The word ‘chinchilla’ is used a lot in the cat fancy and it is associated with Persian cats. Usually not the extreme bred, flat-faced variety but the traditional doll-faced types. But there appears to be a certain flexibility in the meaning and use of the word which I have illustrated in the infographic. In essence ‘chinchilla’ refers to a type of coat in the cat world, specifically the cat fancy. The name has been taken from the name of a South American rodent with the same coat.
Infographic summarises some Persian cat coat, eye and oral health problems
What one takes away from this 2019 study is that the modern (contemporary flat-faced) Persian cat’s health could and should be improved with a change to the breed standard to neutralise the extreme facial anatomy and normalise a skull and facial features which are nearer to what we expect of the domestic cat. This …