About British Shorthair & Longhair Cats
The British Shorthair’s lineage can be traced back to Rome, making them one of the oldest English breeds. These cats have the most dense coat of any other breed. They are considered to be a medium to large breed. Brits have very distinct characteristics such as their round, full faces, bodies and paws, muscular legs, and strong shoulders.
Their round whisker pads create a smile that was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire cat in the novel, Alice In Wonderland
British Shorthairs are very tolerant, making them great around other pets and family members. These cats are strong and intelligent, as well as independent. Being known to be happiest as a “four on the floor” feline, Brits prefer to be on the ground. However, you can expect them to want to be around you because of how loving and loyal they are.
British Shorthair Cats
HISTORY
British Shorthair’s lineage can be traced back to Rome, making them one of the oldest English breeds. Their ancestors are the European wildcats who inhabited ancient Britain and domestic Egyptian cats imported by the Romans when they invaded the British Isles. The result was a hardy, friendly shorthair cat. In the 19th century, an early cat fancier took a shine to the Brits and decided to create a pedigree breed from this stock (along with an admixture of Russian Blue for their handsome blue-grey colouration). The result was the first British Shorthair: a handsome, muscular cat with a “cobby” (blocky) configuration and an engagingly expressive face.
LOOK
These cats are very dense and are considered to be a medium to large breed. Brits have very distinct characteristics such as their round, full faces and paws, muscular legs, and strong shoulders. Their round whisker pads create a smile that was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire cat. The standard British Shorthair has a rounded head with a modest degree of brachycephaly (although not enough to compromise the animal’s health), large, round eyes and widely-spaced ears. The British Shorthair is classified as a medium-large breed. Their blocky configuration and bulky muscles make them a lot heavier than you’d expect. This breed is quite dramatically dimorphic with males much heavier than females. As kittens they start off roughly the same size but boys outgrow their female siblings very rapidly. British Shorthairs achieve most of their adult weight during their first year of life but most continue to grow until they’re between three and five years old. Females are typically 8 lbs to 11 lbs and 11 lbs to 14 lbs for a male.
PERSONALITY
British Shorthairs are very tolerant, making them great around other pets and family members. These cats are strong and intelligent and independent. Known as a “four on the floor” feline, Brits prefer to be on the ground rather than being held. Their nature is loyal and affectionate, although they prefer a more hands-off way of showing it.The Brit is typically not too vocal. . Slightly distant at first, they warm up to their caregivers quickly and become quite deeply attached. They are eminently trainable and even enjoy learning simple games like “fetch”.
British Longhair Cats
HISTORY
The British Longhair is a close cousin of the British Shorthair. Known as the Britannica or Lowlander in Europe, they’re the result of breeding between the standard British Shorthair and longhair cats. Back in the early part of the 20th century, imported longhair cats were crossed with British Shorthairs to produce the British Longhair.
LOOK
They’re a medium-longhair breed with a dense, fluffy coat and an appealingly cobby configuration. If you’re a fan of long coats, the result really is the best of both worlds: the loving yet independent nature of the British Shorthair, with something of the Persian or Angora’s luxuriant locks. The British Longhair is also a larger breed of cat. Their generous coats make them seem even bigger than they are. In common with their Shorthair cousins, they are strikingly dimorphic: the males are much larger and blockier than females. Their growth follows a similar tack to the British Shorthair’s, achieving most of their adult weight during their first year but growing until they’re three and five years old. Females are typically 8 lbs to 13 lbs and males are 12 lbs to 18 lbs.
PERSONALITY
The British Longhair has a very similar temperament to the British Shorthair; independent but loving, deeply loyal and very caring. Like the Shorthair, they like to follow you from room to room and enjoy hanging out with you to monitor all your activities. Longhairs prefer to keep an eye on you from afar rather than cuddling on your lap but you’ll get endless companionship and love. Because of their gorgeous locks, Longhairs need to be brushed often, luckily most of the LOVE the comb! British Longhairs can be quite chatty and insistent if they need something, but silent in their down time. This laid-back breed is very non-destructive and patient.
Colors of British Shorthairs
British Shorthairs come in a wide variety of colors. While Blue and Lilac can be the most widely recognized, the Tabby is the most similar to Lewis Carroll’s Chesire Cat. Whether adorned in shades of blue, cream, lilac, black, white, tabby, or bi-color, British Shorthair cats captivate admirers with their stunning aesthetics.
