Kurilian Bobtail “TAIGA”- photograph strictly ©copyright Helmi Flick
 A trapesium – the shape of this cat’s head in profile |
This is a short discussion about the appearance by reference to selected elements of the World Cat Federation (WCF) breed standard and Helmi’s fine illustration. This is in my words focusing on the elements that are the most interesting in my opinion.
The body should be powerful and compact. They are medium large cats in size. Taiga meets this condition. Taiga is noticeably more compact than normal. The body should also show a “delicate arch-like line” between the shoulders and the rump.
The head should be in the shape of a trapezium (see diagram above). It should be wide at cheekbone level and rounded. Taiga’s head is large and rounded. This is the shape of a trapezium I’ve got to say, looking at Taiga above, the profile is the shape of a trapezium.
Any eye color from yellow to green is accepted. Taiga has yellow eyes. Although, white Kurilians can have blue or odd eyes (this goes with the territory for cats as the gene that produces a while coat results in odd color eyes and blue eyes). The tail should be from 3 to 8 centimeters long (without taking into account the fur) and be composed of one or more “kinks” or curves.
The tail can be rigid or flexible. The tail should be in harmony as much as possible with the appearance of the remainder of the cat. If the tail is shorter than 3 cms, a show cat will be penalised points. Likewise, if the tail is longer than 8 cms. Sometimes the bobbed tail can be as long as 12 cms, which would clearly incur a penalty. Taiga’s tail, although a bit hard to see in the picture above, is within these limits.
The header picture on the other page about this breed shows the tail better. This breed comes from a cold country and you would expect the coat to be dense. You can clearly see the dense nature of the coat from the picture of Taiga.
The fur should be of fine texture. Interestingly, the breed standard makes a reference to disqualification if the spine shows evidence of a deformity. Is this a reference to the possibility of the genetic mutation which shortens the tail having a secondary effect and sometimes affecting the spine? In the Manx breed there are potential secondary effects.
