Cat Breeds: The British Shorthair

The British Shorthair
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According to the Governing Council of the
Cat Fancy (GCCF), an organisation that
registers pedigree cats in the United
Kingdom, the British Shorthair is the most
popular pedigree breed of cat in the
country. But to what can we attribute this
popularity? In this article, we’ll take a
closer look at this well-loved mainstay of
British cats.
Profile: what is a British Shorthair?
The breed is, perhaps unsurprisingly,
distinctive for its coat of short fur, but it is
also recognisably by its ‘chunky’
proportions: it has well-muscled shoulders
and chests and relatively short legs and a
stubby neck supporting a bulbous head.
Its eyes are big, round and spaced far
apart. The breed is also notable for being
sexually dimorphic – which basically
means that males and females are easily
distinguished from one another. The
former is far heavier than the latter, and
comes equipped with especially
prominent jowls.
History: Where did the British
Shorthair come from?
The British Shorthair is among the oldest
pedigree breeds of cat – its ancestry
stretches back to Ancient Egypt, where
cats were considered to be divine. The
breed was then brought the Britain by the
Roman invaders of the first century and
interbred with the native British wildcats.
In this early period, the breed was still
much the same as it is today – robustly
built, with a short, thick coat to help it
survive the British weather.
The Victorian era saw cat-breeding
become a serious enterprise, as the upper
classes began to demand increasingly
high-quality breeds. When the British
Shorthair as we know it today made its
debut in 1871, at a cat show in Crystal
Palace, it proved an enormous success.
Harrison Weir, the breeder credited with
first developing the British Shorthair,
became a rich man almost overnight.
This initial success was to prove shortlived,
however. By the end of Victoria’s
reign, the Persian cat had become the
must-have item among Victorian
aristocrats, and the Shorthair began to
wane in popularity. Shorthair breeders
attempted to fight this trend by breeding
the British Shorthair with the Persian in
order to create the British Longhair.
Similar crises came later, after the end of
the First World War, when the GCCF
elected to tighten their standards for what
is considered a British Shorthair.
This decision created yet another shortage
in breeding stock. Breeders decided that
to get around this they would crossbreed
the shorthair with the superficially-similar
French Charteux. It wasn’t until after the
Second World War that British Shorthair
breeders would concentrate once again
on establishing the British Shorthair as a
breed of its own. These efforts would
yield formal recognition in the 1970s,
when the breed was recognised by cat
fancier organisations on either side of the
Atlantic.
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Personality: What is a British
Shorthair like to own?
The reason for this particular breed’s
popularity is clear when you first
encounter one – it’s cuddly, friendly and
generally pleasant to be around. They have
no problem being picked up and fussed,
and have the same proportions as a teddy
bear. The breed is also remarkably relaxed,
and will happily adapt to all but the most
severe of domestic conditions. If you’re
looking for a cat that’s easy to please, and
that will happily curl up on the sofa, then
the British Shorthair is for you.
Shorthair kittens will be especially bulky in
their proportions, but as they grow older
this feature will slowly diminish and they’ll
become more markedly cat-like. That said,
British Shorthair kittens tend to be a little
slow to reach full maturity: but give them a
little time and they’ll develop into a
beautiful pedigree cat!
Any Special Issues?
Another factor in the popularity of the
British Shorthair is that the breed is
extremely low-maintenance. Their short
fur coat means that they don’t require
grooming, unlike some other pedigree
breeds like the Persian or Ragdoll. They are
suited to a variety of lifestyles and climates
– so whether you’re living out in the
countryside or at the centre of the hustlebustle
metropolis, you’ll find that your cat
is perfectly suited.
When buying a pedigree cat, there are a
few guidelines which are best stuck to. For
all of their advantages, Shorthairs are no
exception. The breed consists of a variety
of different animals, each with differentlycoloured
eyes and fur. You’ll therefore
have to decide exactly what sort of animal
you’re after. Of course, the more specific
your demands, the further afield you might
have to travel – and so you might want to
broaden your expectations if your budget
is an issue.
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www.petfleas.co.uk
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Whitchurch Road,
Beeston Castle,
Tarporley,
Cheshire,
CW6 9NJ