List of cat breeds

The following list of cat breeds includes only domestic cat breeds and domestic × wild hybrids. The list includes established breeds recognized by various cat registries, new and experimental breeds, landraces being established as standardized breeds, distinct domestic populations not being actively developed and lapsed (extinct) breeds.

As of 2019, The International Cat Association (TICA) recognizes 71 standardized breeds,[1] the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 44,[2] and the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) recognizes 43.[3]

Inconsistency in breed classification and naming among registries means that an individual animal may be considered different breeds by different registries (though not necessarily eligible for registry in them all, depending on its exact ancestry). For example, TICA's Himalayan is considered a colorpoint variety of the Persian by the CFA, while the Javanese (or Colorpoint Longhair) is a color variation of the Balinese in both the TICA and the CFA; both breeds are merged (along with the Colorpoint Shorthair) into a single "mega-breed", the Colourpoint, by the World Cat Federation (WCF), who have repurposed the name "Javanese" for the Oriental Longhair. Also, "Colo[u]rpoint Longhair" refers to different breeds in other registries. There are many examples of nomenclatural overlap and differences of this sort. Furthermore, many geographical and cultural names for cat breeds are fanciful selections made by Western breeders to be exotic sounding and bear no relationship to the actual origin of the breeds;[4] the Balinese, Javanese, and Himalayan are all examples of this trend.

The domestic short-haired and domestic long-haired cat types are not breeds, but terms used (with various spellings) in the cat fancy to describe "mongrel" cats by coat length, ones that do not belong to a particular breed. Some registries permit them to be pedigreed and they have been used as foundation stock in the establishment of some breeds. They should not be confused with standardized breeds with similar names, such as the British Shorthair and Oriental Longhair.

