The Persian cat is a long-haired breed of cat characterized by its round face and short muzzle. It is also known as the "Persian Longhair" in English-speaking countries. The first documented ancestors of Persian cats were imported into Italy from Persia around 1620.
The Maine Coon is a large domesticated cat breed. It has a distinctive physical appearance and valuable hunting skills. It is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America, specifically native to the US state of Maine, where it is the official state cat.
The Bengal cat is a domesticated cat breed created from hybrids of domestic cats, especially the spotted Egyptian Mau, with the Asian leopard cat. The breed name comes from the leopard cat's taxonomic name.
The British Shorthair is the pedigreed version of the traditional British domestic cat, with a distinctively stocky body, dense coat, and broad face. The most familiar colour variant is the "British Blue", with a solid grey-blue coat, orange eyes, and a medium-sized tail.
The Siamese cat is one of the first distinctly recognized breeds of Asian cat. Derived from the Wichianmat landrace, one of several varieties of cat native to Thailand, the original Siamese became one of the most popular breeds in Europe and North America in the 19th century.
The Sphynx cat, or simply Sphynx, is a breed of cat known for its lack of fur. Hairlessness in cats is a naturally occurring genetic mutation, and the Sphynx was developed through selective breeding of these animals, starting in the 1960s.
The Ragdoll is a cat breed with a color point coat and striking blue eyes. Their form is large and muscular and their coat is silky soft and semi-longhair. Ragdolls were developed by American breeder Ann Baker in the 1960s. They are best known for their docile and placid temperament and affectionate nature.
The Munchkin cat or Sausage cat is a relatively new breed of cat characterized by its very short legs, which are caused by genetic mutation. The Munchkin is considered to be the original breed of dwarf 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 a top coat of glossy, long, water-shedding hair and a woolly undercoat for insulation.
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 the head, which gives the cat what is often described as an "owl-like" appearance.
The Savannah is a hybrid cat breed. It is a cross between a serval and a domestic cat.
The Siberian is a centuries-old landrace of domestic cat in Russia and recently developed as a formal breed with standards promulgated the world over since the late 1980s. Siberians vary from medium to medium-large in size.
The American Shorthair is a breed of domestic cat believed to be descended from European cats brought to North America by early settlers to protect valuable cargo from mice and rats. According to the Cat Fanciers' Association, in 2012, it was the seventh most popular pedigreed cat in the United States.
The Russian Blue Cat, commonly referred to as just Russian Blue, is a cat breed that comes in colors varying from a light shimmering silver to a darker, slate grey. Their short, dense coat, which stands out from the body, has been the hallmark of the Russian breed for more than a century.
The Exotic Shorthair is a breed of cat developed as a short-haired version of the Persian. The Exotic is similar to the Persian in many ways, including temperament and conformation, a flat nose and face with the exceptions of the short dense coat.
The Turkish Angora is a breed of domestic cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the ancient, natural breeds of cat, having originated in central Anatolia. The breed has been documented as early as the 17th century. The breed is also sometimes referred to as simply the Angora or Ankara cat.
The Himalayan, is a breed or sub-breed of long-haired cat similar in type to the Persian, with the exception of its blue eyes and its point colouration, which were derived from crossing the Persian with the Siamese.
The Birman, also called the "Sacred Cat of Burma", is a domestic cat breed. The Birman is a long-haired, colour-pointed cat distinguished by a silky coat, deep blue eyes, and contrasting white "gloves" on each paw. The breed name is derived from Birmanie, the French form of Burma.
The Abyssinian is a breed of domestic short-haired cat with a distinctive "ticked" tabby coat, in which individual hairs are banded with different colors. In nomenclature terms, they are also known as simply Abys. The breed is named for Abyssinia, where it is believed to have originated.
The Chartreux is a rare breed of cat from France, and is recognised by a number of registries around the world. The Chartreux is large and muscular with relatively short, fine-boned limbs, and very fast reflexes.
The Ragamuffin is a breed of domestic cat. It was once considered to be a variant of the Ragdoll cat but was established as a separate breed in 1994. Ragamuffins are notable for their friendly personalities and thick, rabbit-like fur.
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 Bombay cat is a type of short-haired cat developed by breeding sable Burmese and black American Shorthair cats, to produce a cat of mostly Burmese type, but with a sleek, panther-like black coat. Bombay is the name given to black cats of the Asian group.
The European Shorthair, called the European in FIFe and WCF is a cat breed originating in Sweden. The term has also been used as an elaborate way of referring to common domestic cats of Europe, causing some confusion as the pedigree cats of this breed also should resemble the typical domestic cats of Europe.
The Burmese cat is a breed of domestic cat, originating in Burma, believed to have its roots near the Thai-Burma border and developed in the United States and Britain. Most modern Burmese are descendants of one female cat called Wong Mau, which was brought from Burma to America in 1930 and bred with American Siamese.
