CAT BREED IDENTIFICATION WORKSHEETS AND CAT CHARACTERISTICS

CAT BREED IDENTIFICATION WORKSHEETS AND CAT CHARACTERISTICS

The following pages are designed to help you learn about many breeds of cats. In the back of this manual is a list of reference books and web sites. There are many other books and web sites available as well. Fill in all the spaces for each breed. The first two pages are the breeds recognized by The Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA), the largest breed association in North America. The next two pages list different breeds recognized by one or more breed associations in North America.

Your cat is one of the most intelligent and beautiful of all animals. Understanding its anatomy, temperament, and physical characteristics will help you enjoy the unique personality of your cat even more. Scientists classify the cat as a carnivorous (meat-eating) animal because of its teeth. The teeth have three functions: stabbing (killing prey), anchoring or holding prey, and cutting or tearing flesh. Cats do not have flat-crowned molars so are not able to crush or grind food.

The Cat’s Body

The cat’s body has 230 bones while man has only 206. Many of the cat’s “extra” bones are in its tail. A cat’s tail can indicate its moods. Carried high, the tail shows the cat’s pride and contentment; extended straight, it tells you the cat is stalking; curled against its body says the cat is scared or worried; and thrusting from side to side warns that the cat is angry. A cat’s hind legs are longer and stronger than those in front, enabling it to leap with great skill. While most animals move their front and opposite hind legs at the same time, a cat moves its
front and hind legs on one side, then the other.

Notice how silently a cat moves. This is because of its thickly cushioned paws. The cat is digitigrade, which means it walks or runs on its toes. A cat usually has five toes in front and four in back, but some cats are polydactyl, having more than the usual number of toes. Each toe has a firmly attached hook-shaped
claw which is the cat’s main method of defense. The retractable claws allow the cat to climb, fight, and grip. However, all the claws point forward so a cat can only back down a tree after climbing it. A cat expresses pleasure or contentment by extending and retracting the claws in a pumping motion we call “kneading. “

A cat’s beautiful coat is one of its most striking features. The hairs of the cat’s coat grow from tiny pits in the skin called follicles. The coarse top coat is formed from primary or guard hairs which grow from individual follicles. The secondary hairs which form the undercoat (underfur) grow in groups from each follicle. There are two types of secondary hairs, the awn hairs which have bristly tips and the down hairs which are fine and crinkly. A special type of follicle produces the sensitive hairs called sinus hairs. These are located on the muzzle (as whiskers, also known as vibrissae), above the eyes, and on the back of the lower forelegs
(carpal hairs). The carpal hairs are particularly sensitive to touch such as when using their forelegs for grasping wriggling prey.

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Cat Body Types Best Quality For Sale

Cats are divided into three basic body types cobby, moderate, and foreign with some overlapping.

• Cobby: Cobby refers to a heavy, shortlegged, compact, broad-chested body. Examples are the Persian and Manx.

• Semi Cobby: Semi-cobby bodies are a little longer and not quite as broad-chested. Examples are the Chartreux and British Shorthair.

• Moderate: Moderate refers to a well-balanced body of medium length, well-muscled, with no extremes. This includes the majority of the breeds.

• Semi-Foreign: Semi-foreign bodies are beginning to stretch out, but not too extreme. Examples are the Abyssinian, Japanese Bobtail, and Russian Blue.

• Foreign: Foreign bodies (sometimes referred to as oriental or exotic) are long and tubular to the extreme. They are firm and muscular. Examples are the Siamese and Cornish Rex.

Korat

Cat Coat Types
Probably the first thing a person notices about a cat is its beautiful coat. The color, pattern, texture, and length of the coat have a great deal of influence in selection of a cat. Patterns and colors are not breeds. They are
the decoration a cat wears. The original coat was a shorthaired brown classic tabby. All the other colors, patterns, textures, and lengths evolved over many centuries, creating variations in the tabby markings. Eventually a solid coat color with no markings occurred. Other mutations created the dilute color blue and other lighter colors while the white mutation created the bicolor patterns such as calico, as well as solid white.

Cat Color
The basic colors are black, chocolate, red, and white, with dilute (lighter) variations within those colors. Some breed descriptions use different names for the colors, such as the Burmese, which lists sable instead of chocolate. Two breeds with ticked tabby patterns have special names for their color, ruddy for the Abyssinian and sepia for the Singapura.

• Black—Sometimes called ebony
– Blue is a dilute (lighter color) of black, also called gray, ash, and slate
– A dilute of blue is called lavender, lilac, or platinum
– Fawn is a beige-toned lilac

• Chocolate—Sometimes called brown, sable, seal, mahogany, chestnut, or tawny
– A dilute of chocolate may be called natural, caramel, or champagne

• Red—Sometimes called orange or tangerine
– A dilute of red is cream, sometimes called yellow, beige, or tan

• White

Silver and Golden are the background colors of tabbies with variations sometimes called bronze or pewter.

