Havana Brown Kitten Breed

The Havana Brown is an American breed developed from the cat now known in Britain as the Havana. In 1952 the crossing of Siamese with black shorthairs, in an effort to produce black-pointed cats, produced a brown kitten, variously called an Oriental Chocolate Cat and a Havana and ancestor of the variety recognized six years later by the GCCF as the Chestnut Brown Foreign Shorthair, a name later changed back to Havana. The British breed aimed to maintain strong Siamese type but Chestnut Browns taken to the USA in the mid 1950s were less `type' and they were not bred back to Siamese. These became the Havana Brown whose standards are related more to those for the Russian Blue than those of the Siamese. The general conformation of the Havana Brown is midway between the short-coupled, thickset breeds and the svelte breeds. A rounded, somewhat narrow muzzle and clear whisker break are distinctive characteristics. In profile the muzzle appears almost square, an illusion heightened by a well-developed chin, the profile of which’s square rather than round. Kittens and young adults often show ghost tabby markings which disappear into arch, even color as the cat matures.

Firm and muscular torso of medium length, carried high on straight legs, which are dainty in females and more muscular in males, slightly longer at the back, and with compact oval paws; the tail medium long, neither whiplikenor blunt, tapering at the end.

From above, longer than wide, narrowing to a rounded muzzle with a pronounced break on both sides behind the whisker pads; large, forward tilted ears, wide set, cupped at base but not flaring and round tipped, giving an alert appearance.

Oval, medium-sized and set well apart; can be any vivid and level shade of green butte deeper the color of the eyes the better.

Short to medium in length, smooth and lustrous.

Rich and even warm brown, tending to a mahogany red-brown rather than black-brown.