REGARDLESS OF THEIR ANCESTRY, THESE CATS HAVE UNDENIABLE GLAMOUR
HOUSE CAT—LONGHAIR
Nonpedigree cats with long hair are less common than
their shorthaired counterparts. In some of them, the clues
to their origins are obvious. A dense, woolly undercoat; a
stocky body; and a round, flattened face are likely to be
inherited from a Persian. The ancestry of others remains
a mystery in a confusion of variable coat lengths,
mixed colors, and indeterminate patterns.
Longhaired house cats rarely have the
extravagantly thick coats seen in the show
ring, but many of them are very beautiful.
BROWN TABBY
Long fur tends to blur tabby patterning. This cat
has a semi-long coat marked with the pattern
known as classic tabby, which on a shorter coat
would appear as boldly defined, dark whorls.
SILVER AND WHITE
Rarely seen in the
domestic house cat,
silver is the effect of a
white coat tipped with
darker color at the end
of each hair. Depending
on their degree of
tipping, pedigree silver
cats are sometimes
known as chinchillas.
BLACK
Jet black was among
the first colors to be
popular in longhairs. In random-
bred cats, there are likely to be slight
tinges of brown or tabby pattern in the coat.
RED AND
WHITE TABBY
Most owners of a
red tabby are likely
to refer to their pet
as a ginger cat.
This color is highly
sought after and
can often be just
as deep and rich
in nonpedigree
cats as it is in
purebreds.
CREAM AND WHITE
Cream—a diluted form of red—is an unusual
color in the average house cat. This one has
ghost tabby markings, which cat fanciers try
to eliminate in pedigrees by breeding
only the very palest creams.
Brownish
tinge to ruff
Greenish-gold
eyes
Thick, medium-
long hair on body
Faint tabby
markings
Round face
suggests
Persian
influence
CATALOG OF BREEDS
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