Breeds

Breed	Location of origin	Type	Body type	Coat length	Pattern	Image
Abyssinian[5]	Asia[6][lower-alpha 1]	Natural	Semi-foreign	Short	Ticked tabby
Aegean	Greece	Natural	Moderate	Semi-long	Multi-color
American Bobtail[7]	the United States[6]	Mutation	Cobby	Semi-long	All
American Curl[8]	the United States[6]	Mutation	Semi-foreign	Semi-long	All
American Ringtail	the United States[6]	Mutation	Foreign	Semi-long
American Shorthair	the United States[6]	Natural	Cobby	Short	All
American Wirehair	the United States[6]	Mutation	Normal	Rex	All
Aphrodite Giant	Cyprus	Natural	Lean and muscular	All	All
Arabian Mau	the Arabian Peninsula	Natural	Moderate and muscular	Short	All
Asian cat	Developed in the United Kingdom; foundation stock from Asia	Natural	Moderate	Short	Evenly solid
Asian Semi-longhair	the United Kingdom	Crossbreed between the Burmese and long-haired cats	Cobby	Semi-long	Evenly solid
Australian Mist	Australia	Crossbreed between the Abyssinian and Burmese	Moderate	Short	Spotted or marbled
Balinese	Developed in the United States;[6] foundation stock from Thailand	Mutation of the Siamese	Semi-foreign	Long	Colorpoint
Bambino	the United States	Crossbreed between the Munchkin and Sphynx	Dwarf	Rex
Bengal	Developed in the United States, but created in Asia	Hybrid of the Abyssinian and Egyptian Mau × leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)	Large	Short	Spotted, marbled, or rosetted
Birman	Developed in France; foundation stock from Burma (Myanmar)[6]	The original Birman was crossed with the Siamese and the Persian to create the Birman of today.	Cobby	Semi-long	Mitted colorpoint
Bombay	the United States and Burma (Myanmar)	Crossbreed between the Black American Shorthair and Sable Burmese	Cobby	Short	Solid black
Brazilian Shorthair	Brazil	Natural	Normal	Short	All
British Longhair	the United Kingdom (England)[6]	Natural	Cobby	Semi-long	All
British Shorthair	the United Kingdom (England)[6]	Natural	Cobby	Short	All
Burmese	Burma (Myanmar)[6]	Natural	Semi-foreign or semi-cobby	Short	Solid
Burmilla	the United Kingdom (England)[6]	Crossbreed between the Brown Tortie Burmese and the Chinchilla Persian	Semi-cobby	Short	Solid with Shaded Silver and Silver Tipped patterns
California Spangled	the United States[6]	Crossbreed between the Abyssinian, American Shorthair and British Shorthair	Moderate	Short	Spotted tabby
Chantilly-Tiffany	the United States	Natural	Cobby	Long	Solid, classic tabby, spotted tabby and ticked tabby
Chartreux	France[6]	Natural	Muscular but cobby	Short	Solid blue
Chausie	the United States	Hybrid of the Abyssinian × jungle cat (Felis chaus)	Normal	Short	Solid black, black grizzled tabby and black ticked tabby
Colorpoint Shorthair	the United Kingdom (England)	Crossbreed between the Abyssinian, Siamese and short-haired cats	Foreign	Short	Colorpoint
Cornish Rex	the United Kingdom (England)[6]	Mutation	Foreign	Rex	All
Cymric, Manx Longhair or Long-haired Manx[lower-alpha 2]	the Isle of Man, the United States, and Canada [lower-alpha 3][6]	Mutation of the Manx	Semi-cobby	Long	All
Cyprus	Cyprus	Natural	Lean and muscular	All	All
Devon Rex	the United Kingdom (England)[6]	Mutation	Semi-foreign	Rex	All
Donskoy or Don Sphynx	Russia	Mutation	Semi-foreign	Hairless	Solid
Dragon Li or Chinese Li Hua	China	Natural	Normal	Short	Ticked tabby
Dwelf	the United States	Crossbreed between the American Curl, Munchkin and Sphinx	Dwarf	Hairless	All
Egyptian Mau	Egypt[6]	Natural	Moderate and muscular	Short	Spotted tabby
European Shorthair	Continental Europe[6]	Natural	Moderate	Short	All
Exotic Shorthair	United States	Crossbreed between the American Shorthair and Persian	Cobby	Short	All
Foldex[9]	Canada	Crossbreed between the Exotic Shorthair and Scottish Fold	Cobby	Short	All
German Rex	Germany[6]	Mutation	Semi-foreign	Rex	All
Havana Brown	the United Kingdom (England); foundation stock from Thailand	Crossbreed between the Siamese and black short-haired cats	Semi-foreign	Short	Solid brown
Highlander	the United States	Crossbreed between the Desert Lynx and Jungle Curl	Moderate	Short/long	All
Himalayan or Colorpoint Persian[lower-alpha 4]	the United States and the United Kingdom[6]	Crossbreed between the Persian and Siamese	Cobby	Long	Colorpoint
Japanese Bobtail	Japan[lower-alpha 5][6]	Natural, mutation	Moderate	Short/long	All
Javanese or Colorpoint Longhair[lower-alpha 6]	Developed in the United States[6] and Canada; foundation stock from Southeast Asia	Crossbreed between the Balinese with some Colorpoint Shorthair, Oriental Longhair and Siamese	Oriental	Long	Colorpoint
Kanaani	Germany	Hybrid of short-haired cats × the African wildcat (Felis lybica)	Semi-foreign	Short	Solid black, chocolate spotted tabby or cinnamon spotted tabby
Khao Manee	Thailand	Natural	Moderate	Short	Solid white
Kinkalow	the United States	Crossbreed between the Munchkin and American Curl	Dwarf	Short	All
Korat	Thailand[6]	Natural	Muscular	Semi-cobby	Solid blue
Korean Bobtail	Korea	Natural, mutation	Moderate	Short/long	Colorpoint
Korn Ja	Thailand	Natural	Small	Short	Solid black
Kurilian Bobtail or Kuril Islands Bobtail	eastern Russia and Japan	Natural, mutation	Semi-cobby	Short/long	All
Lambkin	the United States[6]	Crossbreed between the Munchkin and Selkirk Rex	Dwarf	Rex	All
LaPerm	the United States[6]	Mutation	Moderate	Rex	All
Lykoi	the United States	Mutation	Moderate	Hairless	Solid black roan
Maine Coon	the United States[6]	Natural	Large	Long	All
