Corinne Zanier shares her point of view on the European with us: “When you mention the European cat, the first word you think of is balance. And when you read the standard and carefully study the terms used to describe the breed, you see that everything contributes to making of it a perfectly balanced cat.”
“This cat is of an average to large size, neither too small nor too large: its build is balanced. Its shape of its head is rounded, yet not round, its nose is of average length, its eyes are neither round nor stretched, but almond shaped. There is therefore no over-typed head. The length of its hair is short, yet not too short, otherwise it could not lay on the body. The undercoat must not be too abundant. The coat can only display natural colours and markings. Everything works to put the European in the middle of the feline norms. And this may be the main reason to the lack of success the European is facing, as it is very hard to find the proper balance.
See our picture slide show on the European.
The balance is its appearance corresponds to the balance in its “head”: neither too confident nor too shy, neither hyper active nor apathetic. This cat is definitely for aesthetes. Everything goes by hint, the search for the absolute balance, the perfect feline.”“The European can only be destined for real fanciers, people who don’t care about showing off and fashions. Breeding and selecting Europeans, means looking for the feline ideal, balanced and classic. At the frontier between the domestic cat and the wild feline, the European likes comfort and the contact with man, yet remains a predator, an elegant and silent athlete.
“French breeders pay a high price for the cultural exception represented by the European, a breed with which the don’t try to show off, create a new breed or sell numerous kittens – indeed, it’s hard to sell European kittens. And it’s also hard to judge in cat shows. Indeed, the breed displays no particularly typical, easily recognisable character. What’s more, when the breed reaches the highest steps of the podium, the breeders of more typed breeds just can’t understand it, because their own breeds – being more typed – are supposed to be more difficult to breed, hence more worthy of the honours. But the public is always happy to see a European win.”
“In the end, the European is a rare cat under every respect: rare in the number of homologated individuals, rare in cat shows, rare finally because of the choice made by those breeders who decided to work on quality rather than in quantity. This rarity can be a disadvantage, yet it also has its positive aspects, as it can avoid the breed to be over mated and crossed, and lose its originality. As it unfortunately too often the case with fashionable breeds.”“I tell you, this cat is really an exception, under his looks of house cat!”
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