British

On the 13th July 1871, the very first cat show in the United Kingdom was held at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, London. Among the 170 exhibits present were “English Shorthair cats” – the forerunner of the British Shorthair. Best in Show was awarded to a 14 year old female blue tabby Shorthair owned by Harrison Weir.

The British Shorthair traces its ancestry back to the familiar non-pedigree shorthair cat we still see in many homes today, which probably descends from European domestic cats brought into Britain by the invading Romans in the first century AD. Harrison Weir, a natural history artist, sometimes referred to as the “Father of the Cat Fancy” drew up the first standards that cats were judged against at early shows. He particularly admired the humble street cat, and by a programme of careful selective breeding he developed the British Shorthair into a cat of distinct type. Harrison Weir had a profound impact on the Cat Fancy in the UK; as well as producing the first Crystal Palace show; he founded the National Cat Club (still in existence today) in 1887.

As the Cat Fancy developed at a rapid pace during the end of Queen Victoria’s reign and into the 20th century, British Shorthairs were amongst the most numerous exhibits at shows. The Great War had a devastating impact on the breed, but a handful of devoted breeders kept them going, and by the end of the 1930s numbers at shows had recovered. Then came WWII and, again, a few enthusiasts managed to keep the breed alive. Because numbers were depleted after the War, breeders were obliged to outcross their British cats to maintain genetic diversity. Other breeds used were Russian Blue, Burmese and Chartreux. In order to try and restore type and boning, breeders found it necessary to use Persians. This also introduced the longhair gene into the breed, and longhair kittens will appear occasionally in litters, although it is possible today to gene test to discover whether a cat carries longhair or is homozygous (breeds true) for shorthair only.

Until fairly recently longhair kittens were usually sold as pets, although some breeders kept a particularly nice example to use in their breeding programme, when they were referred to as British Shorthair Variants, although they were unable to be shown at GCCF shows. However, some enthusiasts felt the longhairs were worth developing in their own right. As a consequence, a club was formed and application made to the GCCF for recognition of the British Longhair name as a new breed, and at the GCCF Council meeting on 15 February 2017, the name “British Longhair” was officially recognised. Since that time, British Longhairs have been shown in Assessment classes at GCCF shows and have found favour with the judges and also taken some top awards. Once the breed records showed a sufficient number of merit winners at shows, the British Longhair was granted Championship status in November 2021. At GCCF shows, British Shorthair and Longhair cats are shown in Section 3, along with Manx, Selkirk Rex and Chartreux.

At first sight the British cat should be a gently rounded and well balanced cat.  An essential feature is the expression which should be sweet and sincere and enhanced by large round eyes.  With a full broad chest, short strong legs, rounded paws and a tail that is thick at the base and rounded at the tip, the British should look both compact and powerful.  The British coat is a defining feature of the breed with more fur per square inch than any other breed.  Only the British has the short, plush coat that is often described as crisp or cracking, referring to the way the coat breaks over the contours of the cat. Males should be significantly larger than the females and mature males tend to develop prominent jowls.  Be patient – this breed takes up to five years to attain full physical maturity. The British can be found in all of the major colour and pattern groups.  The British Blue is the ‘flagship’ of the breed, with almost half the breed registrations being the ‘self’ colours. The colours and patterns can be classified as follows:

British Self  – These varieties are all one colour e.g. white, black, blue, lilac, chocolate, red, cream, fawn and cinnamon – all with orange eyes although you will also see the British White with blue, orange or odd eyes.

British Colourpointed  and  Colourpointed & White  – These varieties have  the coat pattern and blue eye colour of the Siamese.

British Tipped  – These varieties have coats which are coloured at the tips and the eyes are usually green; you will most commonly see Black (silver) Tipped and Golden (non-silver) Tipped.  You could say these are the shorthaired version of the Chinchilla and Golden Persian.

British Tortoiseshell, Tortoiseshell & White and Bi-Colour  – These varieties have mixed colours with or without any white and cover both the dilute and dominant colour spectrums.

British Tabby  – These varieties have tabby patterns in various colours (including silver) and can be found in the four tabby patterns of classic, spotted, mackerel and ticked.

The British personality is just like their appearance – strong, stable and, perhaps when mature, prone to laziness!  Not a talkative breed, the British form strong bonds with their ‘people’ and are patient and tolerant companions. Although they are unlikely to roam far from home, the British should be supervised outside because their nature may be trusting, leaving your pet vulnerable to mishap.  The British is suitable as an indoor only companion but this intelligent animal will need suitable stimulus and care must be taken to ensure that any tendency to weight gain is managed. The British is a four-square cat that prefers to have all four paws on the ground so may not wish to be carried about as an adult – but you will find that they are very happy to lounge on your laptop as you work! This is a wonderfully adaptable, confident cat that makes a superb family companion.

The British is a fairly easy cat to manage.   As they are slow to mature, the British kitten should be fed kitten foods for at least the first year of age whilst bone is being laid down.  Unless you are showing your British, the coat will not need regular shampooing but will require grooming during the moulting seasons to remove loose hairs from the dense coat.  As the cat ages and becomes less able to groom itself, it may be that the coat will need attention to prevent mats from forming.  Unlike the domestic shorthair breeds, the British is a noticeably sexually dimorphic breed.  Males weighing in at  9 to 17 lbs (4.1 to 7.7 kg) and females 7 to 12 lbs (3.2 to 5.4 kg).

The British cat has a slow metabolism; whilst a healthy mature British will have a well-padded muscular body, we must be careful not to let this padding turn from muscle to excess fat. The British Shorthair is considered to be a long-lived cat, with a life expectancy of 14 to 20 years. PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease), once a problem within the breed, is now under control thanks to the common use of available DNA tests by responsible breeders. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can be a problem in the breed.  There are no DNA tests yet available for HCM in the British breed.  However, responsible breeders will take measures to ensure that any affected animals are not used in ongoing breeding programmes. With effect from 1st March 2025 all imports from another registry of British Shorthair cats to be registered active (suitable for breeding) must be accompanied by evidence of a valid negative ALPS test.