith delivered her first litter of four kittens. Of the four, two had ears that curled. A geneticist was contacted to study this phenomenon and he confirmed that this unusual ear was a genetic trait and was inherited in every case, causing it to be labelled a dominant gene, with no deformities attached to it. Referred to as a spontaneous mutation, the gene that causes the ear to curl appeared to be following a single dominant pattern.

Russian Blue

The history of the Russian Blue is couched in rumor and legend. The Blue was originally known as the Archangel Cat, as it is believed thay were brought by sailors from the Archangel Isles to England in the 1860s.

The Norwegian Forest Cat is a breed of domestic cat native to Northern Europe, and adapted to a very cold climate. In Norway they are known as skogkatter or more properly, the Norsk skogkatt (literally, Norwegian Forest Cat).

Norwegian Forest Cat

The breed is very old, and occurred as a natural adaptation to the cold climate of the region, but it was not regarded as anything other than a standard house-cat until the late 1930s, when a small number of 'Skaukatts' were shown in Germany and received very favorably by the judges. World War II brought an abrupt end to the fledgling Norwegian show cat industry, and the breed was forgotten until the 1970s. The cats are now being bred and shown in several countries including the United States. The first international association to accept the breed was FIFe, in 1977. They are rumored to be the early ancestors of the Maine Coon and the long-haired Manx.

Himalayan

In 1930 Dr. Clyde Keeler of Harvard Medical School teamed with Virginia Cobb of Newton Cattery to merge the two most popular breeds of cats-Persian and Siamese. Their first generation offspring produced color point carriers, solid-colored Persians carrying the color point gene. First they bred a Siamese female to a black Persian male, producing Bozo, a black male kitten with a wavy coat. Next they bred a Siamese male to a black Persian female and got a black female named Bitzie. They then crossed Bozo and Bitzie, which resulted in a long-haired black female Babbit. Babbit was then bred to Bozo and that cross introduced the first HIMALAYAN, Newtons Debutante.

persian

In general, it's not clear when longhaired cats first appeared, as there are no African Wildcats, who are believed to be ancestors of domesticated cats, with long fur. There were claims in the 1800s that the gene responsible for long hair was introduced through hybridization with the Pallas cat, however, research in the early 1900s refutes this theory.The first documented ancestors of the Persian were imported from Khorasan, Persia into Italy in 1620 by Pietro della Valle, and from Angora, Turkey into France by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc at around the same time. The Khorasan cats were grey coated while those from Angora were white. From France, they soon reached Britain.Longhaired cats were also imported to Europe from Afghanistan, Burma, China and Russia. Interbreeding of the various types were common especially between Angoras and Persians.Recent genetic research indicates that present day Persians are related not to cats from the Near East but to cats from Western Europe. The researchers stated that "Even though the early Persian cat may have in fact originated from ancient Persia, the modern Persian cat has lost its phylogeographical signature.

Chinchilla

In the USA, there was an attempt to establish the Silver Persian as a separate breed called the Sterling, but it was not accepted. Silver and Golden longhaired cats, recognized by CFA more specially as Chinchilla Silvers, Shaded Silvers, Chinchilla Goldens, or Shaded Goldens, are judged in the Persian category of cat shows. In South Africa, the attempt to separate the breed was more successful; the Southern African Cat Council (SACC) registers cats with five generations of purebred Chinchilla as a Chinchilla Longhair. The Chinchilla Longhair has a slightly longer nose than the Persian, resulting in healthy breathing and less eye tearing. Its hair is translucent with only the tips carrying black pigment, a feature that gets lost when out-crossed to other colored Persians. Out-crossing also may result in losing nose and lip liner, which is a fault in the Chinchilla Longhair breed standard. One of the distinctions of this breed is the blue-green or green eye color only with kittens having blue or blue-purple eye color.

exotic

The Persian was used as an outcross secretly by some American Shorthair (ASH) breeders in the late 1950s to "improve" their breed. The hybrid look gained recognition in the show ring but other breeders unhappy with the changes successfully pushed for new breed standards that would disqualify ASH that showed signs of hybridization.

One ASH breeder who saw the potential of the Persian/ASH cross proposed and eventually managed to get the CFA to recognize them as a new breed in 1966, under the name Exotic Shorthair. Regular outcrossing to the Persian has made present day Exotic Shorthair similar to the Persian in every way, including temperament and conformation, with the exception of the short dense coat. It has even inherited much of the Persian's health problems. The easier to manage coat has made some label the Exotic Shorthair the lazy person’s Persian.Because of the regular use of Persians as outcrosses, some Exotics may carry a copy of the recessive longhair gene. When two such cats mate, there is a one in four chance of each offspring being longhaired. Ironically, longhaired Exotics are not considered Persians by CFA, although The International Cat Association accepts them as Persians. Other associations register them as a separate Exotic Longhair breed.

