Somali

The Somali is an Abyssinian. In order to explain how intriguing this purebred cat is, the Abyssinian should be described first. The Abyssinian belongs to the oldest acknowledged cat breeds in the world (the breed would have been acknowledged in 1882) and has many admirers. The Abyssinian is both qua appearance and qua character the superlative degree of the cat. The Abyssinian is a very “natural” (read: wild) cat as it comes to his appearance with his beautiful ticked fur patterns and his supple flexible body. His feature is his ticked fur. With the exception of the inside of the paws and the stomach each fur hair has a series of diagonal stripes and a dark point.    

The name Abyssinian suggests that this cat comes from the early Abyssinia. The possibility, based on the similarity qua figure, that the Abyssinian would descend from the holy Egyptian cat from ancient times, isn’t based on facts. The characterizing ticked fur couldn’t be found with any of the preserved cat’s mummies.

Cats with this specific fur pattern have been found on a number of other places in the world. Over thirty years ago the half-long-haired Abyssinian came into being to everyone’s surprise. With a wink to the naming of the Abyssinian, this half-long-haired cat was christened to a neighboring country of Abyssinia, “Somali”.

Character
Although the Abyssinian and the Somali belong to the same breed, there are more differences than just the fur length. A good Abyssinian or Somali is very affectionate, self-confident, cheerful, spirited, knows what he/she wants without being a bully and is active also as he grows older. The most appreciate breeding feature is their ability to interact with people.

If they have been cared for well in their youth and have acquired sufficient experiences (the first seven weeks are very important), they will develop into very people-oriented animals which put their trust in all living creatures. Especially the Somali can be vulnerable sometimes.

The Abyssinian seems to be less naive in this field. This breed wants to get involved in everything, is curious and intelligent. The way they cuddle and if they lie on your lap depends on one hand on their background and on the other hand it is determined by family traits. One owner may find something obtrusive, the other loves it: wanting to lie on your lap if you wish to read your paper, wanting to sleep in your arms at night, waking you with a kiss in the morning. However, in general the Somali is a bit quieter and less impulsive than the Abyssinian. We however warn you: Abyssinians and Somali’s are addictive: Anyone who has had the privilege to live together with one of them will purchase a second one….and a third one…..and a fourth one….   

'The wild look'
The first thing that will strike you as soon as you see the Somali, is the expression on his face, the stripe (tabby) marking around the eyes, the beautiful eyeliner, the nose, and the black lips and in some cases not only plumes in the ears, but also on the ears.
 

Tabby cats resemble their wild nephews and nieces, the lion, the lynx and the puma the most. Of all domesticated (house-) tabby cats the wild colors approach their wild family members the most, since they possess a rare reddish undercoat next to the tabby marking.
There are different tabby patterns in nature. The tiger is striped; the cheetah is spotted, while the jaguar has rosettes. The Abyssinian resembles the appearance of the lion, lynx and the puma. They have the expressive marking on their face and on their body they have the orange-red-brown fur color. In case of the ticked tabby patterns there aren’t stripes or spots on the body; however each hair on the back and on the flanks is striped, which is called “the wild look” together with the stripe markings in the face and a beautiful longitudinal stripe over the tail.  

The Somali’s fur is very soft, silky and half-long; the fur is shorter on the back and on the shoulders. Somali’s have a full color and pant (back of the paws) and a beautiful full plume tail.

The colors                
The well-known and most popular color is the wild color. The basis color is warm red-brown and the ticking is black. The soles are black just like the back of the hind paws, the so-called little boots. The rhinarium is brick-red, black-rimmed. The eye edges and lips are black as well. With the Sorrel everything which is black with the wild color is now cinnamon/chocolate brown and the basis color is a bit lighter. With the blue Abyssinian and the Somali the basis color is striking lighter than the basis color of the wild color and sorrel. The marking should be steel blue with a blue one. With the fawn the basis color is light cream and the ticking is deep warm cream. This breed also has silver varieties. With the Silvers the silver gene has ousted the basis color. A “wild color” with the silver gene becomes a silver white cat with a black marking, the black silver.

The rest remains the same; the rhinarium is brick-red, black-rimmed and the soles and little boots are just as black as the soles and little boots of the wild color.

You will notice the same idea with other silvers: a silver white basis color with cinnamon/milk chocolate brown marking (sorrel silver), steel-blue marking (blue silver) and with a deep warm cream marking we have the fawn silver. The warm colored congeners call forth associations with the jungle; however these cool beauties lead us to the snowy tundra

Besides these eight acknowledged (FIFe) colors the following colors are acknowledged by the Independent associations: chocolate, lilac, genetic red and cream, also in combination with silver. This breed seems to have come into being especially to pleasure the fanciers of animals from the nature.
The wild color and the sorrel Somali’s resemble a squirrel because of their thick plume tail and with a bit of fantasy they even resemble a small fox and the silvers even resemble an arctic fox.