Persian
Long-haired breed with round face and flat muzzle.
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The Persian is a breed of longhaired domestic cat with a massive body, measuring 40 to 50 cm in length and up to 30 cm at the withers.[1] Its fur is thick and silky, with champion coats reaching 12 or even 15 cm in length.[1] The breed is generally described as quiet, placid, and easily adaptable to apartment life.[1][2]
Biology and range
Della Valle described a "beautiful race of cats" from Khorasan in a letter from Isfahan on 20 June 1620.[1] Genetic research states that "the modern Persian cat has lost its phylogeographical signature" from Persia.[3] Selective breeding has produced a wide variety of coat colours, with over eighty known varieties by colour and distribution.[1][4]
What the specialist sources record
The Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that the Persian cat is the "true model of the apartment and competition cat, calm, gentle and easily adaptable".[1] The same source states that the English in the 19th century selected the most massive, roundest, and shortest longhaired cats, and Americans later produced the "peke face" extreme type.[1] Hartwell's account reports that the first longhairs recognised by western cat fancies were Angoras and Persians, whose histories are intertwined.[5] The Messybeast article states that by 2010 it was unlikely any genuine Peke-face Persians survived.[6]
Digard records that buyers paid up to 3,000 euros for an "extreme" Persian and 6,000 euros for an extreme sable-coated Persian.[1]
References
- Digard, "CAT II. Persian Cat", Encyclopaedia Iranica. facts only, no text reused. iranicaonline.org
- Wikipedia, "Persian cat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Turner, "Companion Animals & Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People & Pets", Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 257–271 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Persian cat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lipinski, "The Ascent of Cat Breeds: Genetic Evaluations of Breeds and Worldwide Random Bred Populations", Genomics, January 2008, p. 12–21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Persian cat" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Baggaley, "The cat encyclopedia - the definitive visual guide", Dorling Kindersley, 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Hartwell, "Longhaired Cats", Messybeast Cats, 2013. facts only, no text reused. messybeast.com
- Hartwell, "Novelty Breeds and Ultra-Cats – A Breed Too Far?", Messybeast Cats, 2010. facts only, no text reused. messybeast.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Persian cat (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Persian cat (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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