A robust and powerful cat with a rich, short, easy care coat and a calm nature, the British Shorthair is a favorite in Britain, where it originated, and throughout the world. Its genes have contributed good qualities to many other breeds.
Did you know? The word tabby comes from the name of the old quarter of Baghdad, al Attabiya. Silk fabric patterned in black and white and known as tabbi in the West was once made there.
History
Perhaps the oldest of the English breeds and one of the least altered, the British Shorthair traces its ancestry from the domestic cat of Rome, which became established in Britain during the time of the Roman Empire. This breed was first prized for its physical strength and hunting ability, but soon became equally valued for its gentle nature, endurance and loyalty. It is still a robust and healthy breed with none of the problems that some of the greatly modified breeds encounter. Because the original color was blue, the British Shorthair was at one time known as the British Blue. When other colors, such as cream appeared, the name was simply changed to British Shorthair.
Although it was one of the first breeds to be shown in Britain late last century, it remained comparatively rate in the USA until about 1964, when it was recognized for championship competition there. A similar European breed, derived from Chartreux and British Shorthairs, is called the European Shorthair, but it is judged to the British Shorthair standard. There are two very distinct head types in the European Shorthair breed, according to whether Chartreux or British Shorthair predominated in the pedigree, and this makes judging difficult.
Description
The British Shorthair is a medium to large cat with compact, well developed body and a full, broad chest. Its broad, round, massive head is set on a short, thick neck. The face and underlying bone structure are also rounded, as is the forehead, which is slightly flat on top of the head and should not slope. The medium sized nose is broad and straight with the nose leather in keeping with the coat color. The chin is firm and in line with the nose and upper lip, and the muzzle is well developed with a definite stop behind large, round whisker pads. The large, round eyes are level and wide set, and come in copper. The medium sized ears are broad at the base, with rounded tips.
The strong legs are short, well proportioned and heavily boned, with large, firm, round paws and paw pads that harmonize with the coat color. The tail is medium and thick and tapers to a rounded tip.
The short, thick, single coat is dense and resilient. A weekly combing to remove dead hair is all that is needed to keep it looking good, although many owners have a repertoire of tricks to enhance the appearance for show purposes.
The national cat of the British Isles, the British Shorthair, is the result of selective breeding of the best examples of native street cats. It probably stems originally from the first domestic cats that arrived in Britain with the Roman legions in the first century AD. As a pedigreed variety, the British Shorthair (or the English cat) was recognized from the very start. The early breeders of British shorthaired cats, were, for some reason, usually male and from the north of England. Now the British Shorthair is the third largest group of registered pedigreed cats in the United Kingdom and popular throughout the world.
It is bred in all the majow color and pattern groups, although to a lesser extent than the American Shorthair, and includes a Siamese pattern. All British Shorthairs have a compact, well balanced and powerful body. The chest is full and broad, legs are short and strong with large, rounded paws, the tail is thich at the base and rounded at the tip. Of the British, European and American Shorthairs, the British has the most rounded head. The ears are small and set wide apart, the cheeks are round, the chin firm, and the nose short and broad.
Like its non pedigreed ancestors and contemporaries, the British Shorthair is a street wise, muscular cat whose characteristic placidity enables it to adapt happily to life indoors. Its intelligent yet phlegmatic nature makes it a solid and dependable feline companion.
Varieties
The British Shorthair comes in all colors and patterns, except solid chocolate, solid lilac and colorpoint. The tabby pattern is commonly seen in all colors in the classic, mackerel, ticked or spotted tabby form. The classic tabby pattern is discussed in the American Shorthair entry. Mackarel tabbies have narrow penciling of a darker shade all over the body, with rings on the chest and tail and even bars on the legs. In the ticked tabby, each hair is ticked with bands of the shades of the ground and contrast colors, and the cat must have at least one distinct dark necklaces. The spotted tabby has spots instead of stripes or pencil markings. The spots should not run together, except for a dorsal stripe running the length of the body and tail. The tail and legs are barred.
