Somali cat

Somali cat
3 month old Somali cat, blue
Fur length	Semi-longhair cat
Weight	Male: 3.5–5.0 kg female : 2.5–4.0 kg
generally recognized colors	Wild colors Sorrel blue Beige fawn Black silver Blue silver Sorrel silver Fawn silver
not generally recognized colors	Chocolate Lilac
permitted coat drawing	ticked (agouti)
List of cat breeds

The Somali cat (short for frequently used: Somali ) is a breed of cat with semi-long coat. It is a variant of the Abyssinian cat , from which it probably emerged through mutation or crossing into other breeds. Abyssinian cats with half-length fur have been reported since the early days of Abyssinian cat breeding. Since the 1950s, these occurred more frequently, especially in the English-speaking breeding area, and were specifically further bred. In 1979, Abyssinian cats with half-length fur were officially recognized by the Cat Fanciers' Association as a separate breed of Somali cat for the first time . Other global associations such as the Fédération Internationale Féline followed shortly afterwards.

Origin and history

From the second third of the 20th century, half-long-haired kittens appeared again and again in Abyssinian cat breeding. Due to their length of fur, these were seen as atypical of the breed and as lovers and not used for further breeding. From 1967, however, Abyssinian cats with half-length fur were specifically bred because this variant of the Abyssinian cat now saw potential for a new, related and nonetheless independent cat breed. The main area of ​​these breeding activities was the USA. To make a distinction to the Abyssinian cats, the cats were called Somali cats, after the East African country Somalia , the neighboring country of Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia ).

In 1972 the first pure Somali litter fell in an American Somali cat breed. In 1974 the breed received recognition in the first American breed clubs. In 1979 the breed of Somali cats was officially recognized in the USA, followed in 1982 by the largest European umbrella organization for the recognition of Somali cats.

Breed standards and breeding

In 1972 the Somali Cat Club of America (SCCA) was founded in the USA, the first club in the world to be dedicated to breeding Somali cats. On May 1, 1979 the largest American cat association, the CFA, awarded the breed championship status for the colors ruddy (wild colors ) and sorrel ("red"). This meant an official recognition of the new cat breed and the definition of its own breed standard. In 1979 the Somali Cat Society was founded as the umbrella organization for Somali breed clubs.

The breeding of the Somali cat is recognized by all pedigree cat breeding associations according to the breed standard of the respective umbrella organization. There are slightly different versions of the breed standard in the large national and international umbrella organizations of pedigree cat breeding associations. For Europe, the Fédération Internationale Féline is the largest umbrella organization. In the USA, the Cat Fanciers' Association and The International Cat Association are among the larger umbrella organizations.

In the breeding of Somali cats, the only permitted cross partner is the Abyssinian cat. The resulting cats are so-called "Abyssinian Variant", heterozygous Abyssinian cats with the recessive gene for long hair. Abyssinian variant kittens are currently only used by most Somali cat breeders for the breeding of Somali cats, since no genes for long hair are desired in Abyssinian cat breeding.

Breed standard Somali cats using the example of the Fédération Internationale Féline (Category III - shorthair & somali)
body part	feature	description
head	shape	Wedge-shaped with balanced proportions, wide at the top, with gently and gracefully shaped contours
	nose	Medium length nose, in profile the bridge of the nose is gently curved without a stop or straight bridge of the nose
	chin	Firm and well developed, rounded
	snout	Not clearly pointed. A shallow indentation that forms the snout is desirable. A pinch counts as a mistake.
Ears	shape	Relatively large and broad at the base, slightly rounded at the tips. A drawing (“wild mark”) is just as desirable as tufts of hair on the tips of the ears
	location	Clearly standing apart, attentively erect
eyes	shape	Large, almond-shaped and clearly set apart
	colour	Shiny and expressive, amber, green or yellow, of pure, strong color. Outlined with the same basic color of the ticking.
neck	shape	Graceful
tail	shape	Quite long and tapering to a point, broad at the base. The tail should be well haired.
body	anatomy	Of medium length and compactness, strong, supple and muscular. Overall athletic build.
hide	structure	Extremely fine and very dense, the denser the better. Fur structure very soft to the touch, medium length, with the exception of the shoulder area, where the fur can be a little shorter. Preference is given to cats with a well-developed ruff and panties.
	colour	The development of ticking takes a long time. The final coloration of the fur is only completed at the age of two, which should be taken into account in kittens and younger adults.
badge		White markings are tolerated on the chin and right on the nose.

