The original grumpy cat is not Grumpy Cat but the modern Persian. The modern Persian cat is the forerunner of celebrity Grumpy Cat.
The contemporary, flat-faced Persian cat, as championed by the world’s biggest cat registry and the most important cat association in the US, the Cat Fanciers’ Association, is meant to have a sweet expression. That is an important part of the objectives in breeding this cat.
The CFA breed standard (extract Dec. 2013):
The ideal Persian should present an impression of a heavily boned, well balanced cat with a sweet expression and soft, round lines.
Yet, so often we see Mr Grumpy Cat in the face of this very popular cat breed, the most registered cat breed for many years in the USA. It is very noticeable. What happened? Well, the answer has to be breeding too far and to an extreme while losing sight of the what cat caretaking is all about. The breed standard, I would say, creates a tendency for the Persian to look grumpy. It is about bone structure. The breed standard indirectly creates this bone structure. Grumpy Cat got her grumpy expression accidentally. The Persian was given hers by breeders.
By contrast the traditional Persian has always retained that oh-so-important sweet expression. It comes naturally. I don’t have to write anymore on this. The conclusions are obvious.
Here is Crystalline a trad. Persian in Holland:
Think about how messed up bred dogs are too. Like pugs. They only live 10 years and are so round and flat faced it almost makes them incompetent as dogs doing what dogs usually do. Yes the flat faced persians are a step away from this. Shorter less healthy lives. Another home goal for humanity and the CFA. Doorknobs. How can they ignore all this. Well either way, there’s some big ignoring going on within the CFA – why of course by definition makes them ignorant. Ignoring leads to ignorance. You can’t champion an unhealthy cat without a many layers of ignorance leading up to it.