Cat Breeds

Cats have not been domesticated until recent years and their selective breeding has taken longer than with canines. Consequently, the cats continue being more close to their origins and the scale of domestic breeds is relatively scanty. The average cat weight is between 3.5 and 6 kg although in the biggest breed, the Ragdoll or rag cat, their average is in 10 kg.

Initially, all cats had the short hair, but when some of them migrated the north of their places of origin, they developed long coats that protect them against the cold winter. The large and type of hair are the principal difference between the cat breeds. Other one is the type of body: both the long and slender Siamese or oriental type and the most short and muscle type associate with the breeds of short hair; and the massive and long type is seeing more in the cats of long hair. Each of these types has a geographical different origin and a typical personality. The cats of Siamese complexion, but without the Siamese pedigree, are defined generally as "foreigners". But the feline breed and the beauty can be seen both in the stray cats and in pedigrees'.

Cats with Pedigree
Cats have evolved slowly while domesticated throughout 4,000 years of history, from the primitive and small wild cat spotted with Africa until the wide scale of cats of short and long hair that already were in the XVIIth century for the whole Europe and Asia. This diversification was given in a natural way, as the cats were getting acclimatized to the diverse climates and to other environmental, such conditions as the size of his preys.Each of the types was prevailing in his region of origin and, this way, they were the travelers the managers of discovering and admiring the cats that they saw abroad and of importing some specimens on having returned to house. Thus, the Persian cats and the Turks of Ankara began to be the predecessors in Europe of most of the cats of long hair. The selective baby and the introduction of records of pedigree did not begin seriously until the ends of the XIXth century, when the first contests of cats were celebrated, firstly in England and later in the United States and in the rest of Europe. Among the first recognized breeds there were the Siamese cats, the Persian, the island of Man, the Abyssinian, Ankara and the Maine Raccoon (Only in the United States).Today there are more than 50 groups of pedigree, though some of the most recent are controversial and are not accepted by universal character. Also there are some international differences, for example, the oriental of short hair. It is considered to be a breed apart from the Siamese in the United States, but not in the Great Britain.