ABYSSINIAN CAT BREED
Abyssinian cat Breed
History
Abyssinian cat is a direct descendant of the sacred cats worshiped as the physical manifestations of the gods in the temples and palaces of the ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years ago. Abyssinians do look remarkably like the cats depicted in Egyptian murals and sculptures.
An Abyssinian named Zula was transported from Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) to England at the end of the Abyssinian War in 1868, according to Dr. Staples in his 1874 book, Cats, Their Points, Etc., but whether the cat was native to that area is subject to speculation. Recent genetic studies indicate that today’s Abyssinian may have descended from a breed found in Southeast Asia and the coast of the Indian Ocean. Abyssinians do resemble the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the progenitor of all domestic cats.
Since there’s no written evidence linking Zula with today’s breed, some breeders maintain that the original lines died out and the Abyssinian was recreated by British breeders. Undeniably, the breed was established and refined by early British fanciers until World War II decimated the breed, forcing British breeders to start over from scratch.
Two Abyssinians arrived in America in the early 1900s and were first exhibited in 1909. Active breeding of Abyssinians didn’t begin until the 1930s, but then breeders made up for lost time. Today, the Abyssinian is second only to the Siamese in popularity among the shorthaired breeds, according to the CFA’s registration totals.
General: A colorful cat with a distinctly ticked coat. Its distinctive ticked look comes from the combination of colors on each hair shaft.
Body: Well-balanced temperamentally and physically. Breeders report that the show trend has been toward a more tapered, elegant muzzle, and a slimmer, semi foreign body. Medium long, lithe, and graceful, showing well-developed muscular strength; conformation strikes a medium between the cobby and svelte types.
Head: Modified, slightly rounded wedge without flat planes; slight rise from bridge of nose to forehead; no break; muzzle not sharply pointed or square; chin neither receding nor protruding.
Ears: Alert, large, moderately pointed; broad and cupped at base.
Eyes: Almond-shaped, large, brilliant, expressive; neither round nor Oriental; accentuated by a fine dark line. Eye color Gold or Green.
Tail: Thick at base, fairly long and tapering.
Coat: Soft, silky, fine in texture; dense and resilient to the touch; lustrous sheen; medium in length with two or three dark bands of ticking.
Color: Ruddy, red (also called sorrel), blue, and fawn. In England, Australia, and New Zealand, a fifth color, silver, has been accepted.
Disqualify: White anywhere other than nostril, chin, and upper throat; abnormal tail; dark unbroken necklace; gray undercoat.
