Picture of Flat-Faced Tortie Smoke Persian Female Cat

by Michael Broad · February 3, 2020

This is a classic Helmi Flick studio photograph of SC Surreal’s Trick of Treat ‘Fruit Loops’. She was 8-months-of-age at the time of the photograph. She was bred by Leesa and Mike Altschul. Apparently she behaved well in the studio (‘Gold Star Kitty’) which is at the home of Helmi and Ken Flick. I have been in the studio. The Flicks also have a dismantlable photographic study which they take to cat shows. The studio is set up in a side room during the show. This cat has brilliant copper coloured eyes as required by the breed standard for tortie Persians (CFA).

Helmi Flick’s photo at her home studio of SC Surreal’s Trick or Treat “Fruit Loops”, an 8 month old Tortie Smoke Persian Female from Leesa and Mike Altschul! The picture is protected by copyright please note.

From my observation of the Flicks taking photographs of show cats, the Persian, as expected, is generally inclined to be fairly static. They require some active encouragement from Ken Flick (the wrangler) to animate them. They often end up plonked down as you see in the photo looking at the camera.

The photos of animated and active cats are often better. The cat breeds more likely to ‘perform’ in front of the camera are, for example, the Bengals and breeds that are members of the Siamese family such as Javanese and Oriental Shorthairs. Abyssinians are good too. There are others.

This is not to criticise the Persian as they are very popular house cats. There is a benefit to cat guardians if their cat is less active than usual. They are less demanding and more suited an indoor lifestyle. They are less likely to get into trouble and injured. The Persian makes a good companion but you have to help them with grooming as the fur is too long for them to manage alone.

This cat is a flat-faced extreme Persian. They are popular but their appearance polarises opinion as it is unnatural and it causes health issues such as poorer breathing (read about other health issues). In 2018, I reported that United Airlines banned Persians and last month Virgin Australia also banned flat-faced Persians from their airline because their health is not up to flying they decided. The company does not want to take the risk of the cats falling ill on flights due to breathing issues.

I hate to say it but in Germany the flat-faced Persian cannnot be bred because they consider the breeding of these cats ‘torture breeding’. Sorry to be critical.

SOME MORE ON THE MODERN PERSIAN: