German longhair cat

German longhaired hair
Young German longhair cat from the F3 generation in the colors black-tortie-white
Origin:	Germany
Alternative names:	German longhair cat
Fur length:	Long hair
Weight:	Female: 3.5 - 5 kg male: 4 - 6 kg
generally recognized colors:	all
permitted coat pattern:	all
List of cat breeds

The German long-haired cat (also known as the German long-haired cat ) is a breed of cats that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and was almost forgotten after the Second World War. In 2005, targeted breeding was finally taken up again.

history

Long before the first cats were differentiated into different cat breeds, there were cats with longer fur in some regions of the world. The long-hair gene that led to long-haired cats in Central Europe came from imported cats. These animals were previously preferred by wealthy people and were considered desirable pets. These animals were commonly referred to as Angora cats .

The biologist and zoologist Friedrich Schwangart (born April 15, 1874; † 1958) created the first standards and scales of the cat breeds existing in Germany at that time and headed the central studbook for short-haired cats (Mr. Hirschmann, who later became the post-war president of the 1. DEKZV eV, was responsible for long-haired cats ). Even then, Schwangart criticized that most long-haired breeding cats did not meet the actual breeding goal, that of the so-called high - breeding Persian with a short nose and stocky body, even in his time . When choosing a breed, one paid much more attention to the color of the coat, rather than the type and quality of the coat.

First tended Schwangart to themselves, to connect just like the French to the English breeding model and trying to take in all animals on the type of developed in the UK Hochzucht Persian unify until his doubts about the "Stumpfgesichtigkeit" these animals came. Therefore, he contrasted the Hochzuchtperser with another breed of cat: “an original” type “with a broad, short head and face, but a sloping forehead and a longer, straight or gently arched nose bridge instead of a Persian-like retraction.” This one to be newly established He gave the cat breed the name German Longhair . The appearance of the German long-haired cat should be based on the appearance of the short-haired cat and the European Felis silvestris .

In 1929, Schwangart developed a new federal standard for cat breeding that was binding for all German breeders in order to put an end to the confusion that had prevailed until then regarding the breed classifications and to classify the breeds not only according to coat length and color, but also according to their physique. From this point on, all long-haired breeding cats existing in Germany had to be differentiated into German long-haired or Persian cats . A breeder who bred Angora cats until 1929 had to assign his animals to one of the two breeds based on their appearance and decide which breed he wanted to breed.

Up until the Second World War, German longhair cats were often seen at cat shows in Germany. In 1932, the German long-haired male fox from the Rheinburg was the national winner. In 1935, the breed was officially recognized as an independent breed in the longhair class by the German Reich's co - ordinated cat breeding association, alongside Persians and Holy Burma, and approved for breeding. In October 1939, the German Longhair was finally recognized under the breed name Borealis or Boreali in the Confédération Internationale Féline (CIF), the forerunner organization of Fife, to which the Societa Felina Italiana, the Cat Club de Paris and the Fédération Suisse belonged at that time. During the Second World War there was a sharp decline in pedigree cat breeding. In the post-war years, exotic breeds such as Siamese and Persians became popular and the DLH was more and more forgotten. In contrast to all other previously recognized breeds, the DLH was not taken over by the DEKZV, the successor organization of the former association.

Young male from the lines of the Aschemeiers family

In 1979 Dagmar Thies reported on a Ms. R. Aschemeier who had been keeping the breed in the so-called "Zwinger von der Blasheimer Mühle" since 1968. In 2000 the magazine Katzen extra reported in its 10/2000 issue in detail and richly illustrated about the breeding of Mrs. Renate Aschemeier, this time under the kennel name "von der Wassermühle" in which Mrs. Aschemeier herself gave information about the origin of her cats. According to these statements, the descent of the Aschemeier cats from the Deutsch Langhaar of the 1930s is not proven. Ms. Aschemeier had given her cats only with the verbal advice that they were very valuable, but without papers and without assignment to a breed. Kennel name and breeding animals were not registered in any association.

