PART I. THE CAT STORY Chapter 3. Breeds

In 1953 the American Can Company, which produces containers for commercial pet foods and was therefore interested, discovered in a survey that there were 26,700,000 domestic cats in the United States.

By "domestic" cats is meant cats who, however casual their member­ship, belong to human families. Most of them — 13.2 million — were found to be farm cats. Seven million were city cats, and 6.5 million lived somewhere in between.

The South had the most cats (9.7 million), the Far West the few­est (3.2 million). The East had the most urban cats (2.4 million), the Midwest the most farm cats (5.8 million); no surprises there.

Over-all, 29 per cent of the nation's families had one or more cats. Farm families had the most cats; nearly half of them owned three or more. The nationwide average was 2.21 cats per cat-owning family. Low-income families were found to be far more likely to have cats than were the high-income families.

To arrive at a figure for all the nation's cats, however, there must be added the worker types who patrol or inhabit our stores and fac­tories, warehouses and wharves, restaurants and military bases, and who go down to the sea in ships. One estimate places them at half a million.

Then there are the cats nobody owns, who live a gypsy existence in the city streets and the wooded country areas. These may number another two million, although obviously a figure like this has to be either a wild guess or come straight from some cat.

Siamese

Assuming the latter, we have a total of 29,200,000 cats, which is probably inexact and not highly important, yet rather nice to con­template if you like cats.

How Many Breeds?

This great number makes rather impressive the fact which follows. This is that, despite the vast number, there are basically only two categories of cat: long-haired and short-haired. Within them there are perhaps six recognized breeds and several varieties about whose classi­fication as breeds cat experts and fanciers have earnest, inconclusive discussions. Beyond this, however, there is nothing more to choose from until you get to ocelots and jaguars. As a type, the cat has been remark­ably consistent for a very long time.

In the cat world, as elsewhere, the common people far outnumber the aristocrats. It is a safe guess that 99 out of any 100 cats encountered will be plain, ordinary citizens belonging in the boundless company of Domestic Short-hairs. This is the proper name for the group carelessly called "alley cats," and while it does contain a number of woebegone and misbegotten creatures, it is not to be sneered at. It is a breed, and prime cats have emerged from it to win top prizes at cat shows.

The de luxe breeds in the remaining one per cent include the long­haired Persians (and/or Angoras), and the short-haired Siamese, Bur­mese, Abyssinian and Manx. There are also several in-between group­ings, such as the Blues and Tortoise-shells, which may be long- or short-haired and are classified primarily by color. The Blues, for instance, include the Maltese, Russian Blue, British Blue, and so on.

Persians

The long-hairs originally were called Angoras, after the Turkish city (now Ankara) 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 haughtier than a Main Line dowager. 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, however — anywhere from fifty to several hundred dollars for a superior one — their owners aren't often inclined to expose them to the many perils and pleasures of the out-of-doors.

Domestic Short-Hair

Abyssinian	Persian
Burmese	Siamese

Manx

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, and in high fashion now, is the silver, or chinchilla, Persian. The basic coat is pure snow white, with each hair tipped in black.

Persian

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 com­bination, 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 de luxe 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.

Persian

Siamese

Most prevalent of the fancy short-hairs is the Siamese, which may once have been the sacred cat of Siam and is one of the common cats there today. It is strikingly handsome and extremely smart, and is a good companion. It is too taut and restless to be very cuddly, but it is a great talker and a fine mouser. The voice has a high-pitched Asian twang with just a suggestion of the jungle in it. If one finds the tone unpleasant, one had better not get a Siamese, for it will be heard unceasingly by one and all — especially when the female is in heat. The yowls of yearning sound rather as though the cat were being rent asunder.

The Siamese is small, lithe and neat. It is leaner than other cats, with long legs and tail, and a firm, muscular appearance that implies power.

The head, too, is small, and of a more sharply defined wedge shape than is found in long-hairs or domestics. The eyes are almond-shaped, very blue and often crossed. This may be disconcerting but, in this breed, is not considered a fault. The tail may be kinked or curled, but this is, too, is a virtue in Oriental cats.

The fur lies sleek and flat, and over the body it is a light fawn color. Legs, tail and the mask across the face should be a dark, chocolate color. This may

also be described as a seal brown, and the cat whose "points" are so marked is a Seal Point Siamese. Some are a grayish white with blue points and are, of course, Blue Point Siamese. The greater the contrast between the colors of body and points, the better the cat is judged to be.

Burmese

Similar to the Siamese, yet a distinct breed and quite rare in the United States, is the Burmese cat. Its coat is usually a dark brown, almost solid, and without points. Its eyes, too, are golden or hazel rather than blue. By nature, it is docile and friendly, and undoubtedly would be highly popular if imported or bred in sufficient numbers.