Manx	the Isle of Man[6]	Natural, mutation	Moderate	Short/long	All
Mekong Bobtail	Russia	Mutation	Moderate	Short	Colorpoint
Minskin	the United States	Crossbreed between the Munchkin and Sphynx	Dwarf	Hairless	All
Napoleon	the United States	Crossbreed between the Persian and Munchkin	Dwarf	Short/long	All
Munchkin	the United States[6]	Mutation	Dwarf	Short/long	All
Nebelung	the United States		Foreign	Semi-long	Solid blue
Norwegian Forest Cat	Norway[6]	Natural	Cobby	Long	Traditional, sepia, or mink
Ocicat	the United States[6]	Crossbreed between the Abyssinian, American Shorthair and Siamese	Large	Short	Spotted tabby
Ojos Azules	the United States[6]	Crossbreed	Moderate	Short	All
Oregon Rex (extinct)	the United States	Mutation		Rex
Oriental Bicolor	Developed in the United States and the United Kingdom, later in Continental Europe; foundation stock ultimately from Thailand	Color variety of the Oriental Shorthair	Oriental	Short	Bicolor
Oriental Longhair[lower-alpha 7]	Developed in the United States and the United Kingdom; foundation stock ultimately from Thailand[6]	Crossbreed between the Oriental Shorthair and Domestic Longhair	Oriental	Semi-long	All; if colorpoint is considered to be a separate breed, it is called the Javanese
Oriental Shorthair[lower-alpha 7]	Developed in the United States and the United Kingdom; foundation stock ultimately from Thailand[6]	Crossbreed between the European Shorthair and Siamese	Oriental	Short	All; if colorpoint is considered to be a separate breed, it is called the Colorpoint Shorthair
Persian (modern)	Developed in the United States and Europe; foundation stock from Greater Iran[6]	Mutation of the traditional Persian	Cobby	Long	All but colorpoint
Persian (traditional)	Greater Iran[6]	Natural, but some crossbreeding with the Turkish Angora	Cobby	Long	All but colorpoint
Peterbald	Russia	Crossbreed between the Donskoy, Oriental Shorthair and Siamese; before this, it was between the Balinese and Javanese	Oriental	Hairless, velour, brush, or straight coat	All
Pixie-bob	the United States[6]	Mutation (falsely claimed to be a bobcat hybrid early on)	Medium	Short	Spotted tabby
Ragamuffin or Liebling (obsolete)	the United States	Crossbreed between the Ragdoll with limited out-crossing to the Himalayan, the Persian, and other long-haired cats	Cobby	Long	All
Ragdoll	the United States[6]	Behavioral mutation in a crossbreed, presumed to be between the Persian or Turkish Angora and the Birman or Burmese	Cobby	Long	Colorpoint, mitted, or bicolor
Raas	Indonesia	Natural		Short
Russian Blue	Russia[6]	Natural	Moderate, Oriental	Short	Solid blue
Russian White, Russian Black and Russian Tabby	Developed in Australia; foundation stock from Russia	Crossbreeds between the Russian Blue and short-haired cats from Siberia, Russia	Moderate	Short	Solid white, solid black and tabby
Sam Sawet	Thailand	Color variety of the Thai	Moderate	Short	Solid
Savannah	the United States	Hybrid of the domestic cat × serval (Leptailurus serval)[10]	Large	Short	Spotted
Scottish Fold	the United Kingdom (Scotland)[6]	Mutation of the bones and cartilage of the ears	Cobby	Short/long	All
Selkirk Rex	the United States[6]	Mutation/crossbreed between the American Shorthair, Persian, Himalayan, Exotic Shorthair and British Shorthair	Moderate	Semi-long	All
Serengeti	the United States	Crossbreed/hybrid between the Bengal and Oriental Shorthair	Oriental	Short	Spotted
Serrade Petit	France	Natural	Semi-cobby	Short	Solid tan, solid orange and solid white	mini-cat Serrade petit.jpg
Siamese (modern)	Developed in the United States and Europe; foundation stock from Thailand[6]	Mutation of the Thai	Oriental	Short	Colorpoint
Siberian or Siberian Forest Cat; Neva Masquerade (colorpoint variety)	Russia, Ukraine[6]	Natural	Semi-cobby	Semi-long	All
Singapura	Developed in the United States; foundation stock from Singapore[6]	Crossbreed between the Burmese, Abyssinian, and a variety of the Australian Mist	Small	Short	Ticked tabby
Snowshoe	the United States[6]	Crossbreed between the American Shorthair and Siamese	Moderate	Short	Mitted colorpoint
Sokoke	Kenya	Natural	Moderate	Short	Ticked tabby
Somali	the United States, Canada	Mutation	Cobby	Long	Ticked tabby
Sphynx	Canada, Europe[6]	Mutation	Oriental	Hairless	All
Suphalak	Thailand	Natural	Moderate	Short	Solid reddish-brown
Thai or Traditional, Classic, or Old-style Siamese; Wichien Maat[lower-alpha 8]	Thailand[6]	Natural	Moderate	Short	Colorpoint
Thai Lilac, Thai Blue Point and Thai Lilac Point	Thailand	Color varieties of the Korat	Moderate	Short	Solid lilac and colorpoint (blue point and lilac point only)
Tonkinese	Canada, the United States[6]	Crossbreed between the Burmese and Siamese	Oriental	Short	Colorpoint, mink, or solid
Toyger	the United States	Crossbreed/hybrid between the Bengal and short-haired cats	Moderate	Short	Mackerel tabby
Turkish Angora	Turkey[6]	Natural	Semi-cobby	Semi-long	All
Turkish Van	Developed in the United Kingdom (England); foundation stock from Turkey	Natural	Semi-cobby	Semi-long	Van pattern
Turkish Vankedisi	Turkey	Natural	Svelte	Long	Solid white
Ukrainian Levkoy	Ukraine	Crossbreed between the Donskoy and Scottish Fold	Moderate	Hairless	Solid gray
Wila Krungthep	Thailand	Mutation	Oriental	Short	Solid brown
York Chocolate	New York, the United States	Natural	Moderate	Long	Solid chocolate, solid lilac and solid taupe or any of these colors with white

