British Shorthair and Longhair
 

The breed probably evolved from house cats introduced into Britain about 2000 years ago by the Romans.

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Shorthairs first appeared at cat shows at the beginning of the 19th century and then lost out to the 'Persian' and 'Angora' cats. In the 1930s a resurgence of the breed began and selective breeding produced cats of a good type. British Shorthairs suffered a setback during the scond world war, and in the postwar years very few pedigree stud males remained and the breed suffered after out-crosses were made with Shorthairs of foreign type.

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In the 1950s serious work was done to restore the breed to it's present exacting standard.

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The typical British Shorthair has a sweet, gentle, nature and makes an undemanding, quietly voiced pet. Calm, intelligent and well suited to an indoor life. Although it has a short coat, it is dense and requires regular grooming.

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In the early days solid colours were preferred, the most sought after being the British Blue. Now almost all colours are accepted including mackerel, classic and spotted patterns, silver and gold with patterns, shaded and shell and cats with Siamese type points in various colours.

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The standard requires cats of a cobby type, short tail, round head with broad rounded forehead, small ears not set too high, and large round eyes, a good chin and short straight nose with a stop. The coat should be crisp to the touch, short and dense.

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Please click here for the FIFe breed standard