British Shorthair Cat

photos in this group of
 Earl Grey  © Helmi Flick

Introduction

It could be said that the British Shorthair Cat is as natural a breed as is possible today in that all registered breeds are now subject to human intervention. The breed originates from the British Domestic Shorthair or British Moggie, which has an extremely long history. Through selective breeding from the late 1800s the Moggie was transformed into a recognized breed; the British Shorthair. She is very definitely my kind of cat. Helmi Flick loves 'em too (see Sky and Nox below).

It is a shame that mankind decided to create a breed called the British Shorthair and then through his activities (wars leading to outcross breeding) over the following decades consciously diverged from the standard that was previously set.

Blue British Shorthair - Sky. Sky lives with Ken and Helmi
Flick. Photograph © Helmi Flick

The British Shorthair is a placid, easy going and calm cat, which makes her suited to people who rush around a lot. Their stable and balanced character makes them suitable for indoor and apartment living. Nonetheless, like all cats they are playful and alert when they want to be without being over the top.

This breed of cat takes about 5 years to grow to adulthood. This means that she performs well at cat shows well into what might be considered old age. At 11 1/2 years of age a BS received her Grand Premiership at a 1994 show.

Ralph © Helmi Flick

They continue to "thicken up" (reminds me of me) until 4 years of age and are on the heavy side being 12-18 lbs for male cats.

The British Shorthair Cat has a noticeably dense coat. The coat "cracks" when the body is flexed. This means you can see into the fur as it parts. You can see clearly that Earl Grey's body is sturdy and cobby (stocky). His face is rounded with sweet chubby checks and round copper coloured eyes.

The coat can be in almost any color and pattern.

She is an intelligent breed of cat and has appeared in films, on TV and on cat food packaging (Whiskas and Sheba).

The British Shorthair Cat is relatively quiet, in line with her personality. Her personality seems to be a little like my cat (a Moggie/Norwegian Forest Cat hybrid) in that they prefer to be near and with you rather than on you. This may be due to overheating when on you as their dense coats provide a high level of insulation.

The difference in the characteristics of female and male British Shorthairs, I think, mirrors human differences. The males are less serious than the females and less particular (no I'm not being sexist ).

The British Shorthair Cat is generally healthy. They would seem to have a life span slightly above the average (14-20 years of age). Apparently, they may be more prone than normal to becoming overweight when a combination of being neutered or spayed and leading a sedentary life style is in place (apartment or exclusively indoor living).

Ralph standing © Helmi Flick

The best way to deal with this is to ensure some exercise, which means more input from the human keeper together with a low calorie diet (LD or RD Hills I give my cat - although she is still overweight).

Their tendency to become overweight is due, in part, to being naturally inactive at 4-6 years (and beyond) of age.

They also may suffer from more than average teeth/gum problems, namely gingivitis. For the human companion there are methods for dealing with this. The breeder also has his part to play in breeding carefully and selectively to minimize the condition.

These kinds of problems are not necessarily specific to this breed. There is also apparently potential heart conditions associated with the British Shorthair Cat (HCM).

The coat is fairly low maintenance but like all coats it ideally requires regular grooming by us.




Helmi says this about her Brit. Shorthairs:

"Nox and Sky are my British Shorthairs that live with us.  Sky is a Blue BritishShorthair and Nox is a Black Brit.  Both are altered. Their full names are SGCA, RW Earendil Sky (she is a Regional Winner) and CH Earendil Nox.  They are 10 years old."

See a slide show the likes of which you've never seen before, with large format Helmi photographs

Breeders

{Selected on their Google search listing ranking in descending order - first 2 pages only and not part of a directory. Note this please: sometimes I might leave out the cat breeds name from the cattery title for search engine optimization reasons only}

LazyBlues British Shorthairs
Located in White Plains NY, USA.

Benfields British Shorthair cats
Located in Severna park, Maryland, USA.

Empire of Glamour Cattery
Small breeders specialized in British Shorthair Blue, Cream, Lilac, Lilac&Cream and Blue & Cream. Located in Chàteauguay (QC), Canada.

Purfectpal
Located in South Woodford, London, E18 1DR, run by Laura Cooper
Small breeder specialising in Blue, Lilac, Cream, and Blue/Cream. Black and Tortie sometimes available.



Sources:

• Cat Fanciers
• Wikipedia
• CFA
• Breeder sites
• Myself
• Helmi Fick

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