Historical Origins: In the 1980s, the British Shorthair and Siamese cat hybrid. Siamese catsuit to be transmitted to the British Shorthair, born under the Siamese cat and a real cat, is quieter than personality. This figure also improved the cat, but people have been in nurturing colours, high-quality cat.
Overall: Exotic good people feel they should be strong bones, body type, both said.
Head: round and large, the skull is very broad.
Neck: short and thick.
Ears: small, round tip, forward tilt. The bottom is not too broad; ears wide spacing, located in the low head position.
Eyes: both broad and round; wink glossy, his wide eyes spacing, the centre has a “crack.”
Nose: Short, flat, broad.
Jaw: a broad and robust.
Chin: plump, firm and rounded, well developed, reflecting a good bite state.
Body: Large or medium stature. Ai Shen, chest and wide and deep. Broad shoulders and hips; the middle part of the fullness of the back straight. Fu muscular, but not too fat.
Limbs: short and stout.
TAIL: in proportion with the body, usually placed in a lower position than the back.
Paws: healthy and round and large. Close toe; forelimbs have five toes, the hind legs, and four toes.
Coat: thick, soft, and smooth. The undercoat is an abundant, medium-length coat.
Personality: friendly, very little noise; more warm and friendly male and female is more indifferent.
Breed Profile: Colorpoint Shorthair
Colorpoint Shorthairs are the first cousins of the Siamese. This breed is distinguished by its elegance in sixteen different “point” colours beyond the four Siamese colours. Half-siblings to the Siamese under their foundation and continuing breeding with the Siamese, the Colorpoint Shorthair is a hybrid breed of the Siamese. Colourpoints, circa 1947-48, are a far cry from their angular, leggy descendants of today. Today’s Colorpoints are the same structural standard of the Siamese, with the only difference being their unique paint colours.
In the early breedings, breeders concentrated on cats with red or cream restricted to the points (face, legs, ears, tails, and genitals). Early hybridizations with domestic shorthairs, and refinement by concentrating the Siamese gene with the red gene, produced the first of the colours to be called Colorpoint Shorthairs eventually. To distinguish the new breed from the Siamese, CFA breeders adopted the name Colorpoint Shorthair for registration purposes, and through a painstaking process, won recognition as a breed in 1964. The early cats who helped become the new breed were given the first colour class of the Colorpoints, called the solid points, which are the red and cream points.
As time progressed and the early hybrids gained popularity, the tabby versions of the Siamese were introduced into the Colorpoint Shorthair programs in the four Siamese colours. In CFA, these tabby pointed cats are called lynx points and are exhibited in their own “lynx point class” as seal-lynx points, chocolate lynx points, blue-lynx points, lilac-lynx points, red-lynx points, and cream-lynx points.
The tortie, or party-colours, is an exciting phenomenon of the hybridization process of the red gene. Shortened to “tortie or cream points,” this colour class of the Colorpoint Shorthairs is exhibited as the party-colours. They are memorable representatives of the breed because of their loving yet independent attitudes. The party-colours is a “by-product” of the red gene and come in the four Siamese colours with random mottling or “blotching” of red and cream with the primary Siamese colour. They often also have what is called a “blaze,” asymmetrical split of the red and cream on one side of the face mask and the Siamese colour, such as seal, on the other half. Indeed, this is a very striking appearance. Because the red colour gene is sex-linked, tortie or cream party-colour points only come in females. Colour descriptions start with the primary Siamese colour and add the mottling of red or cream. Thus we have the seal-tortie points, chocolate-tortie points, blue-cream points, and lilac-cream points. When bred to a lynx parent, the last four of the sixteen colours are the tabby, or lynx, versions of the party-colour points, i.e., the seal-tortie lynx point, chocolate-tortie lynx point, blue-cream lynx point, and lilac-cream lynx point.
Like their Siamese cousins, Colorpoint Shorthairs require little grooming and are especially useful in households with allergies to cats since both breeds have little dander. An occasional bath is recommended, but allow the freshly bathed coat to air dry in a warm spot. Do not blow-dry, but do brush the layer with the concave or short side of a small rubber brush to remove loose hair and make the coat lie smooth. The skin can be “finished” by smoothing the layer with a chamois cloth. Balanced diets high in protein are generally recommended since part of the natural beauty of the Colorpoints is their glistening, muscular hard, tubular bodies. Heed the instructions of your cat’s breeder when you acquire your Colorpoint Shorthair, and you will be blessed with a long-lived joyous companion.
Pricing on Colorpoint Shorthairs usually depends on the type, applicable markings and bloodlines distinguished by Grand Champion (GC), National, National Breed and Regional winning parentage (NW, BW, RW) or of Distinguished Merit parentage (DM). The DM title is achieved by the dam (mother) having produced five CFA grand champion/premier (alter) or DM offspring, or sire (father) having produced fifteen CFA grand champion/premier or DM offspring. Usually, breeders make kittens available between twelve and sixteen weeks of age. After twelve weeks, kittens have had their necessary inoculations and developed the physical and social stability needed for a new environment, showing, or being transported by air. Keeping such a rare treasure indoors, neutering or spaying and providing acceptable surfaces (e.g., scratching posts) for the natural behaviour of scratching (CFA disapproves of declawing or tendonectomy surgery) are essential elements for maintaining a healthy, long and joyful life.