See also

• Felidae – the entire cat family
• Felinae – the subfamily of all smaller cat species
• Lists of domestic animal breeds
• Wildcat – the ancestor of the domestic cat

Notes

1. It is possible that the Abyssinian originated in Ethiopia (formerly known as Abyssinia) but there is no record of agouti cats in Ethiopia. It is likely that they originated from somewhere in Asia, but there is no solid record.
2. The Cymric is often classed as a long-haired variety of the Manx rather than a separate breed, e.g. as the "Semi-longhair Manx Variant" in the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).
3. There may be some dispute to the exact origins of the Cymric. The specific dominant autosomal gene (M) that causes the short tail of the Cymric was found in the cats living on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea; however, the breed itself was developed by a Canadian breeder named Blair Wright and an American breeder named Leslie Falteisek in the 1960s from the Isle of Man population.
4. Some registries, such as the CFA and the TICA, classify the Himalayan as a colorpoint variety of the Persian. Others classify it as a long-haired sub-breed of the Siamese. The WCF has combined the Himalayan, the Colorpoint Shorthair and the Javanese/Colorpoint Longhair into a single breed, the Colourpoint.
5. Due to artifacts and prints dating from as early as the 11th century found in many Eastern countries, there is some likelihood these cats may have originated in China, then were brought to Japan. However, the first known importation of Japanese Bobtails was from Japan in the 1960s.
6. "Colorpoint Longhair" has multiple meanings and "Javanese" has been used for at least one other breed; the WCF uses the "Javanese" name for the Oriental Longhair (not colorpointed). The WCF has also merged the colorpointed Javanese/Colorpoint Longhair, the Himalayan and the Colorpoint Shorthair of other registries into a single breed, the Colourpoint. In the CFA, the TICA and some other registries, the Javanese/Colorpoint Longhair has been merged back into the Balinese as a breed division.
7. In some registries, including the CFA, the Oriental Shorthair and Oriental Longhair are a single breed, the Oriental, with two divisions (shorthair and longhair).
8. Thai is a recently established new name for the original, rounder-faced, thicker-bodied Siamese.

References

1. "The International Cat Association - TICA Breed Standards". Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
2. Cat Fanciers' Association - CFA Breed Standards
3. Fédération InternationFéline - FIFe Breed Standards
4. Somerville, Louisa (2007). The Ultimate Guide to Cat Breeds. Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books. p. 44. ISBN 9780785822646. There is a lot of confusion surrounding the use of this name in the cat world, although it is always used to describe cats of distinctly Oriental type. It has been adopted simply because of the tradition which has grown up for using the names of countries and islands from south-eastern Asia for other Oriental breeds, such as the Siamese and Balinese.
5. "Abyssinian at a Glance". April 13, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
6. "The Royal Canin Cat Encyclopedia", Aniwa Publishing: Paris, 2005.
7. "The American Bobtail Breed". April 13, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
8. "The American Curl Breed". January 28, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
9. "The Foldex". showcatsonline.com. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
10. http://f3savannahcat.com/

General references

• Canadian Cat Association / Association Féline Canadienne - CCA/AFC Breed Standards