Cat Pattern
All cats are genetically tabbies, with other patterns evolving later. The different patterns are solid (self), tabby, tipped, parti-color, bi-color, and pointed.

• Solid—A solid (self) colored cat is entirely one color. There are no tabby markings, no white, and no changes of color on each hair.

• Tabby—There are four basic tabby patterns: Classic, Mackerel, Spotted, and Ticked. The hairs are each banded with light and dark stripes called agouti bands or ticking. It is the arrangement of the bands that create the patterns.

– Mackerel: The “wild type” pattern with spine lines and narrow vertical stripes on the sides.
– Classic: Irregular spirals and whirls, broad and clearly defined that create a bulls-eye effect on the sides, with solid lines on the spine, and a butterfly mark on the shoulders.
– Spotted: Broken stripes appear as spots, sometimes seeming to run together into a mackerel pattern.
– Ticked: Body hairs are “ticked” with various shades of the main marking color and the ground color. The body is free from noticeable spots or stripes. An interesting variation of tabby is the patched tabby, which has patches of red or cream mixed with the ground colors on the body and extremities. It can occur with any
of the tabby patterns.

• Tipped—In the tipped patterns, each guard hair has color only on the tips of the hair and white underneath. A cat with red tipping is called a cameo.
– Chinchilla (or shell) is the lightest tipping with color only on the very tip of each hair.
– Shaded is the intermediate tipping with color on the last quarter of hair.
– Smoke is the heaviest tipping with color on the last half of the hair. The smoke pattern is especially striking because when the cat is still, it appears to be a solid color, but the white shows up when the cat moves.

• Parti-color—A black female cat with random patches of red is called a tortoiseshell. The red patches often have tabby markings. A blue/cream (dilute tortoiseshell) is a blue female with patches of solid cream.

• Bi-Color—Bi-colors are cats with white. White spotting or piebalding can occur with any solid color or pattern, including the color color points. There can be as little as only one small spot of white or the cat can be nearly all white. A female cat with a tortoiseshell pattern and white is called a calico. A van pattern is a white cat with patches of color on the head and tail. It may also have a few spots on the rest of its body.

• Pointed—The pattern of a pointed cat has the facial mask, ears, legs, feet, and tail of a contrasting darker color while the body is a pale cream, fawn, or white.

Cat Texture
A cat’s coat is made up of longer guard hairs, more bristly awn hairs, and an underlying layer of soft down hairs. These three types of hairs vary from one breed to the next. For example, a Persian’s down hairs are nearly as long as its guard hairs, while the Turkish Angora has lesser developed down hairs resulting in a less
dense coat. The American Wirehair has awn hairs the same length as the guard hairs. Both types of hairs are curled and crinkled, resulting in a wiry feel to the coat. The Rex breeds have no guard hairs and wavy coats.

Cat Length
The length of a cat’s coat is naturally short. The long hair mutation occurred over many centuries. Specifying the length of a coat can be confusing. Show standards refer to short, short to medium, medium, semi-long, medium- long to long, and long and thick. Many breeds began as short hairs, but eventually were bred for long hair as well. Some registries list long hairs as separate breeds while others list them as a division within a breed. One interesting coat length note: The Sphynx is not totally bald. It has thin, short hairs on its ears, muzzle and tail, but no whiskers. The rest of the body may be completely hairless, or it may have thin, short hairs up to 1/8 inch in length over other parts of its body.

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Tips and Guide Cat Breeds In American

Today there are many breeds of cats. The Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA) recognizes 41 different breeds. Other North American associations recognize many additional breeds, including the exotic crosses between wild and domestic cats. There are more breeds recognized overseas and some that are still in development. Cats may be divided into two categories: the popular house cat of unknown ancestry, or the purebred, (a pedigreed cat), intentionally bred for certain desirable qualities and usually eligible for exhibition in the show ring. The various cat associations have prepared written standards so that judges might compare the qualities of competing cats with the appropriate breed specification. A large number of purebreds do not meet the standards and, therefore, may be obtained at lower prices. However, they may still be registered and make excellent pets.

The majority of pet cats are mixed breeds. They almost never resemble the standard of any cat breed. However, 4-H has acknowledged the desirability of all cats by allowing household pets to be shown. Unlike purebreds, they are not judged according to a written standard, but on the basis of physical condition, cleanliness, presentation, temperament, and attractive or unusual appearance. Throughout the world, cats of unknown lineage comprise the vast majority of pets, and most of them are mixed breeds. They are, without a doubt, the most popular cats of all.

