With her grace, the giant coat and large round eyes in the doll`s face with a short stop is not only popular by the breeders it is also for lovers. There is no proven theory as to the origin of the Persian cat. It is maintained that at the end of the 16th Century it was discovered in Ankara, Turkey. Other theories consider Persia as the country of origin and therefore for many years they have b
een called Persians. Researchers think that they descended from wild long hair cats, e.g. the Manul which developed its long hair as a natural protection against winter cold weather in the mountains around Ankara. Which brings us back to Turkey! It is maintained through research that the long hair resulted from a mutation and then passed along through natural selection and through breeding programmes designed to ensure that the long hair gene was inherited. As is the case for so many things, the truth will lie somewhere in the middle. In the last century the Persian cat was exhibited at shows in England for the first time. Their popularity soon spread throughout the world. Besides the Siamese, the Persian is the most well-known breed in the world. The first Persians were black and white. The colours blue, cream and red were soon to follow. The Persian standard calls for a round head, small ears set well apart and full cheeks. The eyes are large and round and with a few exceptions the standard calls for the eyes to be of an Orange or Copper colour. A compact body sits on short, strong legs with round paws. The coat is long and silky. The tail is short and bushy. A break or kink in the tail or a point at the end of the tail is considered a fault. In cat shows, judges would disqualify a cat with faults like these, which would mean no awards. It would also not be advisable to breed a cat with such faults.
