Exotic

Exotic Cat Breed Profile

The Exotic Shorthair is the perfect cat for people who love the look and personality of the Persian cat but without the daily grooming. It is often referred to as the “Lazy Mans Persian”. That’s not to say that it never needs grooming and they love to sit on there owners lap and be brushed regularly, but it doesn’t matter if it’s not done every day.

The easiest way to describe an Exotic is to say it is a "shorthaired Persian"; the Exotic must conform to the Persian breed standard in every way except coat length. They have a round cobby body, short thick legs and round massive head, a flat face, short snub nose with large open nostrils and huge round eyes set wide apart. The difference is that the coat on an Exotic should be very soft and dense and stand away from the body due to its thickness.

Exotic Colours

Exotics come in all the colours of the Persian cat including solid colours, bi-colours, tabbies, himalayan and silvers.

Exotic Personality

The personality of the Exotic cat is like that of the Persian, outgoing, placid, easy to handle and beautiful to look. This combined with a sense of immense curiosity about what goes on about them makes them the ideal companion. They are most happy when they are with people and love playing with children or just sitting on a lap or on the arm of your chair. They will follow you wherever you go, even to the bathroom and will talk through the door at you if you dare to close one. There is no need to let them outside to be run over by a passing car or beaten up by the local tom cat, they will happily live inside with there owners with lots of toys to play with. They are happy living as part of any family, with working couples, people living alone or families with children and are happy living in a house, flat or apartment as long as they have lots of attention from there people.

If you are not sure that the Exotic is the cat for you, take the time to go along to a cat show and speak to breeders and see the cats for yourself. You can get a list of shows for the year from the governing bodies in your state; phone numbers can be found in the yellow pages or have a look on the internet.

Buying an Exotic Shorthair as a pet

We cannot stress strongly enough to people to only buy from a registered breeder. Most kittens from pet shops are more expensive than from a registered breeder and you will not be able to view parents and check that the kitten is from a clean environment. Also many kittens sold from a pet shop are not properly vaccinated and you have no guarantee that the kitten is the breed you are paying for.

Buying a kitten from a registered breeder will usually ensure that the babies are healthy, vaccinated, wormed and toilet trained. Many breeders also desex there kittens before they leave for there new home and will provide you with the registrations certificate and pedigree of the kitten you are purchasing. If the breeder does not desex before selling the kitten they will often hang on to the paperwork until it is done.

Breeders will often give you a photocopy of the pedigree of the kitten you are buying. You may ask yourself what is the difference between a pet kitten and a show quality kitten. Many times its not anything that the average person can tell and does not affect its health, it may be that the kitten has a longer body or larger ears than the standard asks for, also sometimes its because a breeder prefers not to sell too many males for breeding and so sells them as pets. There is many a cat sitting on someone’s bed who would do very well on the show bench if it hadn’t been sold as a pet and some breeders will allow these cats to be shown once they have been desexed.

Showing a kitten

If you are interested in starting to show a kitten talk to as many breeders as you can, an entire (not desexed) 'show quality' kitten will cost quite a lot more than a pet kitten, it’s a big step as the kitten you buy will be with you for life and you want to make the right decision. The kitten is an advertisement for the breeder whose prefix it carries and so most good breeders will guide you through the process of showing you the best way to present the kitten at a show and help you with the process of filling out forms, what curtains to use etc., that way the breeder is also proud of seeing that cat on the show bench. It’s not always easy if you do not live in the same state as the breeder but they should give you as much information as possible and it is easy to email information and queries back and forth. It’s a good idea to show a desexed kitten for 12 months or so if you are thinking of breeding as it gives you a chance to see many good specimens and to learn what is good and not so good in a breed. There is a lot of fun to be had with showing a desexed cat, you can win good prizes and make lots of great friends.