Khao manee Cat

Cats Breed Types

Cat breeds are divided into three types: Natural, man-made (hybrid), and spontaneous mutation.

• Natural: A natural breed was created by nature, but refined and stabilized through selective breeding. Some natural breeds such as the Abyssinian have been in existence for hundreds of years.

• Man-made: Man-made breeds, or hybrids, are created by the purposeful crossing of two or more breeds to establish a third breed. The new breed’s results range from having its own distinct appearance such as
the Ocicat, to being almost identical to one of the foundation breeds, such as the Oriental Shorthair. An example of a hybrid showing equal characteristics of both foundation parents is the Tonkinese. It is interesting to note that Siamese have been a foundation for more new breeds than any other cat.

• Mutation: A mutation is a spontaneous change in the gene structure resulting in an unusual feature. This feature may attract the attention of breeders who then develop that feature, creating a new breed with
uniform standards. Some of these breeds are relatively new, such as the Rexes and the Scottish Fold, while others have been around for so long they are now considered natural breeds, such as the Manx or Japanese
Bobtail.

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History American Cat and Breeders Original Cats in Europe

We must go back 40–50 million years in the evolution of animals to identify the cat’s ancestors. The earliest ancestors were called Miacis (pronounced my-a-kiss). The Miacis were creatures about the size of a lynx, with long slender bodies, long tails, and short legs with retractable claws that extended from the paws during such activities as climbing trees or fighting. Over the next 10 million years, the Dinictis evolved bringing higher intelligence and greater agility to an animal more like the cat of today.

The first sign of domestication of cats appears to be around 8000 years ago. The earliest remains were found in Africa. Overwhelming evidence points to Ancient Egypt and the African Wildcats (Felis Sylvestris libyca) as the oldest truly domestic cats. They were probably used in farming villages to hunt the river rats that invaded the granaries. Feline remains were found on Cyprus dating back to 5000 B.C., but wild cats did not occur naturally on Cyprus, so they had to have been brought there.

Foldex Cat

In Egypt, cats were so special that they came to be considered sacred. The earliest mention of the cat as sacred is in the Book of The Dead dating back to 3500 B.C. The cat was the symbol for the sun god Osiris or Re. About this time, it is said that Bast (the wife, sister, or daughter of Re) fled from Re and assumed the shape of a cat, thus becoming the goddess that protects cats. She is known as the goddess of the night and the moon. She protected crops and ensured a rich harvest. Her temples became sanctuaries for cats. When cats died, they were usually embalmed, given ceremonial rites, and buried in special cemeteries. The killing of cats was a crime punishable by death. Egypt prohibited the export of cats.

It is believed that Phoenicians and Greeks may have been the first to bring cats to Europe, starting around 2000 B.C. They likely used them for rat control on their ships, then sold or traded the cats at ports in Europe. Once on land, the Greeks, Romans, and others used the cats for rodent control. The cats did well in Europe,
enjoying the protection of the Church until the 10th century. During the Middle Ages, cats lost favor with the Church and were blamed for anything evil. They were often burned. Their fur was used for clothing and their flesh was eaten during the famines. Cats were connected to witchcraft clear into the 1700’s.

German Rex

Cats were treated much better in the Orient. In China, the cat became a symbol for good fortune, peace, and beauty. Buddhists admired the cat’s meditative powers. The domestic cat arrived in Japan about 600 A.D., which was about the same time Buddhism was introduced to Japan. The Maneki Neko (beckoning cat) is one of the most common lucky charms seen in Japan. This figure of a sitting cat with the left front paw raised is frequently seen in shop windows where it is inviting customers to enter. The same figure with the right paw
raised attracts money and good fortune. With the Japanese appreciation of simple artistic form, cats are seen as a being of rare beauty.

During the 17th Century, attitudes toward the cat began to change for the better. Cats found a special spot in the family household and eventually became the beloved pets they are today. The cat’s progress was significantly improved in the 19th Century, the Victorian Era, which saw an improvement in the treatment of all
domestic animals. The Victorian Era also saw an increasing enthusiasm for exhibiting and breeding cats. The first cat show was held in London, England, on July 13, 1871, at The Crystal Palace. There were 160 cats for display and competi tion. During the late 1800’s interest in breeding and showing began to spread abroad. The first American cat show was held in Madison Square Garden, New York City in 1895. In 1904, the Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA) began a registry of pedigreed cats in America.

The cats of today are approximately the same size and shape as the ancient cats. They have retained their keen hunting instincts and selfreliance, make the same purring sounds, and display the same aloofness and affection.

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