Caring For Your Cat
MENU
Home Page
Buying A Kitten
Caring For Your Kitten
Introducing A New Cat
Soiling & Spraying
Cat Litter & Training
Eating & Drinking
Cat Bonding
Cat Aggression
Timid Cats
Keeping Your Cat Safe 1
Keeping Your Cat Safe 2
In or Out?
Play Time
Multi-Cat Households
Elderly Cats
Cat Ailments & Symptoms
Persian Cats
British Shorthair Cats
Home Page
Buying A Kitten
Caring For Your Kitten
Introducing A New Cat
Soiling & Spraying
Cat Litter & Training
Eating & Drinking
Cat Bonding
Cat Aggression
Timid Cats
Keeping Your Cat Safe 1
Keeping Your Cat Safe 2
In or Out?
Play Time
Multi-Cat Households
Elderly Cats
Cat Ailments & Symptoms
Persian Cats
British Shorthair Cats
Cat Care Tips, Advice & Products for the life of your Cat
As of 2001, the British Shorthair cat is the number 1 pedigree cat breed in the UK. Well known for their easy going and lazy temperaments, they are also a truly beautiful breed of cat. With their gorgeous dense, plush coats and short stubby legs, they could easily be mistaken for a living teddy bear. It is very easy to see why they have gained in popularity so much.
British shorthair cats have very strong features, their heads are round with full, chubby cheeks. Their bodies are large, sturdy, and muscular and they are described as having a cobby or stocky build. The breed has a broad chest, shoulders and hips with short legs, round paws and a plush tail which ends in a round or blunt tip.
British Shorthairs are an extremely strong and muscular breed of cat, and are also highly intelligent. Some have been known to play ‘fetch’ with pieces of paper and tap their owners with their paw when they want a stroke. They are not a noisy breed, but do tend to meow when they want attention or food. They are a very loving breed, with fantastic personalities. My own British Shorthairs used to love my company and would follow me from room to room even when not hungry. Whenever I sat down they were both on my lap within seconds and if anybody got up, they soon lost their seat!
They have marvelous personalities and love people, but also they are a lower maintenance breed of cat as their fur does not matt and they generally have no problems maintaining it themselves. Despite this they do get hairballs if not groomed occasionally, so this is still a requirement.
The British shorthair cat breed originated in Rome. When the Romans brought them to Britain they began to breed with wild native cats. Following this, cat breeders purposely cross bred them with Persian cats to develop the coat into what it has become today.
There are two main types of face on a British Shorthair cat, a ‘typy face’ in which the nose is quite squashed almost to the same level as the eyes, and the ‘doll face’, in which the cat has a more natural looking face with the nose lower down and much less ‘squashed’ features. Based on my experience, British Shorthair cats with doll type faces appear to be healthier, as they have less trouble breathing, eating and keeping their eyes clean. British Shorthair cats, and indeed all cats with typy faces tend to get a lot of problems with runny eyes, which can lead to them needing to be cleaned every day. Failure to do so leads to an awful brown sludge forming tear tracks down your cats face. Bear this in mind when choosing a British Shorthair cat with a typy face, as obviously this is a daily task which will need to be performed on the cat and will take time out of your day. If you want to avoid this problem, go instead for a ‘doll faced’ British Shorthair.
Although a British Shorthair cat doesn’t require daily grooming, it is a good idea to get them used to a brush from an early age. A rubber glove type brush is often the best as the loose fur ‘sticks’ to this. A wire brush will simply not catch the fur in the same way. British Shorthair cats can moult quite frequently, often in both summer and winter, as central heating affects them a lot. Another trigger for a British Shorthair loosing its coat is stress. During a visit to the vets or when a new pet is introduced, expect excess moulting until the cat has calmed down. Also, because British shorthairs love to be on the sofa, expect fur there all year round!
You may wish to bath your British Shorthair cat occasionally, especially if you decide to show your cat. Again, the earlier you get your British shorthair cat used to this the better. It’s important to be very patient, gentle and calm when doing this as cats in general, with the exception of the Turkish Van breed tend to hate water. The whole process can be pretty stressful for the cat, which is why it is best to get him used to it in a gentle way early on if you do plan to show him one day.
British Shorthair cats make an ideal indoor cat, as they are most at home when lazing about in the warmth of the sun through a window. But it is important that if your cat is the kind which gets lonely easily and you are out at work all day, you should consider getting a second cat to keep him or her company. Should you decide to keep your British Shorthair cat exclusively indoors, it’s important that you make sure he gets regular exercise by playing with him. This helps to keep him fit and in shape and helps avoid obesity.
British Shorthair cats come in a variety of colours such as Black, White, Blue, Cream, Red, Tortoiseshell, Blue/Cream, Chocolate and Lilac. Colours can be solid, patched or even what’s known as colour pointed in which the cat is a light colour throughout, with darker colouring just on the face, ears, legs and tail. The most common instance of this colouring in a cat which people would most likely recognize is the colour pointed Siamese.
Probably the most famous British Shorthair cat, and indeed the reason they are so popular today, is the ‘Sheba’ cat. The cat which featured in the Sheba advert and appeared on the Sheba tins of cat food was a ‘British Blue’, this is basically a British Shorthair in the solid colour ‘blue’. Because this colour is so popular these days, the name has been shortened by many owners/breeders to simply be known as the ‘British Blue’.
Although the colouring of a British blue is described as blue, it is in fact a deep grey. However if you look closely at the skin beneath the dense fur you will notice it has a blue tinge to it. Another confusing cat colouring is the colour lilac. Whilst some British Shorthair cats are described as ‘lilac’ in colouring, the lilac actually refers to a pale grey colour, much paler than ‘blue’.
