“Long day” breeders

the estrus (heat) of the female cat is unpredictable, and that there is no “regularity” involved in cats. Let’s qualify that observation with this bit of information: as a general rule, the female cat is more likely to be in heat when the days are lengthening—that is, after late December, when the amount of daylight increases with every passing day. (This is true in the northern hemisphere.

In the southern hemisphere, days begin to lengthen in late June.) Veterinarians speak of cats as “long day” breeders, since the females (and the females of several other species) are more likely to be in heat from (roughly) January through September.

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Persian

Say “Persian cat” and most people think of something longhaired, elegant and quiet. And so they are, although they probably aren’t from Persia.

Their longhaired ancestors were brought to Europe from Turkey around 1520, and Europeans (and later Americans) were taken with these lovely creatures. (One proof of their popularity in the United States: there are more Persians registered with the Cat Fanciers’ Association than any other breed.)

The Persian (or Longhair, as the British call this breed) is fairly stout–bodied and has the trademark “pushed-in” nose, round face, round eyes and soft voice. The Persian is the quintessential lap cat, even though Persians surprise their owners with their mousing ability.

Their long hair is beautiful but needs regular grooming with a fine-toothed comb, particularly if the cat is allowed to wander outside. British (but not American) breeders consider the various Persian color types to be separate breeds.

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Longhairs, in general

Genetically, short hair is dominant in cats, meaning that the default setting for the hair of domestic cats is short, just as it was for their wild ancestors. But there is a recessive gene that results in long hair, and the breeding of longhaired cats was a fairly simple matter of getting together males and females who shared the recessive gene.

Where exactly this first occurred isn’t known for certain, though it was probably in central Asia (which would include Persia, the country we now call Iran). We have it on good authority that some of these longhairs reached France and Italy sometime in the 1500s, and from there they reached other countries in Europe.

No one tried very hard to be “scientific” about naming cats, so longhaired cats might be called Russian, French, even Chinese. (Obviously “Persian” was one name that caught people’s fancy and stuck.) Europeans, especially aristocrats who could afford to buy exotic beasts, were enchanted by longhaired cats, as are millions of people today.

In the descriptions of the longhaired breeds that follow, note that many of them began as longhaired mutations of an existing shorthair breed; for example, the Balinese are descended from longhaired kittens that showed up in litters of normally shorthaired Siamese.

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After Albert, what?

English monarch (1837–1901), but sadly she spent much of it mourning for her dear husband, the handsome and high-minded Albert. But she wasn’t without affection, and she continued to dote on the cats she and Albert had always adored. Her very special cat was White Heather, who outlived her famous mistress but continued to be a pampered resident of Buckingham Palace in London.

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“Van” cats

Turkish Van, was named for an area around Lake Van in southeastern Turkey. In recent years, the name Van has been used to describe a cat (of any breed) that has the coloring of the Turkish Van: mostly white, but with a few patches of another color, usually the entire tail and part of the face.

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Feline puberty

In animal terms, reaching “puberty” means a creature is able to reproduce. Female cats hit puberty between seven and twelve months of age, while toms usually reach puberty around nine months. There are some interesting variations: indoor cats hit puberty later than outdoor cats, purebreds are later than mixed-breeds and Persians and Himalayans are later than most of the other breeds.

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Calico

black and orange.

Calico cats, however, also have a lot of white—in fact, a mix of white, black and orange (or cream) in clearly defined patches—whereas tortoiseshells are black all over with the orange appearing as highlights all over. Put another way, calicos’ coats give the impression of being stitched together from various large scraps of white, black and orange.

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“Lilac” and “apricot”

Here are two other coat color names that, like blue, aren’t meant to be taken quite literally. Lilac, which has also been called “lavender,” is basically a beige-gray or a light brown-gray but is distinctive in having (barely) a hint of pinkish purple. (The colors purple and brown are not that different, as any artist would tell you.)

“Apricot” is a cream color that (again, barely) has a hint of orange-red. Neither lilac nor apricot seems to occur in nature; they are the result of selective breeding.

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Oh, lecherous males!

tomcats, but occasionally neutered toms will do it as well.

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“Blue” (but not really) and “ginger”

cat shows, there are no gray cats, only blue ones. (As far as that goes, no human or cat is naturally “red,” yet when we refer to a cat or person having “red” hair, people know exactly what we mean.) Likewise ginger is applied to orangey-coated cats, even though real ginger (the spice, that is) is brown, not orange.

