Showing posts with label Long haired cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Long haired cats. Show all posts

Friday, 1 October 2021

Long domestic cat fur mainly exists because people like it

Long fur on domestic cats is non-functional. They don't need it. The longhaired cats and cat breeds would be better off with short fur if functionality was the sole reason for their anatomy. Long fur needs human intervention to keep it in good condition, to prevent it becoming matted. Matted fur leads to infections and infestations of the skin. Domestic cats often can't maintain their own coat if the fur is too long. The decorative Persian comes to mind. There have been some horror stories of matted Persians over the years. Note: this is a cross-post because it is an interesting topic.

Shorthaired cats in a colony in a warm place
Shorthaired cats in a colony in a warm place. Photo: Pixabay.


The Maine Coon has a medium-longhaired coat because they were barn cats living outside. The coats served a purpose. When a wild cat species has a long coat it is for a reason: they live in cold places. I am thinking of Pallas's cat and the snow leopard for instance. That's natural selection.

The very long fur on Persians is due to artificial selection (selective breeding). Human intervention is the main reason why domestic cats have long coats. It is about human preferences. Many people like domestic cats with long coats. This sustains them when under different circumstances they'd fade away and stop existing especially in warm countries such as in South America where a study supported this concept.


They say you rarely see longhaired feral cats. It is true. You might see them from time to time if they are new to the feral cat scene and strays. But long term feral cats are nearly always shorthaired for functional reasons: they can maintain their coat themselves.

Thursday, 27 October 2011

What is a Cymric cat?

A Cymric cat is a long haired Manx cat. It is therefore a tailless long haired cat of cobby body shape (conformation) with forelegs shorter than hind legs that can give the impression that it is leaning forwards.

Cymric cat - "Bear Butt" - Photo copyright Helmi Flick

The Manx cat has a long history of supposed natural development on the Isle of Man, which is in between England and Northern Ireland in the Irish Sea.

The Cymric beginnings are unclear. It is likely that the breed started through deliberate selective breeding in Canada in the 1960s. Either that or it happened spontaneously in a litter of Manx cats and breeding carried on from that start.

It is questionable whether a long haired version of an established cat breed should be made into a new breed rather than be categorized as the same breed with long hair.



The photo on this page is protected by copyright ©. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA).

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Long hair cats

These are the most popular long hair cats judged by a long running poll on this website, together with links to pages that have lots of great Helmi Flick photographs and lots of detail. The cats listed her have hair that is longer than short haired cats but the length will vary and some could better be described as medium-long haired.

Maine Coon
The 2nd most popular cat after the Siamese. This is an all American cat of distinction. Long and flexible, fine character and at the show cat level these are very impressive cats indeed. There is a wide range of coat colors and patterns. There are regrettably one or two health concerns with this breed, which is sad.

Persian
This cat breed is the 5th most popular on my site's poll. They used to say that the Persian was the most popular cat breed in the USA. I think that that is no longer true but I could be wrong. If I am correct it could be because of the transition to the flat face causing health problems. This cat has very long hair. The long hair gene is indicated by the letter l. It allows the hair to grow for a longer time so it becomes longer. Breeders like long hair to be soft and silky. The achieve this by selective breeding to bring into effect polygenes. These genes also create a fuller coat of fine texture. Exhibition long hair cats have particularly long hair. It is longer than that which is on randomly bred or naturally occurring long hair cats. Persian breeders say that this cat should be an indoor cat because of the long hair partly.

Ragdoll
This cat breed is 7th on the poll. Please note that there are about 70 cat breeds listed so 7th equates to a place in the top 10% of all mainstream cat breeds. The three most important things about this breed are (a) the breed originates in "ordinary" house cats and was developed from there and (b) the founding breeder, Ann Baker, a Californian, caused some upset by trying to retain rights to the breed (this is almost unique in the Cat Fancy) and (c) the Ragdoll cat character is like any other cat in terms of character but perhaps a little more laid back than some such as the Sphynx for example. This is a pointed long hair cat. This cat, although long haired, requires less maintenance as there is no undercoat (down hairs). This separates this cat out from some other long hair cats.

Himalayan
This breed is 9th in the poll. This is a long haired Persian called by a different name. Long hair cats need more maintenance generally.


Norwegian Forest Cat
This breed is 10th in the poll. This cat was and still is a standard domestic cat in Norway. In 1930 it was decided that this cat was too good looking to remain a mixed-breed cat. Stardom beckoned and the Norwegian Forest Cat became a purebred pedigree cat. There are some fantastic looking NFCs. They are built for the snow, cold and the forest. This means they are great tree climbers - fearless. This is one of the great long hair cats.

Long Hair cats to home page

Monday, 31 March 2008

Long-haired cat breeds


Photo by Dani of a traditional Persian

In addition to Long Haired Cat Breeds you've got medium-long haired cats and I'll include those in this discussion. The picture above is of Faolan, a truly fantastic Orange Traditional Persian cat who lives with Dani Rozeboom who runs the Cattery Yeri Shaes and who is a fine photographer as well as a website builder (superb websites). A talented woman surrounded by fabulous cats.

