Here’s a table comparing the Norwegian Forest cat and the Siberian cat based on set criteria I gave Bing Co-pilot:
BIG APOLOGY: THIS TABLE DOES NOT RESPOND TO PHONE SIZE. IT IS TOO WIDE FOR THE PHONE SO YOU WILL HAVE TO TURN THE PHONE SIDEWAYS! HECK. NOT GREAT. 🤢🤔
Feature
Norwegian Forest Cat
Siberian Cat
Country of Origin
Norway
Russia
Established as a Breed
Recognized in the 1930s
Recognized in the 1990s
Breed Standards
Large size, strong, muscular body, double coat of fur
Medium to large size, sturdy, muscular build, triple coat
Size and Weight
Males: 12-20 pounds, Females: 9-18 pounds
Males: 8-17 pounds, Females: less than males
Price from Breeders
$800 - $4,000
$1,000 - $2,000
Cat Associations Recognition
FIFe, CFA, TICA
TICA, CFA
Personality
Playful, sweet, family-oriented, affectionate
Energetic, friendly, playful, affectionate
Vocal and Lap cats
Less vocal, not typical lap cats
Moderately vocal, social but not necessarily lap cats
Norwegian Forest cats and Siberian cats share some similarities, such as their affectionate nature and thick coats suited for cold climates. However, they differ in their vocalization tendencies and whether they are considered lap cats. Norwegian Forest cats are generally quieter and less likely to be lap cats, while Siberians are moderately vocal and social but not necessarily lap cats. The prices for these breeds can vary significantly based on lineage and other factors. Both breeds are recognized by major cat associations and have established breed standards that reflect their origins and historical roles.
This page was created by Bing Co-pilot. See errors? Please report them in a comment. The image is not meant to be an exact representation of the Siberian cat.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.
Do domestic cats feel the cold? There are six topics to be addressed in answering this question.
Wildcat ancestor from hot climate
Firstly, the North African wildcat is the wild ancestor of the domestic cat. That wild cat's attitude towards the cold and towards heat is within the domestic cat. And the North African wildcats as you can imagine live in a very warm climate.
Do domestic cats feel the cold? Yes, of course but they tolerate it better than humans. Image: MikeB
Feline behaviour
This is why the domestic cat likes to be in a warm environment. That's why they like to be on your lap if they are lap cats. That is why they sleep in the airing cupboard where the hot water cylinder is. That is why my cat is right now in a utility room where the boiler (furnace) is situated.
We know that domestic cats like warmth. They seek it everywhere all the time. Therefore, by definition, they dislike cold. That's the first point.
Tolerant
The third point is that domestic cats are very tolerant. They are less complaining than humans. They are more tolerant of pain and distress. There are more tolerant of extreme conditions. That does not mean they don't feel the cold, it just means that they tolerate it better than humans at a psychological level. Their brain processes the feeling of discomfort, in this instance through being cold, better than humans do.
You will find stories on the Internet of domestic and stray cats being frozen to the ground, literally. In these instances, sometimes, when the cat has been rescued, they've had to amputate their paws because of frostbite. A horrible thought.
And of course, feral cats in many parts of the world survive winter in freezing conditions. That's why nice people who operate TNR programs provide feral cats with little homes which are insulated so they can at least feel warmer during those very cold days and nights.
Cat coats
We therefore know that domestic cats feel cold but they tolerate cold better. And one reason why they are better able to tolerate cold is because they have a permanent overcoat on them 👍✔️.
Clearly, some cats are better protected in this regard than others. The longhaired cats with a downy undercoat are going to feel less cold than sleek, single-coated cats.
The well-known Maine Coon cat example has a shaggy, semi-longhaired coat because they originate in the state of Maine as barn cats. They were semi-domesticated in that state, before they became show cats, in the 1800s and before.
Siberian cats. Image in public domain.
The Siberian purebred cat is another example of a domestic cat with a history of coming from a cold part of the world. They have coats designed for cold climates.
Evolution
Arguably they will be too hot in warm homes and in warm climates. A thought. An interesting further thought is this: Siberian cats and Maine Coon cats (for example - there are other breeds) would not have evolved through natural selection to have these warm, longhaired coats unless nature recognised the fact that they needed to keep warm and in doing that nature obviously agreed that they feel the cold. Evolution has protected these cats from cold conditions. It is, therefore, an admission that domestic cats and semi-domestic cats feel the cold.
Nervous system and anatomy
It has to be said that the anatomy of the domestic cat is really very similar to that of humans in very many ways. And certainly, in terms of feeling and detecting cold their nervous system and brain is very similar to that of humans. This strongly supports the idea that domestic cats feel the cold.
