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:
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.
Luna, the Fashion Kitty: https://www.facebook.com/the.fashion.kitty
Above is a great example of beautiful Persian cat named Luna. Her tongue is almost always out, probably due to her maw shape. Her teeth aren’t in the right place to hold her tongue in most situations. She probably has a wheeze and snores due to her bracylocephalia. Worse yet, if she was a show cat (as we all know, a ton of them are) she would probably scratch and howl as she was first degreased with waterless handcleaner (the stuff mechanics use). Then she would have to be shampooed with a heavy duty shampoo to get the goop off. Finally, she’d get real cat shampoo, followed by a long session of blow drying.
I mention this, because it all ties together. Selective breeding produces cats that are than shown by obsessive owners. It’s just a sad life for those cats. I know not all show cats are treated so poorly. The drive to create the cash-kitty (a play on cash-cow) is what makes me maddest. There are some new breeds being created with the input of geneticist, by people who love their cats and want to leave their mark on the world.
Look at all the new hairless breeds. They all have health issues. It’s jus sad.
I don’t see how anyone can look at the radiographs of bracylocephalic Persians and NOT see the immorality.
but people are in denial. & pretend that breeding for wider nostrils solves the issue of all that bone & tissue smashed up into too small an area.
Cheri, thanks for the good comment. It actually shocks me. Breeders in a naive and rather silly way think that an extreme version of something nice is better! Very odd and very crude thinking. It is a typical form of shallow human thinking that can bee seen in other aspects of life. What makes it all the more idiotic is that the general public overwhelmingly prefer the old style cats because they are healthier and better looking. Breeders bred as a hobby for themselves. And this little clique of cat breeders have lost their compass. And this sort of breeding is immoral. I know that is a strong statement but it is true because it affects health. If you breed to extreme you are more likely to ‘create’ a sad cat because that cat has a greater chance of developing an illness that causes discomfort and possibly pain. But can we change it? Will they change? No.
Michael, it is an extreme example of a tendency that seems to happen in breeding where people take something that is part of breed type and think if a little is good, a whole lot more must be better, and breed eventually an extremely exaggerated version. Thus the Persian did have a rounded head and rather short face and short nose — so they turned it into an absolutely flat face and hardly any nose with a sharp crease. Just like in the opposite way, with the Siamese they had a cat that was more elongated than the average cats, and had a wedgy looking muzzle they called 100 years ago “marten faced”, and rather large ears by comparison to the average cats of Western European origin — and they took that to an extreme with a very very elongated, tubular fine boned, angular (with the whole head wedge shaped head instead of just the face/ muzzle) , huge eared cat.
Rudolph , I agree , it would be nice to see the old type of Persian shown under its own standard, but it would not happen because a cat association just decides suddenly on their own to do that; the impetus would have to come from breeders & fanciers of that type of Persian becoming organized and working to get them recognized, like some of the Old Style Siamese breeders in USA and Europe, with input of breeders in Thailand, did to get the moderate Siamese cats breed recognition as the “Thai” in The International Cat Association.
Perhaps Traditional Persian breeders could possibly connect with those promoting a similar type cat from the breed’s region of origin, such as the “Shirazi Persian” / “Shirazi Cats” and approach breed recognition from a major international show-sanctioning cat association from that angle ( similar as the Thai being a breed to preserve the Old Style Siamese of the West AND the native pointed breed of Thailand, the Wichienmaat.)
But I don’t know if there are enough ‘Traditional Persian’ breeders and fanciers who are willing to put in the work and expense and cooperation for the breed . I would love to see it happen.
Well said Rudolph. As you can see I am making a joke about the breeding and breed standard of the Persian cat. The breed standard demands that the face be flat! It is extraordinary really because no cat on this planet has ever had a totally flat face. It is totally artificial and man-made (actually usually woman-made, to be honest, as it is mainly women who run the cat fancy).
I feel sad that the original “TRADITIONAL PERSIAN CAT” is today considered as not specific to breed standards shown under “PERSIAN CATS” in “CAT SHOWS”.Hope the “Cat Shows” re-introduce the “Traditional Persian Cat” under a different standard of show breed standards of the breed along with the “Ultra-Faced Persian Cat”. “Ultra-Faced Persian cats” are difficult to breed in warm humid climates unlike “Traditional Persian cats”.