These Unique Cat Breeds May Become Your New Favorite Felines
Pop quiz, my friends: Have you ever heard of a Toyger? How about a Norwegian Forest cat? A Snowshoe cat?
If you scored one out of three, I'm slightly impressed. Two out of three, consider me truly impressed. Three out of three, you're a legitimate Felinologist in my book and you've advanced to the next round. Start brushing up on your Munchkins and Singapura cats as soon as possible. For those that scored zero, I didn't forget about you; welcome to the club!
Norwegian Forest cat
The Norwegian Forest cat is a breed of domestic cat originating in Northern Europe. This natural breed is adapted to a very cold climate, with top coat of glossy, long, water-shedding hairs, and a woolly undercoat for insulation. Although this is uncertain, the breed's ancestors may have been a landrace of short-haired cats brought to Norway by the Vikings around 1000 AD, who may also have brought with them long-haired cats, like those ancestral to the modern Siberian and Turkish Angora breeds. During World War II, the breed became nearly extinct until efforts by the Norwegian Forest Cat Club helped the breed by creating an official breeding program. It was registered as a breed with the European Fédération Internationale Féline in the 1970s, when a local cat fancier, Carl-Fredrik Nordane, took notice of the breed and made efforts to register it. Currently, the Norwegian Forest breed is very popular in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and France
Singapura Cat
The Singapura is one of the smallest breeds of cats, noted for its large eyes and ears, brown ticked coat and blunt tail. Reportedly established from three "drain cats" imported from Singapore in the 1970s, it was later revealed that the cats were originally sent to Singapore from the US before they were exported back to the US. Investigations by the Cat Fanciers' Association concluded no wrongdoing and the Singapura kept its status as a natural breed.
Scottish Fold
The Scottish Fold is a breed of domestic cat with a natural dominant-gene mutation that affects cartilage throughout the body, causing the ears to "fold", bending forward and down towards the front of their head, which gives the cat what is often described as an "owl-like" appearance.
Snowshoe Cat
The Snowshoe is a rare breed of cat originating in the United States of America in the 1960s. Snowshoes were first produced in Philadelphia when a Siamese breeder's cat gave birth to three kittens with white feet. The breeder, Dorothy Hinds-Daugherty, then began a breeding program to produce what were originally called "Silver Laces", crossing the strangely marked Siamese cats with bi-color American Shorthair cats and other breeds. When Hinds-Daugherty left the program, Vikki Olander began working with the cats and recruited new breeders, as well as worked towards full recognition within cat associations. Despite having existed for 45 years, Snowshoes are rare due to the difficulty of reproducing the correct coat markings. The marks are based on recessive genes for color points and on the co-dominant but variably-expressed piebald pattern gene, making it difficult to predict the appearance of offspring.
Munchkin Cat
The Munchkin is a relatively new breed of cat characterized by its very short legs, which are caused by a naturally occurring genetic mutation. Much controversy erupted over the breed when it was recognized by The International Cat Association in 1995 with critics voicing concern over potential health and mobility issues.
Toyger
The toyger is a breed of domestic cat, the result of breeding domestic shorthaired tabbies to make them resemble a "toy tiger", as its striped coat is reminiscent of the tiger's. The breed's creator, Judy Sugden, has stated that the breed was developed in order to inspire people to care about the conservation of tigers in the wild. It was recognized for "Registration only" by The International Cat Association in the early 1990s, and advanced through all requirements to be accepted as a full Championship breed in 2007. There are about 20 breeders in the United States and another 15 or so in the rest of the world.
Exotic Shorthair
The Exotic Shorthair is a breed of cat developed to be a shorthaired version of the Persian. The Exotic Shorthair is similar to the Persian in many ways, including temperament and conformation, with the exception of the short dense coat. It has even inherited many of the Persian's health problems.