Longhaired feral cats
Interestingly, you will find that there are very few feral cats that are long haired because the gene that creates long hair is recessive. That means two carriers of the gene are going to have to meet and procreate to produce a litter of kittens that are longhaired.
Most feral cats you see will be shorthaired. And they will feel the cold. But in feeling the cold, as mentioned, they process it in a way which enables them to accept it without complaint
This is Musrafy Kazimir, a male, brown spotted Siberian cat who has been awarded the overall best in show by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) at the weekend in a programme celebrating the centenary of the organisation.
Musrafy Kazimir a male brown spotted Siberian awarded best in show overall by GCCF. Photo: Twitter.
Musrafy Kazimir a male brown spotted Siberian awarded best in show overall by GCCF. Photo: Twitter.
Here he is being judged - manhandled, er 'womanhandled' by the show judge.
Musrafy Kazimir being judged the show. Photo: Twitter.
A lot of people say that it is true but what might be truer is that some cats are more hypoallergenic than others but in general all domestic cats are not hypoallergenic which means that they cause an allergic reaction in about 10% of people who are predisposed to the allergen in their saliva which is Fel D 1.
The press say the President lost his purebred cat (March 2012). There may be a little bit of truth in that but President Medvedev says that his cat is just fine. Perhaps there was a temporary moment when this beautiful purebred cat went walkabout in the Moscow suburb where Medvedev lives. I don't know.
What is sure is that the Nevsky Masquerade or Neva Masquerade is a pointed Siberian cat. What better cat for the president of Russia? The Siberian cat hails from Russia, of course, and is a very popular triple coated purebred cat of distinction that may have the same origins as the Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest Cat. It is one of the great Russian exports (first exported June 28th 1990)!
"Masquerade" refers to the pointed face and "Neva" to the river from whence this cat came. The river Neva is in northwestern Russia. "Nevsky" is a reference to Alexander Nevsky a proclaimed Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, named after the river Neva.
The pointed version is quite rare, I would have thought. Dani Roseboom in the Netherlands lives with a most beautiful Neva Masquerade (this is not Medvedev's cat!):
Hime Amélie du Palais d'Hiver appears to be a lynx pointed Siberian cat.
Apparently, the president's cat cost $1,000 in 2003. That is about the going rate. I am sure that his wife, Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedeva chose this purebred cat.
The blue eyes go with the pointing. Medvedev's cat had blue eyes. The Neva Masquerade is a natural cross with the traditional Siamese, apparently.
The famous, former president Mikhail Gorbachev also kept a Siberian cat.
These are the Russian cat breeds: Kurelian Bobtail, Karelian Bobtail, Russian Blue, Don Sphynx, Peterbald, Mekong Bobtail, Ukranian Levkoy, Toy Bob and Siberian. Do Russian breeders breed these cats better than Americans or Europeans? They might and in case someone are rare and only bred in Russia. In Europe and the USA we don't get involved with Russian cat breeders that much but there is a pretty lively cat fancy in Russia. The Russians like their cats, you know. How much do we know about Russian cat breeders? I mention the big three in more detail below.
You might want to read about the Russian Blue first. In the first half of the 1800s, was the Russian Blue a moggie in Archangel, a port on the north coast of Russian near to Finland? I expect this cat was until it was decided that a cat breed would be created. Archangel is said to be the place where the Russian Blue comes from.
Was the Russian Blue always blue? Or to be more accurate: blue/gray. The Russian Blue today must be blue and green eyed. But before the Russian Blue was a purebred cat I doubt that it was always blue. The first Russian Blues were exported from Russia to England in the mid 1800s. That is where they started there life as a purebred cat. I think that someone thought that an exclusively blue coloured cat from the cold north of Russian would be a nice match. It worked out well. The Russian Blue is in the top ten most popular cat breeds.
What about the incredibly rare Kurelian Bobtail? Have you heard of this cat breed? This is a cat that has an origin in terms of natural development that is similar to the Manx in that there was a genetic mutation for a short tail on an island. In this case the island is off the coast of Siberia. There was probably inbreeding in a confined environment for the mutation to occur. This cat breed comes from the Kuril Islands, a disputed territory between Russia and Japan. Is this cat half Russian and half Japanese as a consequence? It is said that the famous Japanese Bobtail originates in the Kurelian Bobtail. The Japanese Bobtail goes back a thousand years so we are talking about long history here. The Russians breed this cat to a high standard.