British shorthair cats tend to live on average around 12 – 16 years. From my own experience with British Shorthairs I sadly lost my British Blue at the age of 11 due to a tumour in his chest, whilst my lilac colourpoint I lost at age 13 due to Chronic Renal Failure. Both of my British Shorthairs gave me years of companionship and love and they will be in my heart forever. They were, and are a truly beautiful breed of cat in every way, both inside and out.
British shorthair cats have very strong features, their heads are round with full, chubby cheeks. Their bodies are large, sturdy, and muscular and they are described as having a cobby or stocky build. The breed has a broad chest, shoulders and hips with short legs, round paws and a plush tail which ends in a round or blunt tip.
British Shorthairs are an extremely strong and muscular breed of cat, and are also highly intelligent. Some have been known to play ‘fetch’ with pieces of paper and tap their owners with their paw when they want a stroke. They are not a noisy breed, but do tend to meow when they want attention or food. They are a very loving breed, with fantastic personalities. My own British Shorthairs used to love my company and would follow me from room to room even when not hungry. Whenever I sat down they were both on my lap within seconds and if anybody got up, they soon lost their seat!
They have marvelous personalities and love people, but also they are a lower maintenance breed of cat as their fur does not matt and they generally have no problems maintaining it themselves. Despite this they do get hairballs if not groomed occasionally, so this is still a requirement.
The British shorthair cat breed originated in Rome. When the Romans brought them to Britain they began to breed with wild native cats. Following this, cat breeders purposely cross bred them with Persian cats to develop the coat into what it has become today.
There are two main types of face on a British Shorthair cat, a ‘typy face’ in which the nose is quite squashed almost to the same level as the eyes, and the ‘doll face’, in which the cat has a more natural looking face with the nose lower down and much less ‘squashed’ features. Based on my experience, British Shorthair cats with doll type faces appear to be healthier, as they have less trouble breathing, eating and keeping their eyes clean. British Shorthair cats, and indeed all cats with typy faces tend to get a lot of problems with runny eyes, which can lead to them needing to be cleaned every day. Failure to do so leads to an awful brown sludge forming tear tracks down your cats face. Bear this in mind when choosing a British Shorthair cat with a typy face, as obviously this is a daily task which will need to be performed on the cat and will take time out of your day. If you want to avoid this problem, go instead for a ‘doll faced’ British Shorthair.
Although a British Shorthair cat doesn’t require daily grooming, it is a good idea to get them used to a brush from an early age. A rubber glove type brush is often the best as the loose fur ‘sticks’ to this. A wire brush will simply not catch the fur in the same way. British Shorthair cats can moult quite frequently, often in both summer and winter, as central heating affects them a lot. Another trigger for a British Shorthair loosing its coat is stress. During a visit to the vets or when a new pet is introduced, expect excess moulting until the cat has calmed down. Also, because British shorthairs love to be on the sofa, expect fur there all year round!
You may wish to bath your British Shorthair cat occasionally, especially if you decide to show your cat. Again, the earlier you get your British shorthair cat used to this the better. It’s important to be very patient, gentle and calm when doing this as cats in general, with the exception of the Turkish Van breed tend to hate water. The whole process can be pretty stressful for the cat, which is why it is best to get him used to it in a gentle way early on if you do plan to show him one day.
British Shorthair cats make an ideal indoor cat, as they are most at home when lazing about in the warmth of the sun through a window. But it is important that if your cat is the kind which gets lonely easily and you are out at work all day, you should consider getting a second cat to keep him or her company. Should you decide to keep your British Shorthair cat exclusively indoors, it’s important that you make sure he gets regular exercise by playing with him. This helps to keep him fit and in shape and helps avoid obesity.
British Shorthair cats come in a variety of colours such as Black, White, Blue, Cream, Red, Tortoiseshell, Blue/Cream, Chocolate and Lilac. Colours can be solid, patched or even what’s known as colour pointed in which the cat is a light colour throughout, with darker colouring just on the face, ears, legs and tail. The most common instance of this colouring in a cat which people would most likely recognize is the colour pointed Siamese.
Probably the most famous British Shorthair cat, and indeed the reason they are so popular today, is the ‘Sheba’ cat. The cat which featured in the Sheba advert and appeared on the Sheba tins of cat food was a ‘British Blue’, this is basically a British Shorthair in the solid colour ‘blue’. Because this colour is so popular these days, the name has been shortened by many owners/breeders to simply be known as the ‘British Blue’.
Although the colouring of a British blue is described as blue, it is in fact a deep grey. However if you look closely at the skin beneath the dense fur you will notice it has a blue tinge to it. Another confusing cat colouring is the colour lilac. Whilst some British Shorthair cats are described as ‘lilac’ in colouring, the lilac actually refers to a pale grey colour, much paler than ‘blue’.
British shorthair cats tend to live on average around 12 – 16 years. From my own experience with British Shorthairs I sadly lost my British Blue at the age of 11 due to a tumour in his chest, whilst my lilac colourpoint I lost at age 13 due to Chronic Renal Failure. Both of my British Shorthairs gave me years of companionship and love and they will be in my heart forever. They were, and are a truly beautiful breed of cat in every way, both inside and out.
All advice given on this website is by expert cat owners. It is not in any way meant to be used in replacement to any vet or other professional advice. The owner takes no responsibility of any consequences due to any of the information held within the site. Privacy Policy
