Cat Breeds

British shorthair cat

British shorthair cat is an intelligent cat with a strong character and moderate temperament. He can never be obtrusive.

Nature

British Shorthair is an intelligent cat with a strong character and moderate temperament. He can never be obtrusive – he even maintains a certain distance and restraint in dealing with household members. On the one hand, he needs human closeness, and on the other – he lives a little to the side. Usually, he chooses one person to whom he gives special favors. He rarely speaks, unless he claims a favorite delicacy or a daily portion of caresses. He likes to be petted, but he doesn’t like wearing it in his arms.

The British cat is a friendly, calm and patient cat. He doesn’t behave aggressively, so he is a companion for older children. Cheerful, happy to play, he can find himself entertainment. In his youth he is quite lively and mobile, with age he becomes more stable.

British shorthair cat

He is a brave, sociable and non-conflicting cat. He lives in harmony with other animals – breeders even advise him not to grow up alone. He doesn’t demand to go for walks and prefers to live in a quiet home. It does not show excessive tendency to climb.

British shorthair cat

British shorthair cat. Advantages and disadvantages

Disadvantages
  • is not a typical pet
  • he doesn’t like taking hands
  • he loves to eat, watch his diet so he doesn’t gain weight
Advantages
  • very healthy and resistant breed
  • fur easy to care for
  • calm and unobtrusive, likes to be close to a man
  • ideal family cat – likes children
  • suitable for seniors
  • gets along with both another cat and dog
  • it doesn’t need much space – it will even be found in a small apartment

British shorthair cat. Health

British cats are a healthy breed, but as with any cat, an accident or illness cannot be ruled out.

A British cat may be genetically burdened with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which may affect both young kittens and cats of several years old. Therefore, genetic testing should be carried out in breeding to exclude carriage of the defective gene and not breed genetically laden cats. It can also be affected by congenital polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Hydrocephalus and hemophilia may occur less frequently.

British cats often have obstruction of the nasolacrimal tubules because they belong to the brachycephalic breeds, i.e. with a shortened mouth, although it is not as extreme as in the Persian cat. This is manifested by excessive tearing from the eyes.

Due to the thickness and length of the coat, there is a high risk of gastrointestinal obstruction due to hairballs, i.e. pilobezoars.

Large head size of kittens can sometimes cause problems for the kitty, requiring caesarean section.

Feeding

The British cat should be fed with high-quality ready-made or natural BARF food. Of course, castrated and sterilized cats should receive special food for castrates. From time to time, it is worth giving special skinpasting pastes and special food that contains ingredients that reduce hair retention in the digestive system.

British cats like to eat very much and as a result, they get fat quickly, so you should watch your diet more than other breeds.

Care

Care is easy – it is limited to the regular combing of hair during molting periods, checking ears and trimming claws.

You should also flush your eyes regularly. The British cat belongs to the breeds with a shortened mouth, which is why they can make their eyes watery more, sometimes there are tear ducts.

British shorthair cat

British shorthair cat. History

British cat is a very old breed. Its origin dates back to the time of the Roman Empire, although one should really refer to Egypt. It was from there that the cat reached the Apennine Peninsula. Roman legionaries conquered other European countries, and cats wandered with them. Mruczki’s task was to protect food supplies against rodents, and because they fulfilled this role well, they were readily seen in camps of Roman soldiers. It was with the Roman soldiers that the cat reached the British Isles. There, his hunting abilities were quickly appreciated. The cat settled in the Islands for good and gave rise to a new breed – a British cat.

In Victorian England, it was decided to develop the British cat breed as a counterweight to Oriental cats. During World War I, a long hair gene was introduced into breeding, crossing a British Shorthair cat with a perse.

World War II decimated cats everywhere where fierce fighting took place. The breed of the British cat is almost extinct. After the war, its restoration began. Few individuals who survived the war were crossed with the CarthusianBurmese and Russian Blue cats. The result of the crosswords was a change in the structure of the British cat, which became too slender and delicate. In the 1950s, in order to strengthen the breed and give it back a stronger build, the celestial gene was introduced. A side effect of these crosswords was the introduction of a huge number of colors and meanings to breeding.

The American feline organization ACA registered the breed British Shorthair in 1967, TICA in 1979, and FA in 1980.

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British Shorthair – British Shorthair – British Shorthair cat – Shorthair and Somali cats – III cat. FIFe
EMS code: BRI
  • Origin: United Kingdom, Rome
  • Character: very calm, balanced, friendly
  • Size: medium to large
  • Weight: females 3-5 kg, males 4-8 kg
  • General appearance: muscular, squat, strongly built body
  • Head: large, broad, round, with characteristic folds and well-developed cheeks; forehead well defined, covered with stiff hair, which gives it a convexity; chin small
  • Ears: of medium size with rounded ends
  • Eyes: large, round, with fairly wide spacing, matching the color of the coat – orange, golden or copper; in the white variety – orange, blue or variegated; for chinchilla and shaded varieties – emerald or blue-green; in the colorpoint variety – blue
  • Nose: Short, wide, with a slight breakthrough
  • Neck: Strong, short
  • Body: stocky, muscular and compact, broad chest, straight back; short, massive limbs, well-muscled
  • Tail: Its length is 2/3 of the body length, thick at the base, rounded at the end
  • Coat: short, soft and dense, slightly protruding from the body, it feels like a plush
  • Ointment: occurs in about 150 varieties – one-color (blue, black, red, white, chocolate, lilac, cream), two-color, brindle in all basic colors, tortie, chinchilla, silvery shaded, silvery brindle, smoky, colorpoint
  • Activity: moderately active, likes peace
  • Resistance/susceptibility to diseases: very resistant
  • Lifespan: 15-20 years

Interesting facts

The British cat is the largest short-haired cat.

Although it is mostly associated with blue, this breed occurs in a huge number of colors and meanings. This is due to the crossing of the few British cats who survived World War II with cats of other breeds.

British cat is a favorite breed on cat shows. He gained popularity among others due to the balanced character and characteristic plush fur. The appearance of a British cat invariably evokes associations with a teddy bear – it makes a large and round head, expressive eyes and a thick and very pleasant to the touch fur.

British kittens are born with a more or less visible mark of brindle, which disappears as they grow up. Also, a slightly longer, childish hair becomes shorter and plush with age.

British Shorthair was, among others: the cat from Chesire from “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll and Greebo Niani Ogg from “World of Disk” by Terry Pratchett.

The image of a British Shorthair is eagerly used in advertisements for cat food and accessories. One of the British’s colors even got the unofficial name “whiskey”.

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