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Siberian Cat Personality and Behavior

Siberian cat has a long, thick and very warm coat that does not allow moisture to pass through and perfectly protects from the cold.

The cat is large enough. The coat is long, thick, soft, silky. Around the neck forms a beautiful collar, on the hind legs – “pants”.

The head is relatively large, wide, and resembles a blunt triangle in shape. The forehead is convex with a noticeable transition to a straight muzzle of medium length. The chin is well defined, the cheeks are full.

The ears are of medium size, erect, with a wide base and slightly rounded ends. The auricle is filled with long hair.

The eyes are large, rounded, set wide apart, expressive. Their color is uniform – yellow, green, sometimes bright blue.

The body is of medium size, although in appearance it is massive, dense, slightly elongated, proportional. The neck is short. The chest is voluminous. The back and loin are well developed and powerful. Legs of moderate length, thick, strong. The feet are rounded, with bristly tufts of hair between the toes. The tail is of medium length, fluffy, and looks relatively powerful.

The Siberian cat breed is mobile, affectionate, playful, unpretentious, and hardy animals. Easy toilet training.

He usually sleeps on his back with his forepaws raised or folded on his chest, which is very funny and touching. However, sometimes it shows waywardness, restlessness and does not always respond with affection to the owner’s attention, which is influenced by mood.

Pets are well adapted to living conditions in temperate and middle latitudes. Not afraid of water at all. The rather long coat of Siberian cats is not as light and soft as that of Persian cats, so it does not roll into tangles and does not require such burdensome care for Persian owners. It is enough just to comb it with a brush once a week (somewhat more often during the spring molt).

It should be said that this is the only fluffy cat of its kind, whose fur is not an allergen. In addition, Siberian cats take care of themselves very carefully, therefore, with proper nutrition, the Siberian cat’s coat remains surprisingly clean and shiny throughout its life.

The first cats, which laid the foundation for the modern breed, did not differ in a variety of colors: most of the gene prevailed, and animals, as they said then, of the “wild” color were used for breeding. …

The club movement was rapidly moving forward, and the owners referred their favorites to the “definition of the breed.” Experts received animals black, gray, striped, with white paws and a “shirtfront”, and in addition, a fluffy Siamese color.

Thus, urban animals became the basis of the breed. Only later did single specimens of Siberian cats appear, brought from the provinces, according to their owners, of “non-urban” origin.

The Felinology Association presented 30 cats and opened a class of kittens with pedigrees from the first producers.

From the very beginning, “Siberians” were taken to foreign shows. However, without receiving official recognition, they were exhibited in the class of domestic cats.

Only after the breed was recognized in international organizations, Siberians began to receive high titles.

The first Siberians came to Europe in 1987, when German breeders Hans and Betty Schultz started breeding the breed in their Nevsky kennel. They were the first to cross the cat Musya with the pattern of a red tabby and the cat Timu, which they had recently bought at the poultry market in Leningrad. From these animals, the European breed lines begin. Today Siberians are popular all over the world.

The nature of thoroughbred Siberian cats is very attractive to those people who know how to appreciate someone else’s self-esteem. These cats are very affectionate, but, perfectly feeling the mood of the owner, they will never pester him with their caresses if he is busy or preoccupied with something. At the same time, they know how to comfort the owner in difficult times and help him in case of illness.

For home keeping, the main advantage of Siberian cats is their extraordinary cleanliness. Since in their historical homeland, in the Siberian taiga, they were one of the smallest predators, their lives depended on cleanliness. The Siberian kitten does not need to be toilet trained: when he is 3 weeks old and he leaves his nest for the first time, his mother will teach him to the toilet once and for all.

Siberian cats grow for a long time, they mature completely by 3 years. The cats are larger, although the cats are far from small, strong, strong, tightly knit. Another amazing character trait: Siberian cats in the house get along well not only with people but also with other animals.

The variety of colors of Siberian cats is probably one of the most attractive features that arouse interest in this breed. According to the breed standard, all colors are allowed, except for chocolate, lilac, their derivatives, and Abyssinian tabby.

The most typical color, widespread, is black brindle. It was on this color that the first clubs focused their work in order to stabilize the type of animals.

Black brindle color

In the first years of work, for example, the Fauna club practically did not allow breeding animals of other colors, except for black brindle, black brindle with white, and tortoiseshell brindle. This practice gave an undeniable result: the descendants of the animals bred in “Fauna” still perfectly “keep their type.” For modern breeders, it is also relevant to care about maintaining the type of animals.

