The British Shorthair is not precisely like the cats of ancient Egypt but more heavily built cobby is the usual term used to describe its conformation of a low-lying body on short legs. Its appearance is closer to that of the wildcats found in Scotland than to the Mediterranean type. It was developed from the heavily-built non-pedigree working cat of northern Europe, which had become the typical British cat. This was the type of cat most frequently seen in the first British shows before the rise in popularity of Persian cats.
Sturdy cats, British Shorthairs are intelligent and affectionate but usually of a more placid temperament than the cats of oriental type and they generally have a fairly quiet voice.
It is rare for the short dense fur of the British Shorthair to tangle and grooming is easy. Hand grooming, no harder than heavy stroking, will remove much of the old hair but regular daily brushing should be given. to keep the fur free of dirt and dust and keep the coat in good condition.
These are compact, well-balanced and powerfully built cats with a full broad chest, short strong legs and rounded paws. An over-long or fluffy coat, a pronounced nose stop or a snub nose, or over prominent whisker pads would all be considered faults.
The blue form, the British Blue, as it is usually known, has a reputation for having the plushest of all shorthair coats and of meeting most closely the requirements of the standard in both fur and conformation, with a good apple-shaped head. Like other blues, it has a reputation for being particularly gentle. Typical of the way in which changing fashions have been responsible for a modification of a show standard, the blue color preferred in the early days of the cat fancy was a dark slate blue, but today a medium to light blue of an even shade all over is specified.
The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) treats the European Shorthair as synonymous with the British cat and considers the Chartreux to be the equivalent of the British Blue, although at one time it was shown separately. On the European continent however and in associations which follow Federation International Feline (Fife) standards these are considered quite separate breeds and the Chartreux is also given its own breed in the United States.
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Medium to large, cobby with short, level back, and deep broad chest, massive across shoulders and rump, set on short strong legs with round paws. Thick, medium-long tail, thicker at base tapering slightly to a rounded tip.
Round and massive with full cheeks and broad skull set on a short thick neck; a rounded forehead leading to a broad, short, straight nose with a not too pronounced break; theirs small, rounded at the tips and well apart, the chin firm and on the some plane as the nose tip.
Large, round, well open and set wide apart. Gold, orange or copper with most coats, or blue or odd-eyed with white, and green or hazel with silver, green with golden tipped.
Short, very dense but not woolly or double coated.
Self white, black, chocolate, lilac, red, blue and cream; tabby red, brown, blue, chocolate, lilac, cream, silver, blue silver, chocolate silver, lilac silver, red silver and cream silver, tortie and tortie silver; spotted in any of the self colors, tortie and tortie silver; tortoise shell, blue-cream, chocolate tortie, lilac tortie,
all these sorties and white; bi-color with any of the self colors and white, smoke, tipped in any of the self colors and tortie, golden tipped;color-pointed in self colors,tortie and tabby colors. The black and blue smoke are the only tipped coats recognized by the CFA, which also calls the tortoiseshell and white the calico, recognizing only this and the dilute calico, not the other tri-color patching. Some European countries also recognize an Albino.
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