Cause of the changed coat length

The reason for the modification of the coat length in comparison to the Abyssinian cats is not completely clear. There are primarily two possible causes: Increased cross-breeding of foreign breeds with a corresponding genetic predisposition (“long-haired genes”) or a mutation of the gene for the length of the coat in Abyssinian cats. The possibility of crossbreeding with other cat breeds in early Abyssinian breeds in the USA and England is quite possible. This would be a relatively simple explanation for the sudden appearance of semi-long hair in individual cats in otherwise typical Abyssinian litters. In 1976 the Somali Cat Club of America carried out examinations of all existing Somali cat pedigrees. This study showed that all pedigrees could be traced back to an Abyssinian stud male who was born in England in 1952 and sold to a breeding kennel in North America. He obviously had a predisposition for long hair in his genome and passed it on.

It is also possible that the first genetic predispositions for long hair were crossed as early as the beginning of the 20th century and again later after the Second World War. In the early days of Abyssinian breeding in England, crossbreeding with another cat breed, the bunny cat, occurred again and again. Some of these also have the gene for long hair, so that this recessive trait could have been built into the genotype at a very early stage of Abyssinian breeding. In the Second World War, in turn, the Abyssinian population in England was severely decimated as a result of the bombing raids and breeding partially came to a standstill. When Abyssinian cat breeding was started after the Second World War, other breeds were crossed in to ensure the continued existence of the Abyssinian cat breed.

The possibility of a spontaneously occurring mutation in the gene for short hair is also discussed. It is possible that the L + allele responsible for short- hairedness is affected, which mutated into the long-haired, l- allele. According to a theory of the geneticist Don Shaw, which he put forward in 1974, Somali cats do not have the homozygous genotype necessary for the development of long-hairedness (= recessive trait).

Character, colors and diseases

Since there are no differences due to the close relationship to the Abyssinian cat breed , these chapters are dealt with there.

• 

  Wild-colored Somali female

Individual evidence

1. ↑ after Metz, p. 70
2. ↑ Respectively were documented for the first time. One can probably assume that there may have been half-haired Abyssinian cats in litters before this time. In the early days of Abyssinian cat breeding, however, this was - just like the very early silver coloration of the fur - a "flaw" of the breed and the kennel that had to be kept "secret".
3. ^ CFA Breed Somali Show Standard (revised 1999) - website accessed on December 3, 2015
4. ↑ In the breeders' language, the fur on the back of the thighs on the hind legs is called “panties”.
5. ↑ Birgitta Kuhlmey: "Genesis" study proves the origin - from RAS: Pedigree cat journal for Abyssinians and Somali
6. ↑ Birgitta Kuhlmey: Long-haired gene via bunny cats in Abyssinian lines? - from RAS: pedigree cat journal for Abyssinians and Somali
7. ^ Genetic Debate - Somali Cat Club of America
8. ↑ History of the Somali cats  ( 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.  

literature

• Karen Leigh Davies: Somali Cats. Everything about Acquisition, Care, Nutrition, Behavior, Health Care, and Breeding . Barron's Educational Series. Barron's, Hauppauge NY 1996, ISBN 0-8120-9583-9 .
• Silke Offschinski: Somali cats. Purchase. Attitude. Maintenance. Parey Buchverlag, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-8263-8049-5
• Gabriele Metz: cat breeds. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-440-10265-7

Web links

Commons : Somali Cat  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The history of the Somali cat ( Memento of October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• RAS Pedigree Cat Journal for Abyssinians and Somalis
• Eros. - Electronic Register of SOMALIS Pedigree Database Abyssinian and Somali Cats
• The Somali Cat: 30 Years and Going Strong! (engl.)