Size

Large to medium size, compact built, powerfull and well balanced

Body

Full broad chest, short strong legs and rounded paws

Tail

The tail is thick at the base

Face

Round head with good width between the years and a beatiful large smile

Coat

Short and dense with minimal care

Eyes

Clear eye colour, from copper to gold. Sometimes they are blue or green

The history of British Shorthair dates back to the first century AD, making it one of the most ancient identifiable cat breeds in the world. It is believed that the invading Romans initially brought Egyptian domestic cats to Great Britain and they interbred with the local European wildcat. Over the centuries their descendants developed into distinctively large robust cats with short and very thick coat, to better withstand the weather conditions on the native islands. Based upon artists’ representations of the ancient British Shorthair, the modern cat is basically unchanged.

Selective breeding of the best examples began in the 19th century, with the emphasis on developing the blue-grey variant called British Blue. Some sources credit the UK pioneering cat fancier Harrison Weir with the initial concept of standardizing the breed. The new British Shorthair had great initial popularity at at the first-ever cat show organized at the Crystal Palace in London in 1971.

By the 1890s the newly imported Persian cats became more popular and British Shorthair fell out of favour, breeding stock became critically rare by World War I. To alleviate this issue, the British Shorthair breeders mixed some of the blood lines from the Persian cat. The genes introduced then would eventually become the basis for the British Longhair which only in 2015 became recognized in FIFe. As of this moment Black Sea Angels does not have British Longhair cats, nor is it known to be present in the genetic history of the adult cats. It is a recessive gene, thus the appearance of the Longhair can jump over generations until a kitten is born from both parents carrying the same allele Longhair.

As the shows are based almost exclusively on beauty it disregards the genetic health aspects of the cat. All cats go through a health test at cat shows however it is not based on a more rigorous health screening which in our opinion should exclude cats with known genetic faults. Luckily British Shorthair is one of the oldest breeds and one can see that the evolution through time has been minor. This indicates that the cat breed has not been inbred as much as other cat breeds in order to produce certain beauty traits.

Inbreeding causes certain genetic defects which makes the individual to become less resistant of diseases, as the diversity is low and less probable to resist certain diseases. Reduced diversity could lead to rare genetic diseases which normally does not appear in a diverse population with dominant healthy genes. More inbreeding leads to higher risks of health issues. Pedigree cats are in general less inbred compared to pedigree dogs who have been more inbred, especially in the last century, to achieve certain physical characteristics.

The breed is very healthy and long lived, life expectancy is 14-20 years. This depends of course on the environment it lives in, stress level, food intake and of course love. The most common inherited problem with British Shorthair is gingivitis (red inflamed gums) which will require dental care. Another inherited health issue is cardiomyopathy which can cause anything from minor heart murmur to severe heart trouble. Neither of these conditions are specific to the breed. We at Black Sea Angels try to keep track of potential health issues and make sure to stop genetically transferable diseases