Finally, we have the Siberian cat. Siberia is in the east of Russia. We all know how cold that part of the world is. That is why this cat is triple coated and stocky. What is unusual is that breeders (one breeder?) claims that the Siberian is hypoallergenic. Believe it? Not me. Research says otherwise. This cat breed looks like the Norwegian Forest Cat and the Maine Coon and there may be a connection. All three may originate in Scandinavia. The Siberian is another popular cat.
No cats are hypoallergenic although some individual cats might cause less of an allergic reaction that other cats. Also some cat breeds might cause a reduced allergic reaction than other cat breeds. But all the claims are anecdotal. There is no science on this.
Also we should remember that most people are not allergic to cats. The allergen that causes the allergic reaction is a protein in the cat's saliva called Fel D1. It is deposited on the fur when the cat grooms. It dries and flies off into the atmosphere as cat dander. If you are allergic to cats you need not touch a cat but just be in the same area and feel itchy.
Unneutered male cats are more likely to cause an allergic reaction. Incidentally, the word "hypoallergenic" means less likely to cause an allergic reaction.
Cat breeders like to mark out their cat breed as special. It is a marketing method. One Siberian cat breeder claims the Siberian cat is hypoallergenic. I cannot confirm or refute that. The Savannah cat is said, by a respected person who knows, to be hypoallergenic but this is not confirmed with science. The Life Style Pets (Allerca) Ashera GD is an F1 Savannah and claimed to be hypoallergenic. That is why they are sold.
Answering the question, "what cats are hypoallergenic?" we get the answer, "None, except that some will be less likely to cause an allergic reaction in people who are allergic to the Fel D1 allergen." The key is to find the individual cat or go to a Siberian or Savannah cat breeder and see if you start to itch!
The Siberian cat, as the name suggests, is a native of Russia. It is still a moggie in Russia as well as a purebred cat in that country and around the world, primarily in the USA, UK and the rest of Europe. Like many cat breeds including the similar looking Norwegian Forest Cat this cat started life as a moggie - a random bred cat. At the time the cat fancy grew in size and scope this Siberian moggie was transformed and refined by selective breeding into an imposing purebred show cat of considerable size and stature with a sweet face.
It is believed that the Siberian cat has a long history going back to the 13th century. Well, let's say that the pre-cursor to this purebred cat goes back that far. There were no formally recognised purebred cats before the middle of the 18th century. In other words this pre-purebred cat was a semi-domestic cat in Siberia in the 13th century. The first purebred Siberian cats were produced in the 1980s - a relatively short history in contrast to many other breeds.
The Siberian cat was exported to the USA in 1990 and to the UK in 2002. It was granted championship status by the Cat Fanciers' Association in 2006 and is recognised by The International Cat Association (TICA) and the General Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF - UK registry). See Cat Associations.
As one would expect, the cold and sometimes inhospitable environment under which this cat developed as a moggie has coloured its appearance today. This is a large, sturdy, triple coated cat.
Although all colors of all divisions in the traditional category as allowed by the cat associations, it seems that the coat that we see most in the wild, the tabby coat is the most suitable for this breed. Coats such as the brown mackerel tabby, brown spotted tabby and white and classic tabbies look great for this cat. The other colours and patterns seem to render this cat breed more ordinary, almost reverting it back to a moggie. This though is a personal opinion.
There is a connection between the Maine Coon, Siberian and Norwegian Forest (NFC) cats. The Maine Coon may have been introduced to the USA by vikings from Norway. Norway is the home of the NFC and the Siberian comes from Russia, the neighbor of Norway. Cats don't observe country boundaries.
Siberian Forest Cat
This is sometimes (rarely?) used as an alternative name for this cat breed. Although the Encyclopedia Of The Cat says there are no alternative names. Some people search for "Russian Siberian Cat". This is not an alternative name just a search term.
Siberian Cat Personality
Said to be "sensible and resourceful" (source: Dr Fogle Encyclopedia Of The Cat) and independent; not a lap cat but with dog-like devotion to their human companion (source: Legacy of the Cat).
Neva Masquerade
The pointed (colorpoint) Siberian cat is called a Neva Masquerade. Neva is the name of a river where the cat was said to originate while 'masquerade" is a reference to the facial mask (pointed face). The Neva river runs through St. Petersburg, from where the breed began by cross breeding pointed cats such as the Himalayan (pointed Persian), with the Siberian.
I think we agree that the best way to adopt a cat, purebred or not, is to rescue one. Purebred cats are not often found in rescue centers but they do occasionally pop up. There are online purebred rescue resources too. I have a page on the subject. And there is also a website dedicated to the subject.
