Siberian Forestcat

Origin and history:
The name already suspects that this breed comes from the coldest part of the world, Siberia. This is partially true. The breed comes from whole Russia; cats from South Russia may also be called Siberian cats. But the people from North-Russia, the part which forms Siberia, have given this breed their name. They have wanted to indicate that it concerns a robust breed, which resists cold and severe circumstances. This cat has lived with people for a very long time, both in cities and in the country.    

When St. Petersburg had to go through a long siege which lasted 900 days during the second World War, it appeared afterwards that all cats had disappeared and the city suffered from a plague of rats. The inhabitants started to get cats for miles around which were brave and strong since rats aren’t the easiest preys.

Under the communist regime people didn’t have many means in order to breed cats. The cat which is nowadays known as the Siberian cat is known with many Russians as the street cat. That is how they lived during some time and nowadays there are still cats in Russia which resemble the Siberian cat. The Perestroika caused more freedom and fanciers with cats of this breed could start to breed. A standard was made (the first in 1989 by the PFS in St. Petersburg) and the Siberian cat started his world tour. If you look at it this way, you can consider it a young breed. It however has existed since centuries as a group of cats with a reasonable fixed appearance and it  has repeatedly been described and portrayed in literature.  It is also known that the Englishman, who organized the first huge show in 1871 in Chrystal Palace, had a Siberian cat. In that time the various breeds weren’t separated that strict as nowadays and this tomcat was showed together with other long-haired cats. 

There wasn’t a Siberian female cat available so he wasn’t bred specifically. Nevertheless, this tomcat was much loved by his English owner and by the English female cat which gave birth to several kittens.

Appearance
A Siberian cat isn’t elegant. It is a heavyset, strong and muscled cat. He doesn’t have extreme features. Everything gives a round impression, the head, the paws, the body…the head is pretty large compared to the body and has – view from above – a rounded snout. The cheekbones are heavy.

The bridge of the nose (side-view) goes up to the vaulted forehead with a curve. There may not be a visible stop like for example with the Persian. The chin is rounded, but may not recede. The chin may not be stretched out too far.

The ears are medium-sized and must be wide at the basis. The ears aren’t located close to each other and they may not be upright, but must be a bit slantingly. Hair plumes must grow in the ears, the so-called lynx plumes. The eyes are large and open, rounded and positioned slantingly. All colors are allowed, but grass-green is preferred and deep blue is preferred with the Siberian color point. Both eyes must have the same color and the color within one eye must be as uniform as possible. The neck is rather short and muscled.

The body is medium-sized to large. Together with the paws they form a kind of triangle. This means that the hips and the shoulders are at the same height. The chest of the Siberian cat is wide. Medium-sized, powerful paws with round feet and visible long hairs between the toes, the so-called snowshoe.

The tail may not be too long; the point should reach the shoulder blades.

The colors.
Although the Siberian cat as breed has been classified with the Forestcat breeds (together with the Norwegian Forestcat and the Maine Coon) the Siberian cat may also be a color point like the Holy Burman and the Ragdoll. The Siberian cat is a natural breed and there are breeders who think that the color point factor doesn’t belong to it. Within the breed pointed kittens have been born for a long time, totally unexpectedly.    
 
Besides, in South Russia a color point cat is camouflaged well, just like a Siamese in Thailand doesn’t strike too much because of his color, and since the Siberian cat finds his origin in Russia, this color is allowed in the standard. The breeders in Russia gave him a pet name: Neva Masquerade, “mask cat of the Neva”.

The Neva streams through St. Petersburg (far in the cold North!) and that is where breeders discovered the point cats for the first time in Forest, which is why they were called like this. The Neva Masquerade isn’t a separate breed, but a color combination of the Siberian cat with an own name. The Siberian cat may have all “farmer’s cat colors”: black, black tabby, blue and blue tabby, red, cream, black tortoise and blue tortoise (also called blue-cream). All colors may have white in addition; the quantity doesn’t matter. It is even true that if a Siberian cat Neva Masquerade resembles a Holy Burman or Ragdoll too much because of his marking, he might be disqualified. Siberians may also be silver and pointed, as mentioned. A black tabby pointed Siberian is called a Seal tabby point, because the black color gets dark brown because of the color point gene, but for the rest the color names are identical as the names of fully colored animals.

A color point always has blue eyes, the Neva Masquerade as well. The standard only excludes the colors chocolate (with the diluted color lilac) and cinnamon (with the diluted color fawn), both with the completely colored Siberian cat and with the Siberian color point. Golden also isn’t a color which originally occurs with the Siberian cat. 

Pictures & breedinformation by: Cattery "Nezhny Woin"