Persian Cats – Enormously Fluffy and Warm Hearted
Posted by Jeanne on January 20, 2009
The long-hairs originally were called Angoras after the Ankara (the capitol of Turkey) in which Europeans apparently first encountered them. Actually, they seem to have been known in and imported from India and central Asia as well. For a long time people tried to distinguish between the “true” Angora and the Persians generally, but the differences, small to begin with, were further confused by interbreeding.
The long-hair is enormously fluffy and can look extremely haughty. But under the silky coat is a sturdy body and a warm heart. While long-hairs may seem languorous, they are cats first of all and entirely capable of the fun and games cats traditionally enjoy. Since they are expensive, their owners aren’t often inclined to expose them to the many perils and pleasures of the out-of-doors.
The long-hair is blockier in all dimensions than the short-hair. Its body, legs, and tail are shorter, its chest and rump wider. The front legs should be shorter than the hind pair and stand straight and firm.
The head should be broader than the short-hair’s, and the breadth accentuated by a short, pushed-in nose. The ears should sit on the side of the head and have a little tuft of fur at the point. The larger and rounder the eyes, the better.
The fur should be long and glossy, with a luxurious ruff around the neck and on the chest, between the forelegs. The tail should have a tuft at the tip.
Long-hairs come in a wonderful array of colors: white, black, orange, cream, blue, smoke, silver, tortoise-shell, and tabby. AU the solid colors must be pure; the black mustn’t have so much as a single white hair anywhere; the blue must be all blue – the whiskers and exposed skin, such as lips and pads of feet, as well as the fur.
Perhaps most sensational is the silver or chinchilla Persian. The basic coat is pure snow white, with each hair tipped in black. The tortoise-shell is black, red and yellow.
The tabby, which may be long or short-haired, comes in a variety of types, each with rigidly specified markings. Whatever the color com-bination, the tabby should have a light ground color against which her stripes, spots and bars may be distinctly seen. The tabby, incidentally, may be male or female. Tabby is not short for Tabitha, the traditional name for females (as Tom is for males), but comes from Atab, a street in Baghdad famous for watered silks, which suggest the rich and intricate markings of the tabby cat.
Along with perfect color and markings, the deluxe cat must have eyes of an appropriate shade. Most desirable with white fur are blue eyes (although this triumph of breeding seems to leave most blue-eyed whites deaf as a post). The silver should have emerald-green. Most of the others should range from orange, or amber, to yellow.
Among other breeding oddities is the fact that orange-colored females and tortoise-shell males are very rare.
