THE CAT FAMILYBy: Johnrei O. Calingasan

Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation

Basic Education DepartmentLucena City

AEGEAN

The Aegean Cat originates from the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea, where they occur naturally.

AFRICAN SERVAL

It is a strong yet slender animal, with long legs and a fairly short tail. Due to its leg length, it is relatively one of the tallest cats. 

APPLEHEAD SIAMESE

Appleheads came about after years of selective breeding during which Siamese breeders strove to produce a longer, thinner, more extreme-wedge look in their show cats.

AMERICAN KEUDA The American Keuda has

some pronounced similarities with the Egyptian Mau breed, including body type, habits, and a belly flap, not seen in other breeds. Since the belly flap allows extra extension when running, and thus more speed, this would be a successful adaptation for any cat that needed speed.

AMERICAN LONGHAIR

The American Longhair / Maine Coon is a large-sized cat. Its coat is can come in a different variety of colours. Like the breed name suggests, they have long hairs. 

AMERICAN SHORTHAIR

The breed is believed to be descended from English cats (the forebears of today's British Shorthairs) brought to North America by early European settlers to protect valuable cargo from mice and rats. 

AMERICAN WIREHAIR

The first wirehair cat appeared as a random cat mutation among a litter of six born to two barn cats. This single red and white male had odd wiry fur.

AMERICAN BOBTAIL

According to legend, bobtails are the result of a crossbreeding between a domestic tabby cat and a bobcat. Yodie, a short-tailed brown tabby male, mated with a seal point Siamese colored (cat) female to create the Bobtail's original bloodline. 

AMERICAN CURL

The breed originated in Lakewood, California as the result of a spontaneous mutation. In June, 1981, two stray kittens were found and taken in by the Ruga family.

ASHERA CAT

The Ashera cat was a type of hybrid cat marketed by the controversial company Lifestyle Pets. The hybrid cat breed was allegedly a cross between the African serval, the Asian leopard cat, and a domestic housecat. 

ASIAN SEMI-LONGHAIR

Like the Asian Shorthair, the breed was developed in Britain, and is not currently recognised by any U.S. Registries. It has full recognition in the GCCF and although it is a relatively rare breed some fine examples have become champions.

BALINESE

The Balinese was originally registered as a 'longhaired Siamese', and examples were known from the early 1920s. The occasional long-haired kittens in a Siamese litter were seen as an oddity, and sold as household pets rather than as show cats.

BENGAL

The first Bengal Cat was registered with the International Cat Association (TICA) in 1983. The Bengal has been welcomed as a pedigreed breed by several cat associations .

BICOLOR

A bicolor cat has white fur combined with fur of some other colour, for example black or tabby. 

BIRMAN

The Birman is said to have originated in western Burma, and cats with similar markings are recorded in documents from ancient Thailand.

BLUE RUSSIAN

The Russian Blue is a cat breed that has a silver-blue coat.

BOMBAY

The American breed called Bombay was created in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky, when Nikki Horner of Shawnee Cattery deliberately bred an American Shorthair with a Burmese for the purpose of creating a domesticated cat that resembled a wild panther (also known as baby panther). 

BRAZILIAN SHORTHAIR The Brazilian

Shorthair is a medium-sized cat of great agility. The breed can be distinguished from the American Shorthair by its sleek and elegant appearance.

BRISTOL

They were hybrids of some kind with pattern very similar to that of the Asian Leopard cat.

BRITISH LONGHAIR

The rationale for this breed is that the original longhaired British cat, through interbreeding with imported longhairs, was developed into the Persian and became increasingly massive and extreme in type and with longer, thicker fur than the early Persians.

BRITISH SEMI-LONGHAIR

The British Semi-longhair cat is a medium-length-hair version of the British Shorthair. Apart from fur, it is identical to the British Shorthair. The British Longhair is also known as the Lowlander in the United States and the Britanica in Europe, but is not recognised in the UK as a separate breed.

BRITISH SHORTHAIR

The British Shorthair is a domesticated cat that is said to resemble a teddy bear. Its features make it a popular breed in cat shows.

BURMESE

Originally, Burmese cats were exclusively dark brown (sable), but years of selective breeding have produced a wide variety of colours. 