It is recommended to periodically return when mating to strong animals of “wild” color.

The designation of the black brindle color according to the color system adopted in FIFe and WCF is SIB n 23. It is also called black mackerel, brown mackerel tabby, black mackerel tabby, or abbreviated brown tabby, black tabby, respectively.

Despite the misleading use of the word “brown” in the name of this color, it has nothing to do with chocolate, which does look brown.

Black tiger cats have a dominant allele B (black). The darkest color in the color is really black: the tip of the tail, stripes on the legs, back, sides.

The background color between the stripes can be gray, brown, sometimes even warm orange. The color of the undercoat is not regulated by the standard for this color, the main requirement is the correct location of the stripes (classic letter “M” on the forehead, stripe on the back, two long parallel stripes on the sides, continuous necklaces on the neck, thin and clear continuous stripes from back to belly, two rows of “buttons” of the main color on the belly) and the clarity of the color, its “separation” from the background.

Black tiger “Siberians” are very expressive: they have charming eyes, the shape of which is emphasized by a light outline, stunning velvet black legs, a raccoon tail, and black tufts on the ears. The eyes can be solid yellow or green.

Siberian cats of silver-black brindle color with golden eyes look very beautiful.

Marble color

Less common is the marbled color. Its designation is SIB n 22. Its other names: brown classic tabby black classic tabby. With a marbled color, animals have the letter “M” on the forehead, a stripe on the back, two long parallel stripes on the sides, continuous necklaces on the neck, “butterflies” on the shoulders, beautiful wide circles on the sides, and two rows of “buttons” of the main color on the belly … It is very difficult to achieve a clear, bright pattern on the rather long coat of “Siberians”, but with the correct color, marble animals look very impressive and impress judges at exhibitions.

Spotted color

Often found among Siberians and a third variety of tabby: black spotted color. It is designated SIB n 24, brown spotted, black-spotted. In general, it looks like a black brindle color, but in contrast, there should be clear spots on the sides of black-spotted animals. Interestingly, the “Siberians” have another spectacular variety of spotted color, the so-called torn marble: large spots on the sides, sometimes even looking like rosettes with a lighter center, like in breeds bred on the basis of the use of wild animals, such as Bengal cats …

Striped cats

At exhibitions, you can find Siberian tabby cats, which cause great controversy about the permissibility of their color, as well as the correct designation (SIB n 21). The cat looks like this: the letter “M” on the forehead, “buttons” on the belly, stripes on the legs and tail, but no stripes on the body. It is safe to say that this color in the “Siberians” has nothing to do with each other with the Abyssinian tabby, when such animals are mated with a friend for many generations, the stripes do not disappear, the color is transmitted steadily.
This color is very common in the breed and, perhaps, is the most “wild” original variety of tabby among the “Siberians”. Unlike the Abyssinian tabby cat, it is found in other breeds as well.
Unfortunately, the genetics of this color, however, like the spotted one, still remains a mystery.

Chinchilla color

The chinchilla color is based on the agouti gene. Unlike tiger, marble spotted and “wild” tabby, the hair of “chinchillas” has only two stripes throughout the body: a light stripe at the hair root and a dark stripe at the tip. “Chinchillas” look like very light-colored cats without stripes, only with a light veil of the main color. The standard defines two varieties of “chinchillas”: shaded, darker, and veiled, lighter. However, it is extremely difficult to find Siberian cats, which could be attributed with complete confidence not to the “common” tabby mentioned above, but to the “chinchillas”.

Silver color

The silver color in the breed is due to the action of the melanin inhibitor gene. The recessive allele of this gene has no noticeable effect on the color, but the dominant allele stops the synthesis of the melanin pigment, and therefore only the upper part of the guard hair is colored, while the bases of the awn and undercoat of the cat remain white. The result is tabby cats of all the above varieties: brindle, marble, spotted, “common” tabby, chinchilla silver.

Silver tabby is one of the most common and beloved breeders at the moment.

Gold color

The genetics of the golden color is still being studied. The main feature of this color: from 1/2 in golden tabbies to 2/3 in golden shaded, or 7/8 in golden “chinchillas”, parts of each guard and the top hair is colored in a warm apricot tone. The bright green, sometimes bluish-green accentuated expressive eyes of these cats, the warmth of their color, velvet dark legs, which stand out against the background of bright yellow legs and “pants”, aroused noticeable interest.