The Oriental Shorthair is a breed of domestic cat that is developed from and closely related to the Siamese cat. It maintains the modern Siamese head and body type but appears in a wide range of coat colors and patterns.
The Manx cat is a breed of domestic cat originating on the Isle of Man, with a naturally occurring mutation that shortens the tail.
The Singapura is the smallest breed of cat, noted for its large eyes and ears, 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.
The American Curl is a breed of cat characterized by its unusual ears, which curl back from the face toward the center of the back of the skull. An American Curl's ears should be handled carefully because rough handling may damage the cartilage in the ear.
The Somali cat is often described as a long-haired African cat, a product of a recessive gene in Abyssinian cats, though how the gene was introduced into the Abyssinian gene pool is unknown. It is believed that they originated from Somalia, a long lost cousin of the Abyssinian cat, which has origins in Ethiopia.
The kinkalow is a rare cat breed that originated in the United States. It is a hybrid between the American Curl and Munchkin gene.
The British Longhair is a medium-sized, semi-long-haired breed of domestic cat, originating in Great Britain.
The Van cat is a distinctive landrace of the domestic cat found in the Lake Van region of the Armenian Highlands. Van cats are relatively large, have a chalky white coat, sometimes with ruddy coloration on the head and hindquarters, and have blue or amber eyes or have heterochromia.
The Havana Brown was the result of a planned breeding between Siamese and domestic black cats, by a group of cat fanciers in England, in the 1950s. Early breeders introduced a Siamese type Russian Blue into their breeding. However, using current genetic testing, it is believed that almost none remain in the gene pool.
The Donskoy cat, also known as Don Sphynx or Russian Hairless, is a hairless cat breed of Russian origin. It is not related to the better-known Sphynx cat, also known as the Canadian Hairless, whose characteristic hairlessness is caused by a recessive mutation in the keratin 71 gene.
The Balinese is a long-haired breed of domestic cat with Siamese-style point coloration and sapphire-blue eyes.
The LaPerm is a breed of cat. A LaPerm's fur is curly, with the tightest curls being on the throat and on the base of the ears. LaPerms come in many colors and patterns. LaPerms generally have a very affectionate personality.
The Korat cat is a silver-tipped blue-grey, short-haired breed of domestic cat with a small to medium build and a low percentage of body fat. Its body is semi-cobby, and unusually heavy for its size.
A Cornish Rex is a breed of domestic cat. The Cornish Rex has no hair except for down. Most breeds of cat have three different types of hair in their coats: the outer fur or "guard hairs", a middle layer called the "awn hair"; and the down hair or undercoat, which is very fine and about 1 cm long.
The Ocicat is an all-domestic breed of cat which resembles a wild cat but has no wild DNA in its gene pool. The breed is unusual in that it is spotted like a wild cat but has the temperament of a domestic animal. It is named for its resemblance to the ocelot. The breed was established from the Siamese and Abyssinian.
The Thai or Wichien Maat is a newly renamed but old cat breed, related to but distinct from the Western, modern-style Siamese cat.
Tonkinese is a domestic cat breed produced by crossbreeding between the Siamese and Burmese. Members of the breed share many of their parents' distinctively lively, playful personality traits and are similarly distinguished by a pointed coat pattern in a variety of colors.
The Burmilla is a breed of domestic cat which originated in the United Kingdom in 1981. It is a cross between the Chinchilla Persian and Burmese cats. Standards were produced in 1984, and the breed gained championship status in the United Kingdom in the 1990s.
The Selkirk Rex is a breed of cat with highly curled hair.
The Cymric is a breed of domestic cat. Some cat registries consider the Cymric simply a semi-long-haired variety of the Manx breed, rather than a separate breed. Except for the length of fur, in all other respects the two varieties are the same, and kittens of either sort may appear in the same litter.
The Chausie is a domestic breed of cat that was developed by breeding a few individuals from the non-domestic species jungle cat to a far greater number of domestic cats. The Chausie was first recognized as a domestic breed by The International Cat Association in 1995.
The American Wirehair is a breed of domestic cat originating in upstate New York. As of 2017, though the breed is well-known, it is ranked as the most rare of the 41 Cat Fanciers' Association breeds.
The Lykoi is a natural mutation from a domestic shorthair that looks like the popular idea of a werewolf. The mutation has occurred in domestic cats over the last 20 years. DNA testing has been done by UC Davis to confirm that the cats do not carry the Sphynx/Devon Rex gene.
The Peterbald is a cat breed of Russian origin. It was created in St Petersburg in 1994 from an experimental breeding by Olga S. Mironova. They resemble Oriental Shorthairs with a hair-losing gene. The breed was accepted for Championship class competition in 2009.
The Oriental Longhair is a variety of domestic cat. It is closely related to the Oriental Shorthair. The Oriental Longhair in some registries, such as The International Cat Association, is a separate breed.