![]() They were first shown as a breed at Weir’s 1871 Crystal Palace cat show, where one of Weir’s British Shorthair cats was named Best in Show.īritish Shorthair cats were admitted to championship status by The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1979, and the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) first recognized the breed in 1980. While these cats have been around for centuries, they were first identified as a breed in the late 1800s, when Harrison Weir began arguing that the street cats of Britain should be treated as a distinct breed. Formal Recognition of British Shorthair Cats In 2021, British Shorthair cats were the 6th most popular pedigree cats in the US, and they regularly make up around one-quarter of the cats registered each year with the Grand Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF). But the breed made a comeback after the war thanks to breeders introducing domestic Shorthair, Persian, and even Russian blue cats to the gene pool.Īfter arriving in the United States in the 1900s, the cats remained relatively obscure, but they gained popularity over time. WWII was particularly hard on British Shorthair cats. ![]() But after the turn of the century, interest in the breed began to decline. ![]() Image By: SunRay BRI Cattery RU, Shutterstock How British Shorthair Cats Gained Popularityīritish Shorthair first gained popularity as a breed after participating in the first cat show in the UK organized by Harrison Weir in 1871. Long-haired versions of these cats resemble early 20th-century Persian and Angora cats. They were essentially street cats until Harrison Weir, a major player in the emerging cat fancy world, began advocating for them to be considered a distinct breed in the late 1800s.īreeders mixed British Shorthair cats with Persian cats during the early 20th century to create British longhair kitties. While they started out as working cats, these kitties soon became popular companion animals commonly found in homes and farms around Britain. The ancestors of British Shorthairs most likely accompanied the Romans to the British Isles, where they were used for pest control. The Earliest Records of British Shorthair Cats in History
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