Persian Cat Breeders Got Confused

The breeders of what is called the flat-faced Persian, ultra Persian, punch face Persian (India), smushed Persian etc. got a bit mixed up way back in the 1950s when they decided to transform the face of the sweet traditional Persian, called the doll-face Persian to something more appropriate for the modern age, something less normal and more “exotic”.

They had to decide on a new breed standard. What would look more interesting, more refined? How can we make the Persian cat more attractive, they asked themselves? They decided to model the new cat on the owl. The owl is a very popular bird. It has a sweet face and they can be very amusing.

The owl has large copper/orange colored and round eyes. The face is nice and flat with all the facial elements in a vertical line, like a cliff-face. The subspecies of owl they chose had a tabby coat and small ears. Sure, the beak was a bit of a problem but they found a way of moulding the mouth and nose of the New Persian to give the appearance of a beak.

To be honest, I think they did a wonderful job. It took them about 50 years of intensive selective breeding but they achieved their goal:

Persian cats and owl
Modeling the new Persian cat on the owl.
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

What do you think? The trouble is they got a bit confused about what a cat should look like. You see, a cat should look like a cat!


Note: my thanks to Elena for finding the picture which I presume and hope is in the public domain. If not please tell me.

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14 thoughts on “Persian Cat Breeders Got Confused”

  1. I second jades point that it’s virtually impossible to get a traditional cat in Australia
    The only Persian cats I could find were the ultra typed Persians which I won’t purchase as I think it is a cruel existence for a cat whose original fore fathers were beautiful traditional Persians
    Also I too think the current ultra typed Persians look more like owls than cats

    Reply
    • It is a shame and worrying that you are unable to adopt a traditional Persian in Australia. They are far better cats. The ultra should not be in existence. Thank for sharing Natasha.

      Reply

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