Black Silver Classic Tabby
The classic tabby cat’s markings should include a butterfly shape across the shoulders. Both this butterfly pattern’s wings, upper and lower, should be clearly defined and crisp. The butterfly’s wings should be broken up with patches of the lighter ground color. The classic tabby pattern features a line leading from the butterfly down the back to the tail. This line should be unbroken and there should be lines on either side of it, running unbroken down the length of the cat’s back. On each flank there should be an oyster-shaped oblong mark with at least one ring around it. The markings of dense black lines and ground color of silver, produce a dramatic contrast with complete tail rings. This variety of British Shorthair can have green or hazel eyes with a brick red or black nose and black paw pads.
Black Brown Classic Tabby
Like the Black Silver Classic Tabby, these cats have a deep and subtle coloration, with markings of dense jet black on a rich copper brown ground. The stripes and other markings for this color should be a shade of rich brown or black, while the ground color should be a pale silvery shade of brown. Nose Leather can be black or brick red and paw pads should be black. Eye color can be green or hazel or gold.
Black Silver Spotted Tabby
The spotted tabby should have the same head markings as the classic tabby types with markings extending up over the head between the ears and breaking into small spots on the lower neck and shoulders. Mascara markings are found around the eyes and on the cheeks. The body markings consist of clearly defined black spots against a lighter silver ground color. The spots are clearly separated from each other and do not merge into each other, the more the better. The spots should be spread on the shoulders, stomach and down to the legs with an evenly ringed tail ending in a solid tip. This variety of British Shorthair can have green or hazel eyes with a brick red or black nose and black paw pads.
Black Smoke Classic Tabby
Black Smokes are characterized by an undercoat of silver that peeks through the topcoat, especially as the cat moves, creating an eye-catching smoke effect. Smoke BSH cats with color points are also possible, adding yet another variety to the already staggering range of possibilities. The British shorthair’s short and dense coat gives excellent possibilities to show the special smoke color contrast. Smoke is a “silver cat”, showing the dominant silver gene and at least one silver parent. A characteristic “M” on the forehead is often seen in newborn kittens and most adult black smoke’s have some kind of ghost markings. Black smoke cats will have an orange eye color, black nose and black paws.
Tortie Tabby
The tortie tabby colouration is a combination of both tortoiseshell and tabby patterns, with the tabby spots or stripes being overlaid with patches in shades of cream or red.
The markings and the patches should both be nice and distinct, with light red and/or dark red over the non- dilute colours (stripes or spots) or pale cream in the dilute (ground) colours. The colours should be strong and dense.
Recognised tabby colourations include tortie tabby, tortie silver tabby, tortie spotted and tortie silver spotted British Shorthair cats.
A tortie tabby’s eye colour should be copper, orange or amber with no trace of green. Other eye colours are not permitted in mature cats; rims and flecks of other colours are not allowed either.
The exception to these rules is the black silver ticked tabby, who may have green or hazel eyes. Any colour of nose leather or paw pads is permissible as long as it’s appropriate to the coat colour; pink is also acceptable.
Lilac
“Lilac” in cat fancy jargon denotes a delicate frosty grey, lighter than the classic blue and with a noticeable pinkish tone. This combination of shades creates the cat’s overall lilac colouration.
The nose leather and paw pads of a lilac British Shorthair should be a similar pinkish lilac to the fur.
Blue
This coloration is, in many people’s minds, the epitome of the British Shorthair. It’s one of the oldest in the breed, created by breeding the British Shorthair line with Russian Blues many generations ago.
This color is caused by a gene that dilutes the black pigment in the fur, and it’s recognized by all major cat associations. The blue coat can be anywhere from light to dark, but it always has a bluish tinge to it. Some people think of the blue British shorthair as the “dove” of the cat world, due to its soft, muted coloring.
The blue coat is often described as “smoky” or “ashy” and is one of the most sought-after colors in the breed. It’s also one of the most genetically recessive, which means that not all cats carrying the gene will express it fully. This can result in cats with a lighter coat or even partial blue coloring. Regardless of how faint the color may be, a British shorthair with a blue coat is still considered to be a blue British shorthair.
To Blue British Shorthair’s coat is completely solid and very pure: a dense, crisp coat of light to medium blue-grey, without any spots or even a hint of tabby striping. In particular, there should be no white hairs anywhere.
The cat’s eyes should be a strong coppery orange or rich amber; this can take a few months to fully manifest, with many British Blue kittens having eyes of flat brown until they grow into their adult color.
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