British Shorthair Breed Standard

The breed standard of a cat breed is the guidelines that breeders follow to ensure that the cats they breed meet the requirement of the breed in terms of appearance.

There are a number of cat associations (registries). Are there too many? They may have different breed standards although similar.

Breed standards cannot be that precise. This allows interpretation differences by breeders, breed councils and cat show judges. This flexibility can lead to a gradual shift in appearance of the breed in question. The breed standards are updated from time to time to meet changes in opinion. Breed standards follow the opinions of the breeders not the public in my opinion.

Below are the breed standards for the British Shorthair of some major cat associations:

• Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) - USA.
• The International Cat Association (TICA) - USA and international.
• The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) - UK. In the UK the premier cat association does not publish the breed standard and the two main clubs don't either! Sorry, can't find the standard in the UK!
• Fédération Internationale Féline - (FiFe) - Mainland Europe

Will a British Shorthair be right for me?

The answer to the above question is a near certain yes if you are a typical cat lover. Of course, you have to like the appearance of this breed of cat and the appearance is quite particular as you can see from the photographs on this website - cobby and rounded.

A well socialized British Shorthair that is typical of the breed should get on well with other cats, dogs, children and you.

The British Shorthair likes to interact with their human companion. Like all socialised domestic cats, they enjoy being stroked and cuddled. They don't force themselves on people, however.

At around two years of age the Brit SH becomes less active. Although they can occupy themselves well, they like company. They should not ideally be left alone all day.

The British Shorthair is a cobby cat and less talkative than the slender oriental cats such as the Siamese.

Their voice can be quiet and on occasions completely silent. So it you like quiet, this could be the breed for you. Maybe the ideal human is a retired person!

That said, cats are individuals. They have characters so it is best to meet all potential companions before adopting. The cat will make the choice.

Bicolor British Shorthairs

I may have mentioned that bicolors are white plus one color. Funny in a way because white is an amalgam of three primary colors: red, green and blue.

It is the piebald gene (white spotting gene) that produces the white areas. Here is a famous British Shorthair bicolor photographed by Helmi Flick. His name is IW/SGC HMS Prescott of Chaucer "Scottie" for short. He was TICA's 2008 Alter of the Year (British Shorthair).

The photograph was published in Scientific American. Well done Helmi.

Bicolor British Shorhair cat - Photo copyright Helmi Flick

The colored parts of the coat appear to be grey, a dilute black. But there is little hint of blue in the grey. Perhaps a breeder can help me out with that. He lives with Jeane Camarena and daughter.

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Chartreux versus British Blue

Chartreux vs British Shorthair (Blue) - Photos copyright Helmi Flick

The Chartreux looks like a blue British Shorthair. Sometimes people mix up the two and I can see why. On close inspection they do look different though.

The Chartreux is a separate cat breed and a French cat breed. The only color allowed for the Chartreux is blue while the British Shorthair can have a wide range of colors and patterns according to the breed standard.

The breed standard for the Chartreux differs from the breed standard for the British Shorthair.

For the Chartreux the ears are slightly larger and slightly more erect on the head, which is less round and more angular (reverse triangular shape).

The Chartreux is said to have skinny legs and smiling face. It has a long history as has the British SH.

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Cream Mackerel Tabby British Shorthair

Meet "Krystofer", a young exuberant boy British Shorthair cat photographed by the celebrated cat photographer, Helmi Flick.

Cream Mackerel Tabby British Shorthair
Photo copyright Helmi Flick

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You can see his faint banding on the limbs. You can read about tabby cat coats by clicking on the link.

As to the color cream; the recessive dilution gene dd causes the pigmentation that caused the red coat "phaeomelanin" to be clumped irregularly along the hair shaft that gives the appearance of a dilute color - so red (orange) becomes cream.

Cream can be altered by the dominant dilute modifier dene Dm to make apricot.

Genotype of cream is: ddOOdmdm
Genotype of appricot is: ddOODm-