Abyssinians

Also rare is the Abyssinian cat, which is believed to be in a direct line of descent from the famous cats of ancient Egypt. It is a placid cat which talks little and has an affectionate nature. It is basically a shade of brown with variegated markings of black, gray or contrasting brown. These should be definite, however, and not resemble the tabby. White spots of any sort are undesirable.

Manx

Odd but not unusual is the tailless Manx cat, which comes from the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea off the coast of northern England. His­torically, the first Manx landed in 1588, when they deserted the sinking ships of the Spanish Armada. The sea-roving Spanish, in turn, appear to have picked them up during their travels from either Japan or the Asian continent.

Siamese

Burmese

The Manx is an energetic and resourceful cat which hunts not only rats and mice, but snakes as well. It is a courageous critter and fears no dog alive.

Part of its strength and speed comes from its curious build. Its forelegs are, ideally, very short and its hind legs long. This elevates the rump, which classically should be round as a ball, with a small dimple at the base of the spine where the tail begins in other cats. This results in a bobbing walk and a tendency to leap frequently while running. The Manx does not hop like a rabbit, however, despite what has often been said by many people.

Over-all, the Manx is small and compact. The ears are pointed. The fur is silky and comes in all the usual colors.

Taillessness, incidentally, is an uncertain characteristic. Manx kittens occasionally are born with tiny, rudimentary tails — which seems to disturb them not at all.

Abyssinians

There are also, as noted, some specialized or locally varying de luxe breeds which are difficult, if not unnecessary, to classify. The Maine Coon cat is one, a large long-hair once thought to be a cross between the Angora and raccoons. The Blues are often simply end points of breeding undertaken by breeders in different countries. There are even some not-entirely-but-almost Hairless cats. The types and color group­ings listed above, however, are those best known in the United States.

Domestic Short-Hairs

Then there is, of course, the Domestic Short-hair. Not many of them would meet the exacting standards of the show ring, but should they find themselves there, the judge would look first for a body somewhat longer than the long-hair's, slender, but deep and broad in the chest.

The head should have breadth between the ears, and a generally more angular appearance, owing to the slightly longer, more pointed nose and bushy cheeks.

The ears should be set more atop the head than is the case with long-hairs, and should stand about as high as they are broad at the base.

Domestic Short-Hairs

Manx

The tail should not be long and should taper to the tip and be carried level with the back. A lot of perky-tailed Domestics rule them­selves out of elite classification on this score alone.

The eyes should be large and round and convey a pleasant expression. This is more important even than their color. If the cat looks grumpy or mean, owing to imperfect shape or spacing of the eyes (or to grmpiness or meanness), it won't matter how beautiful their tint. Eye colors should complement body colors, as in the long-hairs.

Body colors are likewise similarly defined, although pure, unblem­ished coats are hard to come by in this crowd, and smokes and silvers are particularly rare. Tabby types, of course, are innumerable.

Show Cats

Show standards are quite specific on the general conformation of cats, but may become complex and variable, depending on the associa­tion consulted or the fashion from year to year, with regard to col­oration and marking.

What makes show cats beautiful, special and rare is the fact that attractions like long hair or unusual coat and eye colors are, biologically speaking, recessive characteristics. They are cultivated by patient and careful breeding, until all vestiges of tabby markings, say, are gone from the Siamese and disfiguring, off-color splotches are eliminated from pure white, black, blue and so on.

Just how delicate this balance is, and just how recessive a recessive characteristic can be, has been proved time and again by the mating — accidental, of course — of a fancy-shmancy with a common cat who has no style but is bulging with gross, salt-of-the-earth, dominant char­acteristics. The kittens invariably come up plain cat, with tiger stripes and yellow eyes, and no faint trace of grand lineage in any feature.

The mating of two common cats is equally unpredictable. Often as not a pair of attractively marked parents will produce babies with ran­dom spots and blotches—black eyes, striped noses, and so forth—that are most unbecoming. The same may be true of size and shape. A com­pact, neatly built mother cat may find her youngsters growing up to be thin-shanked, lean-bodied critters with no family resemblance at all.

If the owner likes cats impartially this will be no problem. Certainly it has never troubled cats. They are not self-conscious about aesthetic defects; none has ever felt out of place at a social gathering.

As a matter of fact, cats of all breeds always try to look as present­able as circumstances allow, and seem to have an eye for tasteful back­grounds—white bedspreads, red chairs, bouquets of flowers—which set them off to advantage. There may be other, simpler reasons for it, but there is no denying that cats have a sense of the dramatic. Every cat, whether a pure-bred Persian lolling on a silken pillow or a nameless waif resting beside an alley trash can, looks as though she expected to be looked at and, better still, admired.

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