History Of The Russian Blue Cat Breed

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 22:49

The origin of the Russian blue cat is rooted deep in the centuries and is shrouded in mystery. It is believed that the Russian blue comes from Arkhangelsk or its environs. According to another version, sailors brought these cats to Western Europe in the 1860s. There is false information that Russian blue cats lived in the royal apartments in Russia at the court of Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria in England. Europeans fell in love with them for the excellent qualities of rat-catchers, for their unusual color and double, "plush" wool.

For the first time, Russian blues appeared at exhibitions in England in 1875, and although there is no reliable data that they were brought from Arkhangelsk, records in genealogical books suggest that most of the then known representatives of this breed, which bore different names, including Arkhangelsk”, Arrived from Russia.

In 1893, the English breeder Karen Cox took out a couple of blue kittens from Arkhangelsk, from which they began their selective breeding. Due to the small number of representatives of the breed, the breeders experienced difficulties - there were not enough partners for mating, and Russian blue cats were mated with representatives of other blue breeds and with Siamese cats with blue markings, which often led to undesirable results in kittens, in particular, to the loss of characteristic properties of wool.

It is believed that the first Russian blues arrived in the United States around 1900. Mrs. Clinton Locke of Chicago bought a cat named Royal Blue from an Englishman around this time. Another breeder from Chicago acquired a Russian blue cat with white spots around the turn of the century.

Initially, English breeders worked with the breed based on the native Arkhangelsk cats. But the revolution in 1917 put foreign breeders in a difficult position. The Iron Curtain prevented the import of new manufacturers from Russia. English and European breeders were forced to use Siamese cats in breeding work, which negatively affected their appearance and character.

The true history of the Russian blue cat begins in 1935 - from the moment of registration in the UK studbook. The Second World War has put Russian blue cats on the brink of extinction. Therefore, in the period 1945-1965. due to the lack of producers, Russian blue and Siamese cats were crossed quite regularly. The main focus was on maintaining the plush texture of the coat and the specific silvery shade of blue. Most likely, during these years, such signs of the breed as bright green almond-shaped eyes and light bones were finally established.

In parallel, the process of crossbreeding of a few Russian blue cats with Siamese ones was actively going on in America in the 1950s-1960s. In England the end of the process of "vegetable production" of the breed was put in the mid-1960s, in the USA and on the European continent - a little later.

Since the crosses of Russian and Siamese cats in England and America were carried out independently, there were some differences in the results obtained and, as a result, in the final breed standard. In the early 1970s, Russian blue cats in Great Britain had a sturdier constitution than their American counterparts. To some extent, this trend has continued to this day.

The return of the Russian blue to Russia took place in the mid-1980s and was accompanied by violent disputes between her breeds and breeders. The first breeding cats were brought from Czechoslovakia. On the exterior of these cats the "eastern trail" was too obvious. These shortcomings led to the need to introduce into the breeding work of domestic Russian blue cats phenotypically corresponding to the breed standard, which had a number of distinctive features from the foreign type of Russian blue and, most importantly, an ideal character. Kittens were sold strictly according to the club rules. It was during these years that the foundation was laid for the breeding of the Russian blue cat in Russia.

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Currently, there are four main types of the Russian blue cat breed:

- American type - the most oriental, but having a rich green eye color, which is established very early, already by the age of 4 months, as well as rounded (not oval) legs, - European type - having an excellent color tone, but very often devoid of "double hair", - English type - having a well-developed "double coat", but having a massive build and a rounded, not wedge-shaped head, - Russian type - the closest to the reference aboriginal type, but having problems with long discoloration of eyes (up to two years) and coat length.

Modern types of Russian blue cats differ from each other not only in exterior, but also in phenotype.