We who have the S*Scientiums British Shorthair cattery is Johan Schmidt, Eva Månsby and our three daughters. We and our cats lives just east of Lund in southern Sweden. We acquired our first Brit, EC S*Spinner‘s Blueberry Jill, a female, in the fall of 1997. We got our first litter under our own cattery name in February 1999, from that litter we kept one female, EP&IC S*Scientiums Alfa. Since then we have also kept a real couch potatoe, Pr S*Scientiums blå Kelvin. In the summer of 2007, (DK) Hentzel´s Fantastika Snow Flake moved in with us as well.
Our cattery is completely in our home with plenty of love and care. We never have more than two litters in a year since it would be impossible to give all our affection to so many kittens.
The base of our breeding is the blue colour and its variations, although it may very well happen that there are other colours as well. The kittens are sold no earlier than at 12 weeks of age and included in the price is the registration papers from SVERAK, the two first inocculations against kattpest and kattsnuva, microchipping, deworming, veterinary check and one years membership in the Swedish BSH club, Brittringen. At delivery the kittens are self-supporting on ordinary food, knows how to use the toilet and extremely adorable.
Brittringen is a so called ring for us in Sweden with a common interest in the BSH. As a member you get the magazine "Brittbladet" four times annually and you may free of charge advertise your stud or litters for sale both in the magazine and on the website.
We are members of the following cat clubs: Brittringen and Skånes Kattklubb. Through Skånes Kattklubb we also are members of SVERAK, the main Swedish cat organisation and Fèdèration Internationale Feline (FIFe), the international cat organisation.
Getting a cat is taking on responsibility for another living creature for the rest of its life and it may very well, if you´re lucky, last more than 15 years. It is vital not to get "kitten blind" but to see the animal as a companion in life. Before getting a cat it is important to ask your self the following questions:
There are some other things as well to consider before getting a cat:
The following items should already be in your house when the newly acquired kitten arrives: A litterbox with catsand or similar, food and water bowl, food, claw scissors if the cat is an indoor cat, comb and brush. Of course you also need a transportation box, the best ones are made of metal or plastic. Cardboard boxes are not recommended since they´re not reusable, it might happen that you need to go to the veterinary on an emergency then it´s good to know you got a box.
If you want a moggie instead of a pure-bred, you should consider taking on a cat for the local Animals Protection league, getting the comrade in life at the same time as you do the cats a great favour.
The Brit should have a medium to large body, muscular and cobby. Shoulders and back should be muscular and the chest wide. The legs should be short and thick with firm rounded paws. The tails should be short, thick and have a slightly rounded tip.
The head should be round and powerful with a wide scull and straight nose. The profile should have a soft indentation (not with a stop like the exotic). The chin should be strong. Neck should be very strong, short and well developed. The ears should be small with rounded tops and be placed wide apart. The eyes should be big, round, wide open and wide set. The eye colour should be copper or deep orange alternatively blue, blue-green or green (green is preferred except on white cats). Odd-eyes are also accepted with one orange and one blue eye.
The fur should be short , tick with good wool and not lay down along the body. The hairs should be thin but crisp and each hair (not counting patterned cats) should be uniformly coloured all the way.
The Brit has a cool temperament that it gladly shares with anyone near but you shouldn´t be fooled by the calm looks because inside the relaxed body is a cat that very well judges each situation before making up its mind. Once the mind is made up, hardly any human can change it. So when it decides to play you better play along (even at 4 o´clock in the morning). It can be very difficult to understand how this normally calm cat can play so intensely, it is a very special experience to see a seven kilo cat throw it self through the air in its pursuit for a ping-pong ball.
The name British Shorthair gives a clue to the origin of the breed. The Brit most probably have ancestry in the rat catching moggies in the rural farming areas on the British Isles. The oldest findings of cats in England is from the age of the Roman Empire, just after BC. On the British Isles, the cat for a long time was viewed with mixed feelings, it was the most effective rat catcher ever seen but at the same time the priests considered it to be affiliated with witches and devils.
The British Shorthair was represented as a breed at the first cat show ever in Crystal Palace (London) in 1871, where it actually was the most well represented breed. The patterned cats (tabby and spotted) were originally so common that they were not even considered necessary to mention in the breed standards, the solids on the other hand were very carefully described! Unfortunately the second world war almost entirely wiped out the breeding of the BSH making it necessary to breed in Russian Blue and Persians to rescue and revive the breed. Nowadays the breed is considered to be very stable and there are no more any need of breeding with Persians.
