‘Punch face’ is an unfortunate term to describe the modern Persian cat. The term is based on violence which makes it innapropriate. This is a punch face cat:
Below is an alternative image. The Persian cat in the image below is more a flat-faced Persian while the one above has some doll face characteristics:
‘Punch face’ is a term coined in India for the flat-faced Persian. The picture illustrates the origin of the terminology. It is well known that the Persian has been bred to extreme resulting in a transformation of the face from the sweet ‘doll face’ to the what is termed the ‘peke-face’. People in the cat fancy also call extreme breeding ‘ultra typing’. I guess this refers to the ‘type’ of the cat which in turn refers to whether the cat is bred to type per the breed stadard. The standard sets an extreme target as to facial appearance driving breeders to create the punch face look.
The motivation for cat associations (managed by cat breeders) to make it obligatory to breed cats like this is the same motivation that drives too many women to become addicted to plastic surgery. It is an addiction to ‘refine’ appearance. It is a fatally misguided thought process as it is not refining a cat’s apppearance at all but making it worse. There is the same blindness with regard to plastic surgery.
Have you seen elderly women in plastic surgery clinics after surgery looking admiringly at themselves in a mirror? Their faces are grotesque and clearly cut to pieces but all they see is success and instant youth.
The term ‘punch face’ only applies to the Persian cat and its derivative the Exotic Shorthair because these are the only breeds with the extreme, flat face. In fact it typically applies to the Persian but I have to include the shorthaired version, the Exotic. In India they love the Persian. It is their most popular pedigree cat. In fact most purebred cats are unavailable in India. The old breeds such as the Siamese and Persian are available. Things are changing however as India develops a cat fancy.
[box background=#FF8C00 align=center border=true border_rule=’border-css’ border_radius=4 color=#000 margin=1 padding=1 shadow=1 style=’style-rules’ width=80]Persian Cat Breeding
Persian Cats[/box]
