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Russian Blue Breed
- Temperament: Intelligent, Aristocratic, Gentle
- Coat Length: Shorthair; Silky and Soft
- Size: Medium-sized cat
- Colors: Russian Blues come in one coat color – blue, and one coat length - short. Coat is a short soft and silky. Green eyes: it can be various shades of green - emerald, jade, forest green, herbal, dark green, malachite, pistachio, mint.
- Life Expectancy:10 - 20+ years, some have lived to be 25 years.
Russian Blue is called the aristocrat of the cat world, an ideal companion for home, for family, for travel, the best pet in the families of intellectuals and people of creative professions.
Russian Blue is even called Mona Lisa, a little detached from the world, with a mysterious smile on her face. These cats are restrained in emotions, accurate, extremely intelligent, gentle, observant, and faithful.
The Russian Blue is slender, flexible, graceful. Her movements are characterized by smooth fluidity and resemble the easy step of a ballerina.
Personality
The elegant and aristocratic Russian Blue is a sweet-tempered, loyal cat. They are known for their friendliness and intelligence, but are somewhat reserved around strangers. However, they are affectionate and very close to their family and tend to follow them around, sometimes on their shoulders.
Russian Blue cat is a synonym for elegance and delicate taste. She combines elegance and luxury, homeliness and naturalness. It is enough to see her only once to become a fan of this breed for life.
There are few catteries breeding this breed, and most of them have been dealing with this one single breed for many years. Living side by side with a Russian Blue, you will quickly realize that she is an ideal partner and a true friend. She subtly feels what you need and when you need time to be alone. She is cheerful and playful, gentle and friendly, and sometimes thoughtful and quiet.
The Russian Blue is perfect for living in a family, both in the largest family with children, and with single elderly people. It knows how to listen to a person, calming it owner during depression. When it comes to communicating with young children, a Russian Blue joyfully participates in intense games.
The child and the Russian Blue cat will always find a common language and will give mutual love. They will surprise and delight you, and each other. She never releases her claws, and patiently endures when the children drag her into their arms.
They get along well with other pets.
Russian Blues have excellent health and are not prone to genetic diseases. A balanced psyche makes it easy for them to adapt to a new place, and easy to carry when you travel.
History
According to one version, Russian Blue cats didn't get to England in Arkhangelsk with the help of sailors who took these animals with them as rat-catchers, buy the hands of Catherine II herself, who presented the pet as a hospitable gift to foreign guests.
Russian Blues are also known as the Archangel cats. While their silver tipping and green eyes certainly makes them look like angels, the Archangel name was given to them after their point of origin, the Russian port of Arkhangelsk on the White Sea about 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The cats boarded the boats with the sailors and came to other parts of Europe.
The first cat shows in England in the 1880s included Russian Blues. For a while, all blue shorthaired cats competed in the same class, but in 1912, the distinctive cats from Arkhangelsk with their large eyes and ears were assigned their own class called the Foreign Blue.
Care
The dense, bright blue coat tipped with silver has been the hallmark of the Russian Blue for more than a century. While generally quiet cats, they will talk to you if you talk to them and develop a large vocabulary. Once the Russian Blue decides you are worthy of his attention, he is extremely affectionate and expects your loving attention to all its needs. They are playful, loving companions that get along well with children and other pets. The thick Russian Blue coat is easy to groom with brushing or combing once or twice a week.
Interesting facts about Russian blue cats
A variety
Currently, there is a conditional division of Russian blue cats into several types:
Traditional - most often found in Europe;
American - found in America and Japan;
Scandinavian - they are close to the American, but developed completely independently of it;
English - widely found in England and Australia.
Representatives of each group put forward their own standards.
How did it happen? Why in one breed are there such differences and several types needed? Are changes to standards possible? And how do such different Russian Blue coexist in the same breed?
The fact is that after the Second World War, Russian Blue cats were on the verge of extinction. To restore the number of Russian Blue enthusiastic breeders from Britain, Finland, Sweden and Denmark were involved. And since it was an overwhelming task to find a sufficient number of purebred individuals for mating, they began to cross Russian Blue with representatives of other breeds having a similar color. So the Russian Blue became related at first with the Oriental, and then with the British.
Regardless of the type, all Russian Blues are beautiful and are constantly admired by cat lovers, experts, and breeders.
Despite the fact that there are as many as four official standards for the Russian Blue breed, differing in some details (set of ears, shape of the tip of the tail, etc.), all felinological associations agree on the main points, namely:
1) Thick, short coat of a single gray-blue color with a silver tint.
The silvery-blue shade speaks of the purity of the pet's blood and is not found in almost any other breed.
2) Green eyes are the calling card of the breed.
In the Russian Blue, the eyes can only be green and no other color.
It can be various shades of green: emerald, jade, forest green, herbal, dark green, malachite, pistachio, mint.
And only kittens, for the first months of life, have blue or gray eyes. All newborn kittens have blue eyes.
A variety of Russian Blue
Traditional type
The Traditional type is most often found in Europe. They have a flat skull, and a silky dense coat of uniform blue tone with silver tint. The body is muscular, slightly elongated, and medium in size. Their eyes are a slightly different shade of green.
American type
The American type is have a lightweight skeleton, a short very soft silky light silver coat and a rich green eye color. The shape of the eyes are round. The ears are maximally diluted and positioned at an angle to the head. Vibrissa pads are least pronounced.
English type
The "English" are large, broad-boned type, with plush, but darkish fur. The ears on their head sit parallel to each other, and the tips are directed strictly upward, resembling the ears of a German Shepherd.
The English type have an excellent color tone of short plush fur, vertical ears, and well-defined vibrissa pads. English types eyes have a typical almond-shape.
Scandinavian type
The Scandinavian type is close to American, but developed completely independently of it; and slightly different from English. They have a well-developed “double coat” which is somewhat darker. The ears are wider set, and the eyes are more rounded than the English type, but still slightly almond-shaped.
