Cats are pets living in many families. The list of their breeds is very extensive. For some owners, the unusual nature of the breed to which their pet belongs is of fundamental importance. Such breeds, as a rule, are distinguished by specific external signs that are not characteristic of the majority of the other tamed representatives of the cat family. Before you get a similar pet, you should carefully read the lists of the most unusual breeds of cats, the features of their appearance and character.
Top breeds with curly hair
The first sign, unusual for domestic cats, is curly wool. Often breeds with a similar “coat” are regarded by breeders as the most unusual. They also have expressive almond-shaped eyes and rather large ears. According to these characteristics, animals are classified as Rex and can be represented by a list of the following breeds:
- Devon Rex;
- Selkirk Rex;
- Oregon Rex;
- Cornish Rex;
- Ural Rex.
Rex - a breed that appeared not very long ago - The official year of their registration is 1967, and the first Cornish Rex variety was bred. However, the story says that the first kittens with such an unusual coat appeared 17 years earlier in England. The hostess took the unusual offspring to the vet, and he, not finding any ailments in animals, concluded that this wool is the result of gene mutation.
The mistress of the kittens, in turn, wanted to consolidate this unusual result, which marked the beginning of the creation of the whole breed.
Types of bald cats
But some individuals are characterized by such a sign as a complete or almost complete absence of hair on the body. Representatives of such breeds are known all over the world as sphinxes. There are the following types of sphinxes.
- Canadian, the body of which is sometimes covered with light, almost imperceptible down. It has fairly smooth features. An interesting feature of these cats can be the absence of a mustache.
- Ukrainian Levkoy, a characteristic feature of which, in addition to the absence of a fur coat, is also hanging ears. This species was registered in 2007 in the city of St. Petersburg. Long paws in combination with a rather flexible body give such cats grace. The tail of such cats is quite massive, resembles a whip and can sometimes be covered with a small down.
- Another type of bald cat with the original form of shells-like ears is elveswhose name was invented on this basis. Such cats have a massive chest, which creates the illusion of curvature of the front paws, and fairly large eyes. This breed was bred in the 90s by crossing the American Curl and Canadian Sphynx.
- A completely hairless body is typical for a breed of sphinxes like Don. It is because of this feature that many allergy sufferers prefer kittens.
- In St. Petersburg, the breed was bred peterbolds, which subsequently gained great popularity among fans of hairless cats.
The nature of sphinxes, as a rule, is kind and affectionate. They show a strong affection for their owners, they love to play. During the breeding of these representatives of the feline world, such quality as aggression was reduced, therefore seeing sphinxes evil is an extremely rare phenomenon.
Breeds with a unique body shape
One of the criteria for unusual cat breed is the shape of the body of the animal. There are cats that have non-standard body proportions, and this attracts the attention of breeders.
In the early 90s, a very unusual breed was created - the munchkin, which is also known as the dachshund cat. The reason for its appearance was a rather rare genetic mutation. Since then, short-footed cats with an elongated body touches the owners with their appearance. The limbs of such pets are half the size of other cats, and the only difficulty for them is to overcome the height.
However, the rest of their body works perfectly normal.
A funny way to consider something that is at a distance, is the formation of such cats on their hind legs. At the same time, they lean on the tail and lower the forelimbs. With people, the representatives of this breed get along quite well, since on the whole they are quite compliant. It is worth noting that such cats are friendly with other pets, although in case of danger they are always ready to stand up for themselves.
PThe other miniature breed, Napoleon, is derived from the munchkin breed. These cats are famous for their accurate form and beauty, with the aim of achieving which they were bred in 1995 by Joe Smith. The result was obtained by crossing Machkina with a Persian, due to which the Napoleon breed can see a charming, slightly flat face and long hair with a bushy tail. Currently, it is very difficult to breed such kittens, because most of their offspring do not meet the ideal requirements of the breed.
Therefore, you can buy such a kitten only at a very high price.
Another short-legged breed is Minskin. These cats turned out as a result of crossing sphinxes with Macchini. The muzzles of these animals possess mainly the features of the Sphinx, while they inherited their short legs and shape of the body from Machkin. The wool of these cats is present. By nature, they are quite active and sociable, but from time to time they need privacy in a secluded corner.
