Picture of the round head and cheeks of a white Exotic Shorthair bred to extreme

This is an extreme version of the Exotic Shorthair. The way this breeder has bred this cat to extremities is by making the animal more rounded. This is seen in the cat's cheeks which are incredibly large and, yes, round in appearance. I've not seen an Exotic Shorthair with such rounded large cheeks. The appearance reminds me of a Russian bred British Shorthair. I'm going to conclude therefore that this cat is the creation of a Russian breeder.

Rounded head and cheeks of an extreme bred Exotic SH. Picture in public domain.

You can go to the breed standard to find out why this person decided to create such enormous cheeks. All the breed standards for this cat will be similar but I'll choose the Cat Fanciers' Association breed standard for the Exotic. It says that the cheeks should be "full". The head should be "round and massive". The face should be round with "round underlying bone structure". The word "round" is littered like confetti within the paragraph on the breed standard for the Exotic's head.

It is obvious, therefore, where this extreme version of the Exotic Shorthair comes from. We know that this breed is a short-haired version of the Persian. That's why you see this very flat face as well. This is the contemporary version of the Persian. To remind ourselves, the Persian cat was at one time, at the turn of the 20th century, a very standard looking domestic cat with long hair. The face back in those days of the Persian was fairly standard.

The general appearance of the Exotic should be of a "heavily boned, well-balanced cat with a sweet expression and soft round lines."

A contributing factor to this sweetness are the large round eyes. These are meant to mimic the eyes of a baby. And there's nothing more sweet to the eye than a baby (to some people). The coat should be plush and dense and the ears should also be round. I've never seen the word "round" used so much in a breed standard. As I said it's as if the word 'round' has has been thrown all over the page like confetti!