Tiffany cat
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 a 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. A visitor, Ricardo Delgado, asked, "What is the difference between the York Chocolate and Tiffany cats?" - Not much and I don't know!  Arthur - photograph ©lapietra (Marianne) 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) 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 for me, but another cat with a great spotted coat is the Egyptian Mau). Eye color (as seen in the photograph above) is gold to deep yellow. 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 (new window) to go to her Flickr page on Arthur. Comments from Visitors See also submissions 8th Jan 2010: From Susan Rogosky, Latrobe Pennsylvania USA: Friend to Tuffy I was looking for pictures of Black Angora cats but something did not seem to fit my little friend and Princess Tuffy. Until I came upon a picture on your website of this beautiful Black Mahognany cat and I said "This is Her" my little Tuffy, yeah I call her little but she is an adult of 5 years and I wish I had a picture to show you, this cat could be her twin. Now I found Tuffy in my backyard full of fleas, lice and smelling like the sewer system after many, many baths, general medicines and flea medicines Tuffy was healthy. Tuffy is a wonderful friend and loves to sit on my lap at night or sleep on my bed, she never goes outside. Tuffy is also very playful and relishes running around the house at top speed when she gets the urge. Thank you for showing the picture, it really helped. 1st November 2010: My Milo by Mel from Montreal  I have a Tiffany cat and he is very cute (in my opinion). His fur really is silky like velvet and he is very compassionate. He has a very quirky character that always leaves me laughing... my Milo takes big pride in his appearance; if you pet him the wrong way, he will lick himself till his fur is perfectly placed again. I let him outside in my backyard, and he will never wonder outside that backyard. He likes to stay close to home, I guess. 20th Nov. 2010: I've found Samantha's breed!! by Deanna from Olathe, KS, USA.  I have had Samantha for about 8 years and now I know what her breed is!! She is my little fur ball. I rescued her from the local pound. She doesn't take very well to strangers and she is strictly an indoor cat. She adores her coat combed and brushed. She can be demanding at times: when I'm in the bathroom brushing my hair, she will sit on the toilet seat demanding that I brush her hair too. She will chirp and squeek at me to spend time with her and pet her. When she was a kitten, she would demand that I play with her. She has a "turbo kitty" toy that has a ball that circles around a scratching pad. She would bat at the ball and wait for me to bat the ball back to her. She also has a very beautiful purr and sometimes she will drool if I scratch her in the right places like under her chin. She is mostly black, her head, paws, and tail are a solid dark black but her body is a reddish-black. Her tummy and a spot on her chest are white but I think the white spots occurred when she was shaved when she was spayed and when she was tested for feline leukemia. One winter, her mane was white so it looked as if she had a circle of white around her neck. I don't know if she has an undercoat but if I brush her hair backwards, the base of the hair is white. Comment: Samantha look stunning. She may not be a Tiffany cat, though, because you need evidence in the form of a pedigree to claim that she is a purebred cat and all cat breeds are purebred cats....Michael I just brought my second Tiffany home....from Cindy (NSW - Australia) This breed of cat is just the loveliest ... They are extremely smart, affectionate and clean. The two I have are both Burmese and Birman cross, which my understanding is what a tiffany cat is. Although this breed is not recognized in NSW, it should be! I have owned quite a few different types of cats, and a tiffany is the best type in my opinion. They are extremely intuitive and I am almost sure they can understand me. If you are thinking of getting this type of cat I thoroughly recommend it and an excellent breeder that I got both of my kittens through is meegan, her email address is meeganem[at]BigPond.com (change [at] to @). She raises the most well trained and looked after kittens. You may have to wait for a litter, it is worth the wait. 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 search, hence the listing here (2009 - things change). 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". See Cat Body Shapes. Sources:
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