Some of the popular color and pattern combinations for the British Shorthair include:
British Black
All the essential characteristics of the British Shorthair type are often seen at their peak in the Black. This is because it was one of the earliest British Shorthair breeds to be selectively bred from the very best of British street cats in the 1800s. It was also one of the first to be shown at the first national cat show in 1871 at Crystal Palace, London.
The top rated pedigreed Black should have a dense black coat from hair root to tip, with no hint of browning, stray white hairs, patches or tabby markings. This provide a striking backdrop for the large, round, deep copper eyes with absolutely no green. Blacks are often used in breeding programs to improve the type of other Shorthair breeds, particularly Tortoiseshell and Tortie and White.
The densely colored, short fur of the British Black Shorthair is inherited from ancestors reputed to be the familiar of witches, and the butt of superstition and legend during the Dark Ages and medieval times.
Black: glossy jet black with each hair an even tone from the root to the tip (no white hairs). The nose leather and paw pads are black and the eyes are brilliant copper.
British Black Breed Information
Coat – short, thich, fine
Eyes – round, copper, no green
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads black
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British White
Pure white condensed into the stocky build of the British Shorthair is the epitome of feline luxury and perfection. British White Shorthairs are universally admired, highly valued, and quite rare, although they have been bred since the 1800s.
There are three varieties with different eye colors. Blue eyed Whites may rarely be prone to deafness. In trying to breed out this defect by crossing with orange eyed cats, an odd eyed variety with one eye of each color was created.
Unfortunately, these cats sometimes suffer deafness in the ear on the blue eyed side. Orange eyed varieties are therefore the most commonly seen.
A British White Shorthair with a pristine coat is hard to breed and therefore not very common, A pure white non-pedigree might look very like a pedigreed shorthair, but it is more likely to have green eyes, rather than copper, blue, or one of each color.
British White Breed Information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, clear blue, orange to copper, or one of each
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather, and paw pads pink
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Cream
The occasional occurence of a cream colored kitten in tortoiseshell litter towards the end of the 1800s provided the motivation to try to produce a Cream pedigree. Some tortoiseshell parentage is necessary to produce the required rich shade of buttermilk, which made it difficult to produce consistently pale coats with no redness or obvious tabby markings. The result was that the bred was not officially recognized until the 1920s and not fully established until the 1950s. Sometimes tabby markings become more pronounced in very hot or very cold weather. The ideal is cream haired to the roots, with no patches of white.
British Cream Grand Champion, Miletree Owain Glyndwr, has only the faintest shadow of darker markings, and a gloriously soft toned coat color.
British Bream Breed Information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes - round, deep gold to orange and copper
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads pink
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Blue
The Blue is the most popular of British Shorthair breeds. Kittens often display tabby markings, but these usually disappear after six to eight months. Because the breed is long established, from the earliest programs in the 1800s, Blues tend to be good examples of the Shorthair type: broad, muscular and good natured. Occasional injections of Black shorthairs and blue longhairs into breeding programs have preserved the distinctive slate blue coat.
A round cheeked British Blue’s hazy blue grey coat contrasts with big orange eyes.
Blue : light blue (lighter shades preferred) and an even tone from the nose to the tip of the tail. The nose leather and paw pads are blue and the eyes are copper.
British Blue Breed Information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, copper, orange or deep gold
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads blue grey
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Chocolate
The warm, dark chocolate coloration comes from the introduction of the chocolate gene from longhaired colorpoints into the British Shorthair breeding program. The coat can be any shade of rich chocolate but it should be evenly toned, without any white, shading or marking.
Despite the British shorthair’s reputation for being stolid and reliable, this Chocolate shows the lively intelligence for which the breeds are also known.
