Please enjoy reading about our lovely British Kitties.
"We would do well to look to the gutters for our education," wrote Moncrif in his History of cats in 1727. The nineteenth-century cat lover and painter Harrison Weir must have agreed with him, as he hand picked cats from the gutters of Great Britain to breed and show, thereby raising the common or garden alley cat to the rank of "British Shorthair". This terribly colonialist appellation was used at the time to refer to a variety of continental household cats, and was the cause of much confusion, until specific breeding programmes defined the precise standards for the British and European Shorthairs, according to morphological differences.
Nowadays the British Shorthair still has a slightly rugged look which betrays its common origins. It is a medium to large sized cat, with a sturdy muscular body, broad shoulders, short robust legs, and a deep rounded chest. The tail is thick at the base, and should be as long as two-thirds of the body. The head must not be too short, and is round, like the muzzle. The eyes are also round, and are orange, gold or copper-coloured: in case of the silver-coated cats, the eyes should be green, and white cats can be odd-eyed.
The eyes are set quite wide apart, accentuating the width of the nose, and there is a very slight stop between the nose and the well-defined forehead. The very thick, short hair covering the forehead gives it a rounded look. The ears are quite wide at the base, and quite small., with rounded tips. It's short, plush fur makes this cat look round and fluffy - most inviting to touch! With it's sweetly innocent, picture book face, it looks like a cuddly toy come to life.