In 2012 the breed was internationally recognized by the WCF and can be bred and exhibited in this umbrella organization. In addition, since 2005 breeding cats have been registered as German longhaired cats in so-called experimental stud books (RIEX) of various free cat breeding associations that support the breeding of this breed of cats. The breeders are based on the original Schwangarts standard, which the WCF adapted to today's wording in 2010. In April 2009, the Aschemeier family made five of the cats from their breeding available to the breeders of the German long-haired cat, of which, however, there are so far very few offspring. The majority of the founder cats of the "new" German long haired breed are long-haired cats of different origins for reasons of population genetics, whose phenotype corresponds to the German long haired standard. The stud book is still open. Foundation cats must start in the novitiate of the respective breed club before they are used for breeding. In the WCF, a foundation cat must have been evaluated by three different clubs and by four different judges in order to be approved for breeding.

Appearance

Standard according to Schwangart (1945)

In 1945, Schwangart described the Deutsch Langhaar in a revised standard as follows:

• Physique: Slightly less stocky than Persian cats
• Head: Broad, with a relatively short, broad-ended part of the snout (like Persians)
• Forehead beveled, not pushed forward, flowing in flat curves towards the bridge of the nose or with a slight step.
• Ears: Small
• Nose: bridge of the nose without a saddle
• Eyes: Big, bright
• Legs: Short, stocky
• Tail: Medium length, well carried (pleureuse)
• Fur: ​​Long, pliable. In adolescence, when pregnant and depending on the season, it is less long, ruff, "caped" hind legs.
• Coat color: Like Persians all colors.

Today's standard (WCF 2010)

On March 18, 2008, the World Cat Federation approved the provisional standard for the German longhair cat and in 2010 it was adapted to the current wording:

• Body: The Deutsch Langhaar is a large, muscular cat, with a long, rectangular body. The chest is round and well developed, the neck is strong. The legs are of medium length and muscular, the large paws are round, firm and hairy between the pads. The tail is of medium length, thick at the base, and tapers slightly to a rounded tip.
• Head: The trapezoidal head with high set cheeks and a blunt, short snout is slightly longer than it is wide. The broad chin is moderately developed. The gently curved profile ends in a medium-long, consistently wide bridge of the nose, which curves slightly Roman.
• Ears: The ears are medium-sized, slightly sloping and placed wide apart. They are wide at the base and have a rounded tip.
• Eyes: The eyes are oval, large and open. They are slightly slanted and far apart.
• Fur: ​​The cat has long fur, a ruff and knickerbockers. The easy-care coat has a shiny, silky structure and an undercoat. The tail is hairy like a plume. Animals with long fur parted on their backs are preferred.
• Color variants: All coat colors are allowed. The eyes are uniformly colored, with any eye color being allowed.
• Mistake: Too short a coat, no undercoat and a coat of the same length all over the body are a mistake. A profile that is too straight or a stop are also rated as a serious error.

Rating System

Points scale (WCF 2010)

Body:	30th
Head:	30th
Hide:	20th
Color & drawing:	10
Condition:	10
All in all:	100

Web links

• Breed presentation on the WCF website
• Detailed page of the breeder friends German long-haired cats with lots of information and pictures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schwangart, Tierbörse 1929
2. ↑ Friedrich Schwangart; Tribal history, race studies and breeding system of the domestic cat; 1929
3. ↑ Der Katzenfreund, p. 166, 1929
4. ↑ Dagmar Thies; Breed pedigree cats; 1979
5. ↑ KATZEN EXTRA 10/2000: The German Langhaar (magazine)
6. ↑ General Assembly Minutes 2012 of the WCF
7. ↑ Certificate of breed recognition by the KVL (PDF; 832 kB)
8. ↑ Associations that support DLH breeding
9. ↑ Cats from the Aschemeier family
10. ↑ http://catfiles.info/Infos/Populationsgenetik/1,000000076487,8,1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ General Assembly Minutes 2012 of the WCF
12. ↑ German Longhair Standard (WCF)
13. ↑ http://www.deutschlanghaarkatzen.de/dlh/standard.html