Maine coon

The ancestrals origins of the Maine Coon are unknown.There are only theories and folktales. One such folktale involves Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, who was executed in 1793. The story goes that before her death, Marie Antoinette attempted to escape France with the help of Captain Samuel Clough. She loaded Clough's ship with her most prized possessions, including six of her favorite long-haired cats. Although Marie Antoinette did not make it to the United States, her pets safely reached the shores of Wiscasset, Maine, where they mated with short-haired breeds and evolved into the modern breed of the Maine Coon.Another folktale involves Captain Charles Coon, an English seafarer who kept long-haired cats aboard his ships. Whenever Coon's ship would anchor in the New England ports, the felines would exit the ship and mate with the local feral cat population. When long-haired kittens began appearing in the litters of the local cat population, they were referred to as one of "Coon's cats".A theory which is biologically-based, though genetically impossible,is the idea that the modern Maine Coon descended from ancestors of semi-feral domestic cats and raccoons. This could have possibly explained the most common color of the breed (brown tabby) and the bushy tail, which is a characteristic trait. Another idea is that the Maine Coon originated between the matings of domestic cats and wild bobcats, which could explain the tufts of hairs that are so commonly seen on the tips of the ears.There have been reports of domestic cats breeding with bobcats.The generally-accepted theory among breeders is that the Maine Coon is descended from the pairings of local short-haired domestic cats and long-haired breeds brought overseas by English seafarers (possibly by Captain Charles Coon) or 11th-century Vikings.The connection to the Vikings is seen in the strong resemblance of the Maine Coon to the Norwegian Forest Cat, another breed that is said to be a descendant of cats that traveled with the Vikings.

Turkish angora

Like all domestic cats, Turkish Angoras descended from the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica). The mountainous regions of Eastern Anatolia isolated cats brought by traders from Egypt, and through inbreeding and natural selection they developed into longhaired breeds like the Turkish Van and the Turkish Angora.Longhaired cats were imported to Britain and France from Asia Minor, Persia and Russia as early as the late 16th century, though there are indications that they appeared in Europe as early as the 14th century due to the Crusades. The Turkish Angora was used, almost to the point of extinction, to improve the coat on the Persian. The Turkish Angora was recognized as a distinct breed in Europe by the early 17th century.
In the early 20th century, the Turkish government, in conjunction with the Ankara Zoo, began a meticulous breeding program to protect and preserve what they considered a national treasure: pure white Turkish Angoras with blue and amber eyes. The program continues today. The zoo particularly prized odd-eyed Angoras (ie. Turkish Angoras with one blue eye and one amber eye). The Zoo has its own cat facility which houses the white Turkish Angoras for its breeding program.The Turkish Angora, which was brought to the United States in 1963, was accepted as a championship pedigreed breed in 1973 by the Cat Fanciers' Association. However, until 1978 only white Angoras were recognized. Today, all North American registries accept the Turkish Angora in many colors and patterns. While numbers are still relatively small, the gene pool and base of fanciers are growing.

Ragdoll

In the 1960s a regular non-pedigreed white domestic longhaired cat named Josephine, who had produced several litters of typical cats, was injured in an accident involving a car and taken to the veterinary hospital at the University of California. Josephine was of a Persian/Angora type, sired by several unknown male Birman or Burmese-like cats, one of which had the Siamese point coloration. Baker believed that Josephine was subject to a secret government genetic experiment during treatment at the lab, and claimed that it made Josephine docile, relaxed when picked up, and immune to pain. After Josephine recovered, her next litter produced kittens with similar temperament. When the subsequent litter produced more of the same, Mrs. Ann Baker (an established cat breeder) purchased several kittens from the owner, who lived behind her, and believing she had something special, set out to create what is now known as the Ragdoll. The breed was selectively bred over many years for desirable traits, such as large size, gentle demeanor, and a tendency to go limp when picked up, as well as the striking pointed coloration.Out of those early litters came Blackie, an all black Burmese-like male and Daddy Warbucks, a seal point with white feet. Daddy Warbucks sired the founding bi-color female Fugianna, and Blackie sired Buckwheat, a dark brown/black Burmese-like female. Both Fugianna and Buckwheat were daughters of Josephine. All Ragdolls are descended from Baker's cats through matings of Daddy Warbucks to Fugianna and Buckwheat.
Baker, in an unusual move, spurned traditional cat breeding associations. She trademarked the name "Ragdoll," set up her own registry—International Ragdoll Cat Association (IRCA)—and enforced stringent standards on anyone who wanted to breed or sell cats under that name. The Ragdolls were also not allowed to be registered in other breed associations. In 1975, a group led by Denny Dayton broke rank with IRCA with the aim of gaining mainstream recognition for the Ragdoll. This group eventually developed the Ragdoll standard currently accepted by major cat registries.In 1994, a second group decided to leave the IRCA and form their own group due to increasingly strict breeding restrictions. This group later established the Ragamuffin breed. Because Baker owned the rights to the name "Ragdoll", no offshoot groups could call their cats Ragdolls until the trademark on "Ragdoll" was not renewed in 2005.

