Tiffany cat
The Origin As is often the case the history is a little cloudy. I feel the history of a cat breed's creation and development is quite important as to certain extent, it defines the breed. This is particularly so in the case of the Thai (Traditional Siamese), for example. My reading of the history of the Tiffany cat is that either this cat is a discovered cat (in 1967) and bred from thereon, or the breed is the creation of crossing Foreign Longhair/Angora, Havana, and Abyssinian cats. In 1967 a cattery owner, Jennie Robinson, bought two young semi-foreign long haired chocolate colored cats, one male and one female as part of the sale of an entire estate (this may have been on the death of the previous keeper). These two cats mated and in "breeding true" all the offspring where the same as their parents. The color is a "self color" (solid color with no banding on the hair shafts). In Canada in 1973, and running almost in parallel with the USA creation/development of this breed, it is said that the same type of cat, of unknown ancestry, as had happened in the USA, turned up at the home of a Canadian. Thus began the Tiffany cat's history in Canada, from which point, breeders began to develop the breed.  Arthur - photograph ©lapietra (Marianne) The Name Another confusing area is the name of this breed. You'll see this cat breed called both Tiffany and Chantilly. They describe the same cat breed. What apparently happened is that British breeders of the Burmilla began calling the long haired version of their cat breed, "Tiffanie". The long haired Burmilla is described as the Tiffanie on the GCCF website (2008). To try and avoid confusion the Canadian breeders coined the name "Chantilly" for their cat. As a result the cat breed has two names. The name selected depends on which cat association is used for registration.TICA and CFA don't register the Tiffany or Chantilly. This is a rare cat breed on my reckoning. The ACFA register the Chantilly as "EXP" (presumed to mean "experimental"). The Traditional Cat Association calls this breed "Tiffany/Chantilly". The Cat Fanciers Federation don't seem to recognize the Tiffany cat. I wonder whether the confused history/development has something to to do with the reluctance of cat associations to recognize this cat breed. Tell me please (takes you to an easy to use form in a new window). It seems that in Australia the Tiffany is a cross between the Burmese and Birman (although the Australian Tiffany breeder (see below), which provided this information from their website spells this breed "Burman"). Sorry about this but there is an Australian Tiffanie as well. This is a Longhaired Burmilla and Chinchilla Persian hybrid. Because there is some confusion over the naming of breeds Tiffanie, Tiffany, Longhaired Burmilla etc., I decided I'd try and explain the difference. See the explanation here. One last point this cat has been called "Mahogany".  Golden Eye - Arthur's lovely eye color - photo ©lapietra (Marianne) The Appearance Marianne's pictures of Arthur pretty well tells you what you need to know.Arthur is a chocolate Tiffany cat, the original color. The chocolate coloring has lighter patches and picks up the light beautifully as shown in the heading picture. Through outcrossing, the coat colors have been expanded to include: cinnamon, fawn, lilac, blue and black. Patterns have also been introduced including: ticked (the Abyssinian is the classic ticked cat), mackerel (see this pattern on the Toyger, for example) and spotted (the Bengal is the classic spotted cat). Eye color (as seen in the photograph above) is gold to deep yellow. Maintenance Being semi-longhaired means a certain amount of upkeep but less than the high maintenance Persian, which is long haired. In addition there is no undercoat, which reduces matting. The Tiffany cat has nice ear furnishings (ear hair - see the best ear furnishings on this Maine Coon or this one - both open in a new window and they are special cats). Their coat is nice and silky to the touch, rich in color and very full.I am pleased to say that breeders of this cat are concerned with retaining the original conformation, which is very normal and balanced, a great asset for a cat breed. All the most popular breeds have a balanced appearance. Marianne, who lives with Arthur featured on this page, says he is very low maintenance, partly because he is so healthy. I love you Arthur. Oh, I forgot to mention, Tiffany cats have lovely plumed tails just like Arthur's. Another cat with a fantastic plumed tail is the Turkish Angora.  Yes, its the gorgeous Arthur again, I guess he is asking for something to eat, I know that look - photo ©lapietra About Arthur He's very healthy, vociferous, opinionated (obviously very intelligent therefore), sociable and cuddly. What more could you ask for in a companion? I'll bet Marianne has long conversations with him....Tiffany cats, generally, are affectionate and companionable, striking a nice middle ground in terms of activity and mischievousness. Like most cats they will not appreciate being alone a lot. About Marianne Marianne Stone's Flickr name is lapietra. She kindly allowed me to publish her photographs on this page to illustrate this cat breed. Arthur said it was OK too. She lives in San Francisco, USA. She likes photography and sharing her images with others. She loves Arthur. Click on this link to go to her Flickr page on Arthur.Breeders As I mentioned, this cat is rare so there are few breeders:Purrfect Essentials This cattery is, I believe, located in Australia but the website is not clear on this, which surprises me. They breed Burmese and Tiffany cats. But they describe the Tiffany as a cross between a Burmese and Burman. Their website does, however, come up on page one of a Google serach, hence the listing here. This is the only website (not being part of a breeder listings site) that is listed in the first 3 pages of a Google search result for this breed. Yet I am not sure about this cattery. Please reassure me by telling me here. Foreign Type - {go back to where you came from} In the cat fancy (the cat world) this means a long, svelte but muscular cat like the Modern Siamese. Semi-foreign is a less extreme than the look demonstrated by the Modern Siamese in body and head shape. To me the Tiffany cat is not semi-foreign as he looks more balanced and "normal". Sources:
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