breed standard

Ragdoll by Tetsu

Ragdoll breed standard – an illustrated summary

I won’t try and simply duplicate the breed standard of a cat association – no point. The first thing I have done is to include one of Helmi Flick’s fabulous photographs. I really like discussions about breed standards when there is an image of the breed in question in front of me. It is one …

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Sphynx Cat photographed by Helmi Flick

Sphynx breed standard – summary plus illustration

This is an illustrated version of the breed standard for the purebred Sphynx cat. This an interesting, intelligent cat that is nice to touch and hold – the feel of warm, silky chamois leather. The photograph is by the celebrated cat photographer, Helmi Flick. It is protected by copyright, which I ask you to respect, …

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Turkish Angora

Turkish Angora breed standard – illustrated summary

I use the CFA Turkish Angora breed standard as my guide in writing this summary. I also use my own words, which are less formal and I don’t make an attempt to cover the entire standard as this is meant to be an overview of the cat and how she should look when looked at critically. …

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Japanese Bobtail van pattern

Japanese Bobtail breed standard – comprehensive and illustrated

Japanese Bobtail Breed Standard – Photograph of Joudama © Helmi Flick. The markings (words and lines) on the photograph were made by MikeB at PoC I felt the need to see if the mathematical nature of the standard worked – it does. Helmi Flick has kindly allowed me to mark up her photographs if it …

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NFC (Norwegian Forest Cat) head is an equilateral triangle

‘Modified wedge’ terminology used in the cat fancy (infographic)

This is an infographic on the well-used cat fancy phrase ‘modified wedge’. It is used all the time in cat association breed standards. I see it used a lot in the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) breed standards and I’ve extracted some examples for the infographic below. The cat fancy administrators were drawn into using the …

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Maine Coon muzzle in relation to CFA breed standard

Infographic on extreme Maine Coon muzzle versus Grand Champion muzzle

The Maine Coon muzzle is a part of this cat breed’s anatomy which cuts it out from the pack of other cat breeds and tells us that we are looking at a Maine Coon. There are other appearance features which achieve this including the overall size, the lynx-tipped ears, the shaggy, medium-longhaired coat and sometimes …

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NFC (Norwegian Forest Cat) head is an equilateral triangle

Norwegian Forest Cat’s head should be an equilateral triangle (cf. Maine Coon)

According to the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) breed standard for the Norwegian Forest Cat (NFC) the head shape should be an ‘equilateral triangle’ “where all sides are of equal length as measured from the outside of the base of the ear to the point of the chin. The neck is short and heavily muscled.” An …

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Tear duct overflow due to a deformed drainage system in a flat-faced Persian who also seems to be suffering from a deformed mouth due to the same reason: extreme breeding

Hypocritical Cat Fanciers’ Association’s utterly confused breed standards

I don’t want to criticise the almighty Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), probably the most influential cat association on the planet but…they are hypocritical in a very fundamental way. It has to be stated until they do something about it. Yes, I am addressing that thorn in the flesh, long-term problem: the runny eyes, tear duct …

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Picture of a chubby-cheeked bicolor Exotic Shorthair cat

Pictures of cats: A chubby-cheeked bicolor Exotic Shorthair cat

This is a very interesting looking Exotic Shorthair cat. The standout feature other than the classic flat-face is the extraordinarily large chubby cheeks. They remind me of the cheeks of Russian bred British Shorthair cats. Why are the cheeks of this cat so large and rounded? We have to read the breed standard to try …

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Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.
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