Siamese

The pointed cat known in the West as "Siamese" is one of several breeds of cats from Siam described and illustrated in manuscripts called "Tamra Maew" (Cat Poems), estimated to have been written in the 1700s.It is often said that the breed was first seen outside their Asian home in 1884, when the British Consul-General in Bangkok, Edward Blencowe Goulded (1847-1916),brought a breeding pair of the cats, Pho and Mia, back to Britain as a gift for his sister, Lilian Jane Veley (Veley went on to co-found the Siamese Cat Club in 1901). However, in 1878, U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes received "Siam", a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok; this cat was also the first documented Siamese to reach the United States, and predates the Siamese's arrival to the UK by 6 years.In 1885, Veley's UK cats Pho and Mia produced three Siamese kittens. These kittens – Duen Ngai, Kalohom, and Khromata – and their parents were shown that same year at London's Crystal Palace Show, where their unique appearance and distinct behavior made a huge impression. Unfortunately, all three of the kittens died soon after the show. The reason for their deaths is not documented.By 1886, another pair (with kittens) were imported to the UK by a Mrs. Vyvyan and her sister. Compared to the British Shorthair and Persian cats that were familiar to most Britons, these Siamese imports were longer and less "cobby" in body types, had heads that were less round with wedge-shaped muzzles and had larger ears. These differences and the pointed coat pattern which had not been seen before by Westerners, produced a strong impression--one early viewer described them as "an unnatural nightmare of a cat". These striking cats also won some devoted fans and over the next several years fanciers imported a small number of cats, which together formed the base breeding pool for the entire breed in Britain. It is believed that most Siamese in Britain today are descended from about eleven of these original imports. Several sources give Gould's brother Owen Nutcombe Gould (1857-1929) as the British Consul-General in Bangkok, but Owen was only 27 in 1884 and not known to be in Bangkok. In their early days in Britain they were called the "Royal Cat of Siam", reflecting reports that they had previously been kept only by Siamese royalty. Later research has not shown evidence of any organised royal breeding programme in Siam.The original Siamese imports were, like their descendants in Thailand today, medium-sized, rather long-bodied, muscular, graceful cats with moderately wedge-shaped heads and ears that were comparatively large but in proportion to the size of the head. The cats ranged from rather substantial to rather slender but were not extreme in either way.

Burmilla

The Burmilla is a breed of domestic cat which originated in the United Kingdom in 1981. It is a cross between the Chinchilla Persian and Burmese breeds.Standards were produced in 1984 and the breed gained championship status in the United Kingdom in the 1990s.

Siberian

The Siberian is a domestic cat breed from Russia. The cat, that has similarities with breeds Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest Cat, is a natural breed and the national cat of Russia.The cat was first mentioned in a book by Harrison Wier, which included information of the earliest cat shows in England in 1871.The cat was first imported to the United States in 1990, and despite the popularity, the breed is extremely rare in the US. The cat was registered by the Kotofei cat club in St. Petersburg in 1987.

Scottish fold

The original Scottish Fold was a white barn cat named Susie, who was found at a farm near Coupar Angus in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1961. Susie's ears had an unusual fold in their middle, making her resemble an owl. When Susie had kittens, two of them were born with folded ears, and one was acquired by William Ross, a neighbouring farmer and cat-fancier. Ross registered the breed with the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in Great Britain and started to breed Scottish Fold kittens with the help of geneticist Pat Turner. The breeding program produced 76 kittens in the first three years—42 with folded ears and 34 with straight ears. The conclusion from this was that the ear mutation is due to a simple dominant gene; if one parent provides the gene for straight ears, and one parent provides the gene for folded ears, the kittens will be Folds.
Susie's only reproducing offspring was a female Fold named Snooks who was also white; a second kitten was neutered shortly after birth. Three months after Snooks' birth, Susie was killed by a car. All Scottish Fold cats share a common ancestry to Susie and Snooks, the origination point assurance a lineage quality rare among pedigreed animals.

munchkin

The munchkin is a relatively new breed created by a mutation that causes achondroplasia, or more likely hypochondroplasia as the skull size is unaffected, resulting in cats with abnormally short legs. However, the shortness of their legs do not seem to interfere with their running and leaping. The breed originated in 1983 when Sandra Hochenedel found an extremely short-legged black cat living under a trailer in Louisiana. This cat, named Blackberry, was pregnant and half of her kittens were born short-legged. One of Blackberry's kittens, a tomcat named Toulouse, became the father of a breeding program that established the breed in North America.

Last edited by crool; 11-14-2009 at 08:10 PM.
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