by Nicole Cook

Created on: February 12, 2009

It has been said that the Somali cat has the appearance of a wild cat because of its shaggy coat and fully fluffed tail. However, this longhaired Abyssinian is a kind and good-natured breed. The breed was developed spontaneously through an Abyssinian breeding program that produced random litters of Abyssinian kittens with long fluffy coats and tails. The Somali was first shown in 1965 in Australia where much of the earliest work was done on establishing the pedigree.

During the year of 1969, a breeder named Evelyn Mague of New Jersey chose the breeds' name. The United States Cat Fanciers' Association awarded the breed championship status in 1978. The breed is no recognized in other parts of the world as well. The characteristics of the breed are as follow; the Somali is a medium sized cat with long lean legs. The breed is extremely agile, and graceful but powerfully built. The breed is considered to be very smart and love to explore their surroundings thoroughly.

With a slightly arched back and wedge shaped head it gives the impression of having a somewhat oriental cat body type. Towards the rear of its rounded wedge shaped head are a set of large ears, which are wide at the base with pointed tips. The breeds larger than average almond shaped eyes are usually a shade of gold or green. The Somalis tail is thick at the base but somewhat tapered towards the middle and ends full and fluffed. The medium length coat, which is dense but soft and silky, requires occasional grooming as needed.

Unlike most mediums to longhaired breeds, the Somalis coat rarely sheds excess hair. Because the breed can become visibly distressed by cold weather conditions, the breed must be kept indoors during the cold winter months. A typical litter size for the Somali is three to four kittens. The kittens are born with very dark coats at first and do not develop the color ticked coat of the breeds adults until about eighteen months of age. The breed comes in over twenty different colors, the most common being of a golden brown shade that is color ticked with black.

Unfortunately the Somali is prone to a number of genetic problems most notably, dental problems. It is also estimated that approximately five percent of the breed carry a defective gene for Pyruvate kinase deficiency or PKDef. Fortunately there is a genetic test available that can detect the gene allowing breeders to prevent it from being passed to new generations.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_(cat

Pollard, Micheal. The Encyclopedia of The Cat. 2001. 242-43

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