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California Spangled Cat California
Spangled Cat © Flamingice007sg under CC
Note on the
photograph above: This is a rare
cat. There are few photographs. I am not completely sure that
the
copyright to the picture above is genuine. I hope that it is and if I
am
wrong to express doubt, I am sorry. But this is almost the only
photograph of this cat. Got one? Please tell me.
IntroductionAs I have said that this cat breed is rare and is one of the exotic breeds. Exotic cats have became very popular over the past ten years. Hoever, this breed, at least at the moment, has not followed the trend in the way that, for example the Savannah or Bengal has.
The breed originates from the 1980s, about the time when the first exotic cat, the Bengal was gaining ground in the popularity stakes. Whereas the Bengal and Savannah are born out of a wild cat/domestic cat hybridization this breed is all domestic and a hybridization of various domestic cats such as the Abyssinian, American and British Shorthairs. Note though that a truly exotic and very much a designer cat, the Toyger, has also been created, exclusively, from domestic cats. The Toyger is one of the most attractive of all domestic cats, being breed entirely through careful and selective breeding.  California
Spangled Cat - see note below about this photograph
Note on this photograph: As mentioned there are few photographs of this cat due to the cat's rarity. This photograph is one of a handful on the Internet. It comes from http://all-cats.blogspot.com. I am almost certain that the author of that site took it from some other site i.e. it is circulating on the Internet. 99.99% of the time I only use photographs that are licensed under creative commons or with the author's express permission. This is an exception which I feel forced to make. If you are the photographer I'd be pleased to hear from you and give a credit and/or pay for the license. This breed's relative failure to take off in the manner of the Bengal may be due in part to a false start, when in 1986 the breed was launched by being an item in a well known mail order catalogue (Neiman Marcus). This was probably a step too far for the majority of people. This cat was being treated as a product which can still happen but this concept is not thrust upon the public in quite the same way these days. There is a degree of hostility from some quarters to the concept of exotic domestic cat breeds despite the good intentions of the breeders. Apparently the breed "died out" in the 1990s and there are now a handful of breeders and few customers. In my survey of the rare domestic cat breeds the California Spangled Cat came out as one the rarest. I can see why. That said, this cat is no more wrong or right than the other exotic breeds and there is a lot of things that are right about them. History
Appearance and CharacterThe appearance is similar to the other exotic cats only it is probably fair to say that this cat is less well developed probably due to the lower amount of interest in this breed. Less interest means less breeders and obviously less chance to co-operate in the breed's development.The coat is a tabby spotted not unsimilar to the spotted Bengal cat. The body conformation is similar in being lean and athletic. She is obviously a medium sized cat, with all the usual attributes of the domestic cat. The coat in the picture looks ticked (i.e. the agouti gene banding gives this broken tabby rustic look). Nonetheless she is a handsome cat. BreedersThese are California Spangled Cat breeders listed on the first 3 pages by Google on a search, not including directory websites: None Want to advertise on this site? Please enquire. Sources:
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