The first ever Brit to be brought into Sweden came in 1964, but it was registered as a Chartreux according to the rules at that time. The Brits imported to Sweden during the 70´s were instead registered as Europeans, splitting the European breed into two separate types. It was not until December 1982 that the Brit made it to the shows in Sweden under a name of it´s own. Today it´s the fourth most common breed in Sweden (within SVERAK) and it´s in a positive trend with an increasing number of kittens registered every year.
You can get a British Shorthair in nearly all the colours of the rainbow (and some more not present in the rainbow) not to mention all the patterns and combinations. By tradition (?) the graphite grey colour of the blues are the most common, so common that it has got a name of it´s own, British Blue. The name British Blue is well known that many people think that´s the only available colour.
The colour of the eyes varies as well. It changes with the colour of the coat. Whites and silvers could have green or yellow eye colour, all other colours should have yellow. A deep copper colour is preferred.
| Sources: | Kattjournalen number 3 1998, page 7-17. |
| Bonniers Stora bok om katter, David Taylor, Bokförlaget Bonnier Alba 1993. |
The following chapter is only valid for shows in Sweden by FIFe. There might be some variations if you go to a show in another country or by another organisation.
A cat show is a very peculiar event. It´s probably the only chance of ever getting to see more than 400 cats at one time. Today's shows (in Sweden) normally show all breeds in one day, but there still exist some shows that are divided so that semi longhairs and Siamese/Orientals (and moggies) are shown one day and longhairs and shorthairs (the category where you find the Brit) the other day. Here you can see a list of acknowledged breeds within FIFe
The judging is done against other cats of the same breed, colour, sex, same level of championship (for cats over 10 months of age) and fertile/neuter. The kittens, between 3 and 6 months respectively 6 and 10 months, are judged in separate classes (Youngster and Junior) only differed by breed and colour, in another word here competes boys and girls on the same conditions.
The judge have a sheet to judge the cat by. A perfect cat can achieve 100 points. In the BSH breed the body can give 20 points and the judge should consider shape, size, structure, shape of legs and paws and the tail and its length. The head can give 30 points and considering general form, nose, bite and teeth, forehead, cheek, placement and shape of ears and placement of the eyes. The eyes can give another 10 points. The colour and pattern of the coat can give 20 points and the quality, structure and length of the fur another 15 points. The general condition of the cat gives the final possible 5 points.
The judging is done on several levels:
The first level is the main judgement where the judge examines the cat and ranks it to the other cats in the same class or against the breeds standard point scale. The winning cat in each adult class receives a certificate if it as well fulfils the point scale, number two gets Ex2 and so on. In the youngster and Junior classes there are no certificates so the winning cat gets Ex1.
The next level is when the judge decides which cat is the Best In Variation (BIV) if there are at least three fertile cats present in the variation (breed and colour).
The third level is when the judge nominates the best veteran, male, female, male neuter, female neuter, youngster and Junior in each category he or she has judged of all the cats he/she has judged that day. The winners here get a NOM (Nomination) and goes on to the panel.
The fourth level, also known as the panel, is the comparing of the cats nominated by the judges in a category. Youngsters are compared first competing for the title Best In Show (BIS), followed by the Juniors. Adult males are judged separate from the females, the winner gets the BIS. This is then repeated for neuters.
In some shows, more common abroad than in Sweden, there is a fifth level where the BIS of each category competes against each other for the title Best Of the Best (BOB).
| Sources: | Informationsblad 3, Dansk Racekatte Klub |
| Kattjournalen number 3 1998, page 7-17. |
As I´ve written before there are an almost infinite number of colours and patterns or combinations (more than 130 at least) that are recognised for the British Shorthairs. Some of the accepted colours doesn´t exist on cats today, but are genetically possible as a result of a mating between now existing colours. The most common colour in Sweden is the Blue The following colours and patterns are the main building blocks. On this page you can see pictures of some of the approved colours.
The colour of the parents will by genetics influence the resulting colours
on the kittens. Often it´s interesting to know what kind of colours can one get on the
kittens and sometimes the colour of the kittens can tell some of the genetics of the
parents since there are hidden so called recessive genes. One of these genes is the
lilac/chocolate gene that, when doubled, one from each parent, gives chocolate kittens
from black parents or lilac from blue. Since some colours like the tortie are depending on
the sex, the possible outcome of a mating can differ for male and female kittens.
The following table gives the results of some
matings.
The patterned and silver/golden cats have their special
genetical rules for determining the outcome of a mating or what parents that are required
to achieve a certain pattern or colour.
Here´s a link to the table.
Last update 2009-03-22