Native country : Great Britain
History
From rags to richesIn the late 19th century, the Cheshire Cat of Lewis Carroll's (1865) Alice in Wonderland was depicted as a British Shorthair tabby. Around the same period, English breeders, including Harrison Weir, had begun selectively breeding the most beautiful street cats, which were shown for the first time at London's Crystal Palace in 1871. These cats were called British Shorthairs to distinguish them from foreign and oriental breeds and from longhaired breeds such as the Angora. The British Shorthair is the counterpart of the European Shorthair and the American Shorthair.In 1901, the British Cat Club was formed. The first British Shorthairs (mostly blues) resembled the Chartreux. As a result, the two breeds were crossed, to such an extent that the F.I.Fe decided to combine the two and recognize just one breed. But, in 1977, the F.I.Fe once again separated the two breeds and prohibited crossing of the two breeds. Following World War II, British Shorthairs were crossed with Persians to add mass and to fill out the British Shorthairs silhouette, as well as to increase the range of coat colors. New patterns, such as colorpoint, were recognized. In the United States, where the breed was crossed with American Shorthairs, the British Shorthair was recognized by the C.F.A. in 1980. The most recent standard established by T.I.C.A. was published in 1993. The French F.F.F. recognized the breed in 1979. British Shorthairs are extremely popular.
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