British Chocolate Breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, deep gold, orange to copper
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads brown or pink
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Lilac
The Lilac, a soft toned blue grey with a pinkish sheen to it, is a recently introduced, dilute form of the chocolate. The gene responsible for the dilution produces hairs in which the pigmentation is collected together in clumps, and microscopic areas of hair have no pigment at all. The dilute color therefore has less depth and intensity than a pure solid color. Lilac parents only produce kittens of the same color, unless they carry cinnamon, so once established, Lilacs are easy to keep on producing.
The stocky, muscular build that distinguishes the British Shorthair from its European and American counterparts can be clearly seen in this Lilac.
British Lilac breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, rich gold to orange or copper
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads pale grey
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Bi-Color
There are many bi-colored cats on the streets of Britain, but the pedigree version must have well balanced, symmetrical and clearly defined bands of solid color and white. The colored areas can be black, blue, red, cream, chocolate or lilac and in the perfect pedigree, contain no flecks of other colors or any tabby markings. It is also important for the show cat to have the white area covering the nose and lower part of the face, neck and shoulders, chest and forepaws – but over no more than half of the total body area.
The mash over the ears and three quarters of the face that is suck an important feature in the show Bi-Color, suits the rounded features of the British Shorthair very well
British Bi-Color breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, gold to orange and copper
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads pink
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Tortie and White
This variation of the Bi-Color has tortoiseshell in place of the solid color areas. In America, these are Calico cats, called after the popular printed cotton fabric. The tortoiseshell element can be bright black and red or dilute colors. As with the solid color and white, the shite areas should extend over no more than half of the body. Tortie and Whites are quite difficult to breed to the preferred symmentry for successful showing.
British Shorthairs also come in tortoiseshell without white in mingled shades of red and black, as shown, or the dilute bleu cream shades.
The Tortie and White shorthair comes in delightful dilute versions such as this softly dappled Blue Tortie and White.
Tortoiseshell and white (calico): bold patches of black and red on a white body (the three colors should be in roughly equal amounts; a blaze is desirable down the nose and under the chin). The nose leather is black or red, the paw pads are blue or pink, or a combination of the two, and the eyes are brilliant copper. The tortoiseshell and white combination occurs only on females.
British Tortie and White breed information
Coat – short, thick and fine
Eyes – round, orange to copper
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads and/or black
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Tabby
Teh tabby gene is a forceful one, passed on from the wild species from which the European domestic cat has evolved, and familiar in many a non pedigree. The tabby markings of a show cat, however, must conform to very exact standards, and most importantly of all, be balanced on both sides of the body. There are three main patterns, the classic tabby, the more markedly striped mackarel, and the spotted. Both have a trio of dark lines running along the spine and distinctive, evenly spaced rings arounf the neck, tail and legs. The classic, however, has dark spirals of color on its flanks, a winged shape over the shoulders, and a spotted belly.
Tabby colors range from the thick cut marmalade variety of red on red, the Brown (the Brown classic is also described as marbled or blotched) and Silver, to the softer dilutes of Blue and Cream.
An alert side profile shows the superb mix of colors in a Tortie Silver tabby, and the shortish but active tail characteristic of the shorthair.
The black on silver coloring of the silver spotted tabby shows up the tabby markings to dramatic effect, especially the evenly spaced rings on tail and legs.
Note the well defined facial markings of this classic red tabby – the lines running down from the corners of the eyes, and the M shape on the brows.
A Tortie Tabby British Shorthair combines the rich coloring of the tortoiseshell with the distinctive stripes of the tabby.
British Tabby breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round. Classic Tabby : gold, orange to copper; Silver : green to hazel
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads brick red (and/or black for Silver Tabby)
Temperament – companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Colorpointed
Careful outcrossing of British Shorthairs to colorpoint Persians resulted in the recent development of the British Shorthair Colorpointed. A certain over indulgence of hair took a bit of ironing out through breeding programs, but today’s British Shorthair colorpointed has all the right characteristics of type, with a short, dapper fur coat and sturdy build. The cat come in the same versions of colorpointed as the Siamese, including seal, chocolate, lilac, red and cream. The most recent colors to be accepted are cinnamon and fawn points. All versions have big, round, saucer like blue eyes, set against the colorpointed mask. The colorpointed features – mask, ears, paws and tail – should be clearly defined in good examples of the breed, and any shading in the body color should tone in with the point color.