CALICO

Calico cats are domestic cats with a spotted or parti-colored coat that is predominantly white, with patches of two other colors (often the two other colors are orange tabby and black).

CALIFORNIA SPANGLED CAT

Inspired by the poaching death of a leopard, the anthropologist Louis Leakey motivated Californian scriptwriter Paul Casey to breed a domestic cat resembling a small leopard, and that this would emphasize how important it is to preserve the leopard.

CARACAL

also known as the desert lynx, is a wild cat that is widely distributed across Africa, central Asia and southwest Asia into India.

CHANTILLY

Originally found only in the color of chocolate, Tiffany/Chantilly now occurs in a range of colors including Chocolate, blue, cinnamon, lilac, and fawn.

CHARTREUX

There is a legend that the Chartreux are descended from cats brought to France by Carthusian monks to live in the order's head monastery, the Grande Chartreuse.

CHAUSIE

is a domestic breed of cat that was developed by breeding a few individuals from a nondomestic species (Felis chaus) to a far greater number of domestic cats

COLORPOINT SHORTHAIR

Colorpoint Shorthair is the name the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA), a United States breed association, uses to refer to pointed cats of Siamese ancestry and type in colors other than the four "traditional" Siamese colors

CORNISH REX

The Cornish Rex is a genetic mutation that originated from a litter of kittens born in the 1950s on a farm in Cornwall, UK; hence the first part of the breed's name.

CYMRIC

The name comes from Cymru (pronounced KUM-ree), the indigenous Welsh name of Wales, though the breed is not associated with Wales in any fashion,

DEVON REX

The Devon Rex is a relatively new breed of cat with a sparse, curly, very soft coat similar to that of the Cornish Rex.

DILUTE CALICO

A dilute calico kitty could be described as a white cat that decided to play around in watercolor paints instead of in bright oil paints. 

DOMESTIC LONGHAIRED CAT

Domestic longhairs come in all the standard cat colours including tabby, tortie, bi-colored etc. If their fur combines several shades of the same color they may be referred to as a smoke.

DOMESTIC MEDIUMHAIR

are of mixed ancestry, their temperaments can be hard to predict. Some cats are quiet and docile while others are more active and vocal.

DOMESTIC SHORTHAIRED CAT

Domestic shorthaired cats are characterised by a wide range of colouring and typically 'revert to type' after a few generations, which means they express their coats as a tabby.

DON SPHYNX

 is a breed of cat known for its lack of a coat.The contemporary breed of Sphynx is known also as the Canadian Sphynx, which is distinct from the Russian Sphynx breeds likePeterbald and Don Sphynx.

EGYPTIAN MAU

The Egyptian Mau is often said to be descended from African wild cats, and a descendant of the cats seen in wall paintings of Ancient Egypt.

EUROPEAN BURMESE

The earliest records of the type now known as Burmese come from Thailand, then known as Siam.

EUROPEAN SHORTHAIR

is a breed of short-haired cat originating in Sweden. It is a recently recognised breed, established to preserve the naturally occurring cats that have lived in European villages and cities for ages.

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

FARM CAT

 also known as barn cats, are cats kept primarily for the purpose of catching the smaller vermin found on farms and ranches

GERMAN REX

 is a breed of domestic cat. They are a medium sized breed with slender legs of a medium length. The head is round with well-developed cheeks and large, open ears. 

HAVANA BROWN

The Havana Brown, also known as the Swiss Mountain cat, is a breed of cat well known and shown in England in the 1890s. 

HIMALAYAN

is a breed or sub-breed of long-haired cat identical 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.

JAPANESE BOBTAIL

The earliest written evidence of cats in Japan indicates that they arrived from China or Korea at least 1,000 years ago.

JAVANESE

The Javanese is a recognized breed of cat. Javanese have a long, silky coat, that comes in a variety of colors. These cats are ranked among the most intelligent breeds of cat, and resemble the Balinese. 

JUNGLE-BOB

is a hybrid cat which is a cross between a pixie bob and a jungle cat. 

JUNGLE-CURL

is an experimental hybrid between the Jungle Cat or Chausie, and and American Curl, or Hemingway Curl.