Abyssinian Kitten Breed

Abyssinians have gone under such names as Russian, Spanish, Ticked, Harland Bunny Cat the ticked coat is like that of a hare and some people were once foolish enough to think that it resulted from a cross between a cat and a rabbit! It was recognized as a show cat in Britain in 1882 and may descend from Zulu, a cat brought to England from Ethiopia in 1868, though there is no firm evidence of this pedigree. An early picture of Zulu does not look much like the modern type which was already established by 1903. A medium size, muscular cat, which the CFA standard describes as 'regal in appear-acne', it is not as svelte as the Siamese, being midway between that and the cobbytype. North American cats tend to have a rounder muzzle and shorter head. The ticked fur is distinctive, each hair being marked with dark bands constrastingwith lighter bands. The face is marked with dark lines extending from the eyes and up over the brows, cheekbone shading and dots and shading on the whisker pads also being preferred, the eyes being accentuated by a fine dark line surrounded by alight-colored area. There is often a tendency to white fur close to the lips and lower jaw but this should not extend on to the neck, and white markings elsewhere are fault. A dark tip to the ears is desirable, and the GCCF standard requires a darker color extending up the back of the hind legs and as a solid tip at the end of the tail. A darker line along the spine is permitted by the CFA, provided individual hairs are ticked. Barring on the legs and rings on the tail are faults. The belly and inside of the legs are paler, toning with the undercoat. In some American registries only four varieties are recognized — the original Ruddy (or Usual) color, with black or brown ticking on rich brown fur; Red (or Sorrel), chocolate brown ticking on warm red; Fawn, light chocolate brown ticking on rose-beige; and Blue, with slate blue ticking on beige, according to the CFA, but steel blue on blue-grey under GCCF rules, shading to oatmeal on the underpants. GCCF recognizes a much wider spread of colors, including tortoiseshells and arrange of silver varieties with different ticking on a silver ground. All colors have an undercoat: orange brown in the ruddy, red in the red, pale beige in the blue and fawn, and appropriately paler in other colors, with white for the silver range.

Foreign type but more solid-looking than the Siamese, though it should not be cobby, well-developed and muscular; slim legs and small oval paws the CFA describes the abyssinian as giving the impression of standing on tip-toe; tail fairly long, thick at the base and tapering, neither whip nor a kink permissible.

A moderate, slightly rounded wedge, brow, cheeks and profile showing a gentle contour and the muzzle not sharply pointed, a shallow indentation forming the muzzle desirable but a pinch a fault; A slight nose breaks and affirm chin; ears set well apart, pricked, broad and cupped at the base, the GCCF standard expresses a preference for them to be tufted.

Large, bright and almond-shaped, neither round nor fully oriental; amber, hazel or green in color, deeper shades preferred.

Short, fine and close lying, but it must be long enough to accommodate double or preferably treble marking with two or three dark bands of color on each hair.

Usual (or ruddy), sorrel (oared), fawn and blue in the United States; these plus chocolate, lilac, cream adsorptive and silver versions of all these in Britain and elsewhere.