Cat Breeds Breed Encyclopedia
Every profile below covers real temperament, health, grooming, and lifestyle-fit data — written to actually help you choose, not just to rank on a search result.
Abyssinian
Despite the name, genetic studies suggest the Abyssinian's true origin lies along the Indian Ocean coast …
View profile →American Shorthair
Descended from working cats brought to North America aboard European ships specifically to control rodent…
View profile →Balinese
Named not for any actual connection to the island of Bali but for the graceful, dancer-like movement bree…
View profile →Bengal
Developed starting in the 1960s and 70s by crossing domestic cats with the wild Asian Leopard Cat, the Be…
View profile →Birman
Wrapped in a legend claiming the breed's white paws are a gift from a temple goddess who transformed a pr…
View profile →British Shorthair
Descended from domestic cats brought to Britain by invading Roman legions nearly 2,000 years ago and late…
View profile →Burmese
Traced to a single brown cat named Wong Mau, brought from Burma (now Myanmar) to the United States by a n…
View profile →Cornish Rex
Discovered in a Cornwall farm litter in 1950, just a decade before the similarly-curled Devon Rex was fou…
View profile →Devon Rex
Discovered in 1960 in Devon, England, from a litter born to a stray cat, the Devon Rex's distinctively so…
View profile →Domestic Shorthair
Not a breed in the formal registry sense but a classification for cats without a documented pedigree, the…
View profile →Egyptian Mau
Widely considered one of the oldest cat breeds, with spotted cats closely resembling the modern Egyptian …
View profile →Exotic Shorthair
Developed in the 1950s-60s when American Shorthair breeders crossed their lines with Persians to improve …
View profile →Himalayan
Developed independently in both the US and UK during the 1930s-50s by crossing Persians with Siamese to c…
View profile →Maine Coon
America's native longhair breed, the Maine Coon developed its shaggy, water-resistant coat, large tufted …
View profile →Manx
A naturally-occurring breed isolated for centuries on the Isle of Man off the coast of Britain, the Manx'…
View profile →Norwegian Forest Cat
A naturally-occurring breed shaped by centuries of Scandinavian winters, the Norwegian Forest Cat's thick…
View profile →Oriental Shorthair
Developed in Britain during the 1950s-70s by crossing Siamese cats with other shorthair breeds to preserv…
View profile →Persian
Among the oldest known cat breeds, with roots tracing to longhaired cats brought from Persia to Italy in …
View profile →Ragdoll
Developed in the 1960s by California breeder Ann Baker, the Ragdoll's name comes directly from its most f…
View profile →Russian Blue
Believed to descend from cats native to Russia's Archangel Isles and brought to Western Europe by sailors…
View profile →Scottish Fold
Traced to a single barn cat named Susie, discovered in Scotland in 1961 with an unusual genetic mutation …
View profile →Siamese
Documented in Thai manuscripts dating back several centuries and historically kept exclusively by Siamese…
View profile →Somali
Essentially a longhaired Abyssinian, the Somali emerged when a recessive long-hair gene occasionally pres…
View profile →Sphynx
Originating from a natural hairless mutation in a Toronto litter in 1966, the Sphynx was developed throug…
View profile →Tonkinese
Deliberately developed in the 1960s-70s by crossing Siamese and Burmese cats to combine the best-regarded…
View profile →Turkish Angora
One of the oldest natural cat breeds, documented in Turkey's Ankara region for centuries and historically…
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