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Tomcat “on hold”

Tomcats have a reputation for being promiscuous, but in fact an adult tom, unneutered, never has sex on his mind (unlike male humans). His entire reproductive system stays “on hold”—until, that is, he hears the inimitable caterwaul of a female cat in heat or picks up her scent (usually from her urine somewhere nearby). Either via the ear or nose, or both, suddenly Placid Tom turns into Randy Tom, and he won’t rest until he locates the source of the “heat signal.”

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Tortoiseshell

True tortoiseshell (the shell of an actual turtle, that is) is black with attractive highlights of orange or cream. It has been used for centuries in making furniture inlays and ornamental articles, such as hairbrushes.

The name has long been applied to cats whose coats resemble tortoiseshells—that is, black cats with highlight patches of orange or cream. These beautiful cats are often referred to as “torties.” People often confuse the terms tortoiseshell and calico, but the two are not the same.

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Tipping

When a cat has a “tipped” coat, the individual hairs are not the same color from root to tip. Rather, the tips are of a contrasting color compared to the rest of the hair. If the tipping is light, the cat is a Chinchilla. If the tipping is medium, the cat is Shaded. And if the tipping is heavy, the cats are Smokes.

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Pasteur’s admiration

Science and human health both took a great leap forward thanks to French chemist Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), who made world-changing discoveries about germs and vaccinations. Pasteur had a profound effect on animal health as well, finding methods to prevent rabies and other lethal illnesses.

Probably more than any other individual, Pasteur helped mankind understand the importance of cleanliness in preventing the spread of disease. Naturally he had great admiration for the cleanest of animals, the cat.

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The unicolor

Some cats are consistently the same color all over—that is, each hair is the same color from tip to root, and hairs all over the body are the same color. Among cat fanciers, this is referred to as the “self coat” pattern. It is very attractive, but so are the various patterns listed next.

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Vasectomy

puberty. The neutered tom is castrated, whereas a vasectomy only makes the tom sterile. A neutered tom won’t usually roam, fight or spray urine, but a tom with a vasectomy will continue to do all those things.

The obvious question: Why would a cat owner opt for a vasectomy instead of neutering? Some would reply that a vasectomy is more “natural,” since the tom remains more fully male in his behavior. The happy owners of neutered toms would reply that “natural” isn’t always a good thing, especially for a house pet.

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“Mackerel tabby”

mackerel fish, which is striped. (We can safely assume that a mackerel tabby cat would eagerly eat mackerel, also—as would any other cat.)

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“Classic tabby”

As you might guess from the name, the tabby cat is so named because of the coat pattern that people associate with the word tabby. The cat’s coat has clearly defined bands on the body. There are also bars of this darker color on the face, and there is a defined M-shape of the darker color on the cat’s forehead.

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Neutering: the younger the better

You can have your male cat neutered any age past six months, and the general rule is, the earlier the better. Once a tomcat has reached sexual maturity and started roaming and fighting with other males, there is no assurance that neutering will completely eliminate those behaviors. A tom who is neutered before he is eight months old never has the opportunity to roam, spray or fight viciously with other males, so he makes a thoroughly desirable pet.

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The true meaning of “tabby”

In times past, “tabby” could refer to any house cat, though this name was more often used to refer to a female (as in “toms and tabbies”). Later it came to mean a cat whose coat showed bands, or stripes, of a darker color than the base color. Strictly speaking, there is no cat breed named “tabby,” but, as you will see in the following entries, the word tabby is used among cat fanciers to refer to several types of coat patterns.

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The infamous “spraying”

urine not only in the litter box but also on walls, drapes and darn near anything. They are either sexually aroused or marking their territory, or both, and the sprayed urine can make a home uninhabitable. The solution: have the cat neutered.

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“Brush,” not “bush”

Maine Coons to the practically brushless Siamese. Fans of longhaired cats cite the long, thick fur on the tails as one of the most appealing features.

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Don’t call it “mane”

lion its distinctive look, has its counterpart in several longhaired breeds of cats. In house cats, however, this thick growth of hair around the face is not a mane but a ruff. (Remember that in the 1500s, a ruff was a very fancy type of lacy starched collar worn by people of the upper classes.) Fans of Persians consider the ruff to be one of this breed’s most attractive features.

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The cynical Mr. Twain

One of America’s best-loved authors was Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain. Though known as a humorist, Twain had a cynical view of human beings. He was fond of cats, and you can see both emotions in this quote: “If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.” Twain gave his own family cats some truly off-the-wall names (Blatherskite, for example), and he also gave the world one of its funniest cat stories, the chapter “The Cat and the Painkiller” in his classic novel Tom Sawyer.

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Double or single coat

black cats. A double coat has long guard hairs and a thicker undercoat. Naturally the double coat looks thicker and more plush than the single coat.

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