I think Yahoo Groups are a good networking resource. Through networking with other Siberian cat owners and breeders you are likely to bump into a cat that needs a home. In adopting that cat you are avoiding the bringing into the world of another cat. There are too many domestic cats on the planet that are killed due to overpopulation.
I have a page on this subject; - Siberian cat health. This cat breed is not listed in what I consider a very good book on the subject of genetic diseases in purebred cats (Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Aspects of Purebred Cats Edited by Ross D Clark DVM). That must be a good indicator of good health but not conclusive as this is a breed that is not as well known as some others and perhaps the authors simply left it out or there was insufficient research on this breed at the time of publication (1992).
Siberian Cat Photos
The best cat photos are by Helmi Flick in my opinion. Here are two fine Siberian cat photos by Helmi Flick:
Here are some more gorgeous Siberian cat pictures:
Aleks - white Siberian cat - photo copyright Helmi Flick
Siberian cat "Venera" - copyright Helmi Flick
Grey tabby and white
Siberian Cat For Sale
This of course is all about finding a good cat breeder near to where you live. Many breeders ship by air but personally a visit to the breeder's facility is essential, I believe. Try and find on nearby. Shipping by air is OK but stressful for the cat and some don't make it.
I would start with the major players in the cat fancy as good resources (1) the cat associations sometimes run lists of breeders (2) cat clubs always have lists of breeders and (3) the top cat breeders in a Google search are probably the most established.
The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) and USA cat association lists nine breeders. Click on the following link to go to their breeder referral search page and follow the instructions: CFA Breeder Referral.
The International Cat Association (TICA) list 25 based in the USA. Click here to see the list.
I would also refer to Yahoo Groups again. The link above will take you to the list.
Siberian Cat Breeders
Well, I have covered this above!
Is the Siberian Cat Hypoallergenic?
Uhmmm....the whole issue of hypoallergenic cat breeds is a contentious one. Hypoallergenic by the way means less likely to cause an allergic reaction in people. There is anecdotal evidence and a bit more that suggests that this cat breed is indeed hypoallergenic. Breeders tend to promote this and I understand why. There are quite a lot of people who are allergic to cats but proportionally the number is quite small.
Siberian cat health is generally good. They are robust cats. One condition, though, to which this breed has a predisposition comes immediately to mind - Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or HCM.
This is a well known heart disease affecting a number of purebred cat breeds in particular and potentially all domestic cats. It also affects humans, of course.
Cats can show signs of HCM from the age of 2 months until they are 24 years old. Although in another post on HCM in Bengal cats (in fact there are several posts on this important subject), I recall a comment made by a visitor to this site saying that it is unlikely to be present before 6 months old. I don't know if that is true.Update: HCM is late onset and not present at birth. A heart murmur is one of the first signs (a vet can check for this). Cats with a predisposition to HCM should be checked yearly therefore.
The average age for having HCM is apparently 4.8-7 years. Persian cats have been reported as being predisposed to contracting HCM. In addition, there is a high incidence in Maine Coon cats which is tragic. The level of occurrence in Maine Coons is about 30%. The Siberian cat also has a predisposition to HCM. This is perhaps the most important disease affecting Siberian cat health. The other cat breeds that are apparently affected are the Sphynx and Ragdoll amongst others. (src: Kerry Simpson, FAB Lecturer in Feline Medicine, University of Edinburgh).
The reason why HCM is present in the Siberian cat breed is because Siberian cats that were excellent in respect of "type" (appearance) carried (perhaps unknown to the breeder) HCM. This condition has therefore been bred into the breed. A similar tragedy is happening in the Bengal breed in my opinion.
Are there any other outstanding Siberian cat health issues? Yes, it seems one other, namely, FUS (feline urethral syndrome) or feline lower urethral tract disease to which this cat appears to be predisposed. It is not known if this disease is inherited (genetically based) but it would be wise when adopting a Siberian cat to check the lineage (parentage) in respect of occurrence of both these diseases.
I would have thought that the breeder selling the cats would be able to certify negative tests on both diseases as they are known conditions. FUS though is common throughout domestic cats as 30% will suffer from it at one time (src: HDW). My cat had cystitis on occasions.
FUS covers all lower urinary tract disorders including, blockages, kidney stones and infections.
Disclaimer: I am not a vet but a careful researcher. Sometimes misleading information can be circulated. I always cross check. Discuss these issues with the breeder before adopting.
) and independent; not a lap cat but with dog-like devotion to their human companion (source: 
).