One cat comes straight to mind as a cat that has been bred with a round face, extremely stubby nose and sometimes incredibly long fur, the Ultra Persian. This is a cat that the experts say has to remain indoor otherwise his or her fur gets too messy. As for grooming, get a good set of grooming brushes and combs 'cus your goin to need 'em. Obviously, it is essential to groom a long-haired cat religiously. But this begs the question, is it natural for a cat to have such long hair?

If you look at all the small wild cats; two classics are the Scottish Wildcat and the American Bobcat and you see functional hair. Its length is medium, just enough to keep the cat warm and camouflaged by the tabby gene so she blends into the background for survival. That is totally normal.

The long-haired Scottish Fold is less well known than the shorthaired variant but arguably prettier
Owl-faced longhaired Scottish Fold kitten is a beauty. Photo: Irina Lyzhnikova (Ukraine)

The answer then it that it is not natural for a cat wild or domestic to have hair so long that the possessor of it, the cat, cannot maintain it on her own. Under these circumstances the hair becomes a burden for the cat but, yes, great to look at for the human. I don't get it myself.

So, at the top end of long-haired cat breeds we have the Ultra Persian. By 'ultra' I mean Persian cats breed to extreme both in the roundness of their faces and the length of their fur. The Doll Face (Traditional) Persian has long hair too but it is less long and more natural in length (or is that true?)

The next breeds that come to mind quickly is that gorgeous trio, the Maine Coon (one of the most popular), the Siberian and the Norwegian Forest Cat. Although the Maine Coon is the most popular of these (in part probably because this breed is American and America is the largest domestic cat market in the world by far and in part because this breed is lovely, except for perhaps health issues) the other two are also popular cats.

Their fur is more medium long and functional. All three needed long hair due to their origins. Maine in the USA has a cold climate in winter, Norway is very cold a lot of the time and, well, we know what Siberia is like.



Above: Faolan a Traditional Persian Cat of distinction and very handsome he is too. He's got male cat written all over him. Photograph is copyright Dani Rozeboom. You can see more of him here.

The above are the most popular long-haired cat breeds. What of the rest? In alphabetical order here they are (this list might not be totally inclusive but it is comprehensive):

American Bobtail. This cat has medium long hair and "semi-dense" short hair. So, there is a range of coat length for the American Bobtail.

American Curl. Once again this cat has a range of hair lengths from semi (medium) long to short. The fur is silky as there is no undercoat. You can see this clearly in the pictures of Helmi.

Balinese. A long-haired Modern Siamese cat. Modern Siamese have long elegant body conformation and small, long and bony heads.

Birman. Long-haired stocky cat. The hair is not a dense as the Persians.

Cymric. A long-haired tailless cat.

Himalyan. Another relation of the Persian, a shaded, pointed variety

Javanese. Semi-long hair but silky and lying close to the body so less noticeable.

Kurilian Bobtail. This cat breed can short-haired (KBS) and long-haired (KBL).

LaPerm. Can be short or long hair. Long curly coat due to a genetic mutation affecting the fur.

Maine Coon - famous semi-longhaired cat breed. The hair is not dense, quite thin, in fact, and uneven and sometimes shaggy looking. The whiskers can be impressively long and wild. The ears are lynx tipped, a famous characteristic of this cat breed.

Napoleon. A cross between a Munchkin dwarf cat and a Persian, Himmie or Exotic Shorthair - so is long haired when crossed with the first two.

Nebelung. One of the grey cat breeds and a long-haired cat.

Pixie-bob. Semi-long haired cat with short tail due to a genetic mutation.

Ragdoll and RagaMuffin. Both long haired and closely related.

Selkirk Rex. One of the Rex curly haired cats that is either long or short haired.

Scottish Fold - longhaired variant. See above.

Skookum. Long haired, short legged dwarf cat a cross between the Munchkin and the LaPerm.

Somali. Long haired Abyssinian

Turkish Angora and Turkish Van. Both long haired, probably long for the Angora and Medium Long for the Van. Silky soft coats.

_________________________________

What causes Long Hair?

Apparently four independent mutations in the Fibroblast Growth Factor 5 (FGF5) Gene determine the long haired phenotype in domestic cats. There is one gene and four alleles. Each of the alleles make the gene function incorrectly causing the hair to grow longer.

The FGF5 gene signals the end of hair growth when the build up of protein reaches a certain level in the hair follicle. The gene acts defectively and the protein isn't produced allowing hair growth to continue. The hair growth is eventually stopped by another mechanism.

This gene seems to operate in an autosomal recessive manner.

The FGF5 gene regulates hair growth in other species. Wikipedia call it a 'human gene' (this seems to be incorrect or misleading) so I presume it regulates hair growth in humans.

(source for this section: Journal of Heredity --- http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/)

Long Haired Cat Breeds to Traditional Persian Yeri

Featured Post

i hate cats

i hate cats, no i hate f**k**g cats is what some people say when they dislike cats. But they nearly always don't explain why. It appe...

Popular posts