Russian Blue

As a Russian blue a breed of domestic cat is called. The Russian Blue is wearing a gray-blue, short-haired, very dense ( double ) coat with colorless hair tips that produce a silver shimmer in the light ( no genetic silver ). Large, deep emerald green eyes stand out clearly from the body color. The body is medium in size, medium weight, elegant and muscular. The head is clearly structured and neither too long nor too short. The profile ( line forehead to nose tip) must be straight. This cat looks balanced in everything.

The Russian Blue is a balanced, quiet cat with a strong bond to humans. The Russian Blue breed of cat is a natural breed, that is, they were not bred for their appearance, but occurred as in nature.

Origin

Russian sources peddle following origin: The first group of breeding specimens of the later breed Russian Blue came from Arkhangelsk. It was probably introduced around 1860 by British sailors as a commodity to England.

In 1900 the breed was very popular both in England and in tsarist Russia. By crossing Siamese, British Shorthair and European Shorthair was the race that was nearly wiped out after the 2nd World War, are obtained. The fur of the breed was shorter and denser Through this cross-breeding and the eye color was a deep emerald green. From about 1937 there is the Russian Blue as a separate breed; until then it was run as a variant of the Maltese Blue, Foreign Blue or British Shorthair variant.

In the early 70s, the Australian Russian Blue breeder, Mavis Jones bred a white house cat with a Russian Blue cat. The goal of this breeding was to get a new color variant to the blue Russian Blue. In the late 70s, this Russian Blue hybrids have been recognized by the cat breed umbrella organizations in Australia as a color variation of the Russian Blue. Latter day there are increasingly also in Europe and America, efforts to obtain recognition of white and black variants. All of these color variants are not recognized until now the world by many Russian breeders and most cat breed federations.

Appearance

As the only cat breed ever wears Russian Blue a double coat. That the guard hairs are the same length as the undercoat, which causes the fur is projecting. It is silky soft and has colorless hair tips, what is called in the jargon "tipping ". These colorless hair tips refract the incident light and let shine the blue fur of this cat silver. In bright Russian Blue, it sometimes seems as if the cat silver / chrome, but under the peaks must be clearly visible, a blue or gray to be seen.

The short, soft, silvery fur in the color " blue " as professionals call it gray, is ideally always easily, is not on and harmonizes perfectly with the emerald eyes. The graceful posture, the medium-duty body, slender legs and large eyes are distinctive features of the Russian Blue. A clear view, a more angular, clearly structured head, inside almost naked ears and so the breed's typical smile contribute to the friendly impression.

Three major breeding activities ( types) are now known in Europe. These are very different from each other, which is also historically very easy to understand:

Exist, particularly in Europe, mixing branches this breed, which is desirable to preserve the genetic diversity well. For these mixtures, the Central European Russian Blue has emerged. Unfortunately, there are standard for this type yet no recognized ( matched ).

In the young animals the eye color is usually not pronounced - Small Russian Blue cats are like all children with blue eyes on the world. The eye color changes in the ideal case from blue to green, but usually the color from blue to yellow / ocher to green is changing. Biennial should definitely show her emerald eyes, the Russian Blue, however. Russian Blue Children often come with a drawing ( Tiger or spotted, blue in blue) to the world. With at least 1 year, a Russian Blue cat was supposed to have a drawing seamless monochrome coat, only the rings on the tail are allowed.

Breed Standard

The Russian Blue is recognized by all associations and their umbrella organizations worldwide. The standards differ z.T. to very strong. Now, the European ( FiFe ) standard is explained below:

Medium blue with silver shimmer is preferred.

Character

It is considered a calm loving intermediate-level cat. She is very quiet, loses almost no hair and is very well suited for apartment entertainment. It plays into old age like and should not be kept alone. She needs a clearly structured daily routine in order to feel comfortable. They are family oriented and attached to their owners. Many Russian Blue preferred sleep under blankets or equal in bed with "your" man. Basically looking for Russian Blue always near "their" people, where they may be strangers very reluctant to shy sometimes.

The Russian Blue is very intelligent and many can easily open doors and even closets. They are very tremendous jumper, if they really want, and you can often see in the game jumps from the state at the bottom of the door frames. Despite the huge jump potential they are very considerate and it falls almost never what shelves.

Young Russian Blue are anything but quiet and reserved. They are pronounced adventurous, bold and sassy. With approximately one year, the animals change but significantly and it becomes the distinctive Russian Blue.

Only partly suitable for beginners.

Similar breeds

Often mistaken for the Russian Blue with the Chartreux ( but this is built stronger, acts chubby and has orange eyes ), and - here the likelihood of confusion is given the most - with cats of the breed Korat. In contrast to this, however, just the fur of the Korat is located close to the body, the eyes shine not so intense emerald green and the head of the Korat is more heart-shaped.