Non-standard nuances of the skeleton structure can also include the absence of a tail in a cat or the presence of a very short tail. The first case is a breed such as Maine cats. According to the legend, such an unusual cat floated on a ship and after a crash hit the Isle of Man, where over time, the same tailless kittens began to appear until a whole breed was formed. The vertebrae in the caudal region of these animals as a result of the natural anomaly are either completely absent or have been preserved in the most minimal amount.
For cats from the Isle of Man, there is a very thick coat, a rounded back part of the body, a wide chest and a round head shape. All these features make the pet look very voluminous, such cats seem incredibly soft.
At the same time, animals have very powerful hind limbs, which makes them excellent swimmers and jumpers.
The character of bobtails is notable for its flexibility. This trait, combined with the natural intellectual potential, makes it possible to raise an intelligent pet with good manners. These cats love communication and movement.
The number of caudal vertebrae in bobtails reaches 7, but sometimes it is less. In this case, the average cat in this area contains about 23 vertebra. Also features of the body of representatives of this breed is the ability to publish, in addition to two main sounds - purring and meowing, also freakish chirping, as well as a sound that resembles barking.
Cats of the Kuril Bobtail breed are also deprived of the ability to retract claws. This sign makes them related to predatory ancestors.
A unique breed is the pixie bob. Its exceptional feature is the multi-pitched, which is manifested by the presence of more than 5 fingers on the limbs of the animal. This feature does not interfere with the pet, but is not found in all cats of this breed.Such animals have a short tail, and at the ends of the ears there are small tassels.
It is noteworthy that the character of the breed is distinguished by calmness, unobtrusiveness and tact. But at the same time such a pet is never against active pastime. Many owners of such cats say that animals are very unpretentious in content. They show extraordinary devotion to their owner, while with strangers remain rather cold.
List of cats with a non-standard color
Another distinctive feature of the uniqueness may be the coat color of the representative of the cat family. It is on this basis that many unusual breeds are distinguished. However, before listing them, it is worth mentioning that the tone of the fur coat is determined in some animals not only by the breed, but also by the gender, such as, for example, tortoise colors, characteristic only for females, or by age.
In the period up to six months, the color of a kitten's coat is not always final.
The similarity with the leopard immediately draws attention to Bengal cats. The breed was bred in the middle of the last century as a result of the birth of kittens from a domestic cat by a wild Bengal cat. The dominant genes of the wild breed made the kittens' wool spotted like a predator, but the nature of the animals was quite affectionate and friendly. This rare combination was used to continue this breed.
Another breed with a "predatory" coloring wool is a shroud. She appeared as a result of crossing a wild serval with a domestic cat. The result was a golden coat with alternating dark spots and stripes, the pattern is varied and is largely determined by the color of the domestic cat. Such a cat is considered to be large, especially kittens from crossing the first generation, which grow up to 14 kilograms and are able to overcome the height in a jump up to 2.5 meters.
The nature of such pets, despite the slightly predatory appearance, is quite kind and devoted. Some compare it with the dog, because cats of the shroud breed can follow their owner on their heels. They like to spend time walking, and also love water.
Among the representatives of the British and Eastern breeds are individuals with a lilac color. It is called such because gray wool combines bluish and pink shades, due to which it looks very noble.
- Rare color of a fur coat is monochromatic chocolate. It is found in Persian cats, exotics, British and Rex. Breeders specially deduce cats with similar hair among these breeds, while the Abyssinian beauties may have such coloring from nature.
- Also, breeders are hard at work crossing the cats to achieve a golden shade of wool. It is the result of a mixture of Persian, British and other breeds. At the same time, the tone of wool is not always the same; in addition to gold, white patches may also be present.
Thus, among the representatives of the cat family, there are many original breeds that attract cat lovers both with their unusual appearance and interesting character. Having got such a pet, you will get not only a beautiful pet, but also a good friend.
On the most unusual breeds of cats, see the following video.