Classic British Build combines with delicate Siamese markings on a British Shorthair Lilac colorpointed.
British Colorpointed Breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, blue
Other features – round tipped ears, short nose, big round paws, nose leather and paw pads to tone in with point color
Grooming – easy, regular combing
Temperament - companionable, independent, freedom loving
British Tipped
Like the Longhaired Persian Chinchilla, the British Tipped shorthairs have a faint dusting of another color right at the tips of their predominantly white fur, and at the point of their tails. They also share the classic Chinchilla characteristic of nose and eyes fetchingly outlines in black. The tipping (or chichillation) – which can be black, blue, red, cream, chocolate, lilac or tortoiseshell colors – is such a mere suggestion that it gives a sense of iridescence when the cat moves. The effect may be concentrated in one or two areas to give a ghost of a patch on the flanks or back, or rings on the legs.
An outstanding feature of the Black and Golden tipped British Shorthairs is their brilliant green eye color. The Golden tipped, unlike the other British tipped, has a rich golden apricot undercoat with black tipping. The tipped colorations developed as a result of complex interbreeding of cats with Silver genes, that determined the undercoat color, with blues and smokes. The non agouti version of the tipped effect produces the British Smoke, which appears to be a self or plain colored cat until the hair is pushed back to see the startling silver undercoat. British smokes are also bred in the same wide color range.
Sparkling white dusted with black gives an ethereal shimmer to the coat of this British Black tipped shorthair.
The golden tipped british shorthair is in fact gold with black tipping. This kitten has the well defined eyes that are characteristic of tipped varieties.
British Tipped Breed information
Coat – short, thick, fine
Eyes – round, copper to gold, green in black, golden tipped
Grooming – light combing
Temperament – companionable, freedom loving
Blue Cream : the two colors cover the entire body in softly mingled patches (a blaze is desirable down the nose and under the chin, and a solid color on the legs, face or feet is a fault). The nose leather and paw pads are blue or pink, or mixed blue and pink and the eyes are copper. The blue cream combination occurs only on females, and blue cream kittens may look like plain blues at first. Blue and white bicolor, mainly white with a certain percentage of distinct, unbrindled patches of blur distributed all over the body, a white blaze on the face is desirable. The nose leather and paw pads are blue or pink and the eyes are brilliant copper.
Red mackerel tabby: the ground color is rich red with the lips, chin and sides of feet darker, the mackerel pattern is a rich, vibrant, mahogany red. The forehead is marked with a characteristics “M” or frown lines. The nose leather is brick red, the paw pads are deep red and the eyes are copper.
Blue spotted tabby: the ground color, including lips and chin, is pale bluish ivory with fawn overtones; spotted tabby markings are deep blue and the forehead is marked with a characteristic “M” or frown lines. The nose leather and paw pads are blue or pink and the eyes are copper.
Cream spotted tabby: the ground color, including lips and chin, is pale cream, the spotted tabby markings are darker cream, but not too dark, the forehead is marked with a characteristic “M” or frown lines. The nose leather and paw pads are pink and the eyes are copper.
Brown spotted tabby: the ground color, including lips and chin, is rich coppery brown, the spotted tabby markings are dense black, the forehead is marked with a characteristic “M” or frown lines. The hind legs are black from the paw to the heel. The nose leather is brick red, the paw pads are black and the eyes are copper.
Temperament
The British Shorthair has a calm, gentle nature and is a loyal pet. Although it can be aloof, it becomes devoted to its owners, and makes a wonderful, undemanding companion that fits in well with family life. The female is an excellent mother.
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