Unfortunately, the color is very difficult to work with, does not give quick success, requires painstaking work, especially if you want to maintain a heavy, strong type, therefore there are few good animals of this color, and it is difficult to expect a large number of outstanding representatives of this color.

Golden “Siberians” have become so bright that people who are not experts in colors sometimes even confuse them with “red”, but any breeder knows that “red” or, as they say, red color is determined by a completely different gene.
This gene O (orange) is interesting in that it is associated with the gender of the animal. Due to this, cats, as a rule, are either black or red, but cats can also be tortoiseshell.

Tortoiseshell color

Tortoiseshell cats are a real find for the cattery. You will never get such a variety of colors of kittens from a cat of another color. Another feature of red colors is that against their background, a pronounced pattern or ticking is very often preserved in the absence of an agouti factor, that is, it is very difficult to say whether an animal is a red tabby or just red. This can be established by examining either the pedigree of the animal or the offspring from its breeding. Red “Siberians”, unlike other colors, often have dark orange eyes, which for other colors, many judges have already begun to consider as an undesirable sign.

All of the above colors correspond to clarified colors, which differ from them only by one gene – this is gene D (dilator), which means “diluent”. Thanks to its recessive allele, the following colors are obtained: blue brindle, blue-tabby, blue spotted, blue silver marble, blue “chinchilla” – from the corresponding black color variations. The situation is the same with other colors.

In the absence of the dominant allele of the agouti gene, the color of the animals will be pure black, blue, tortoiseshell. Judges especially appreciate uniformly colored animals without gray hair and brown over flowers. Young animals can be in the stage of color formation for a long time, so there is no need to be upset and discarded because of the color errors of the black “Siberian” under the age of 1.5 years.

An interesting color is obtained by combining recessive without agouti and silver. These colors are called smokes. Depending on the base color, you get black smoke, blue smoke, red smoke, smoky tortoiseshell cat. In ideal color, the animals look almost monochromatic, but in movement, and if the coat is pushed apart, a bright white undercoat is visible. The more pronounced the contrast, the better. The disadvantages of color are the unevenness of the severity of smoke on different parts of the body and the presence of a shadow residual pattern. A feature of the color is its long formation.

White color

The Siberian breed standard allows for any amount of white and a combination of a white spot with any basic color. The animal may have small white spots, for example, on the chest; can be a classic bicolor with white on the face, white chest, belly, and legs; maybe a harlequin and even a van.

Unfortunately, in our country, quite a lot of people are engaged in color with white. Classic bicolors of any color: black tabby with white, tortie brindle with white, red-brindle with white, silver-black brindle with white look unusually impressive with a symmetrical arrangement of white, but this is very difficult to achieve.

Genetically interesting white color. In Siberians, the white color is formed by two completely different genes. In the first case, it is caused by the action of the superdominant white allele W (White), in the second – by the recessive allele of the Angora albino. In the case of a super dominant white color, it is quite easy to start a breeding program with white color, as when mating with any animal of any color, you can get white kittens. If the W gene is inherited from at least one parent, the kitten will be white.

In the case of a recessive white, the offspring will be white only when mated with animals that have the W gene, or if the rare recessive angora albino is inherited from both parents. White animals with the W allele can have both blue and yellow and green eyes, and even eyes of different colors: one yellow, the other blue. Unfortunately, blue eyes in these white cats can be associated with deafness, and show animals should have normal hearing.

Requirements for white color are about the same as for other monochromatic colors: the animal must have a uniform bright white color throughout the body, without spots and overflows. Small spots sometimes appear in young animals, which disappear with age.

Colorpoint

The color point color has caused a huge amount of controversy. Is it necessary in the Siberian breed, is it worth highlighting the Neva Masquerade breed as a separate breed? It cannot be denied that color-point Siberian animals are very popular.

Additional requirements for animals of this color, usually presented at exhibitions (other things being equal), are the correct color of the dots, their limitation from the general color of the body, uniformity of the color of the dots (it is very desirable that the dots on the paws, on the muzzle and on the tail have the same color intensity, preferably the absence of dark spots on the abdomen). Shaded animals may lose some of their color points when scored.

By modern WCF standards, Siberian cats can have very exotic colors and color combinations with eye color that are not accepted in other breeds, for example, cream silver color-point with white, golden tabby color-point, black smoke with a white spot, and green eyes.

In any case, the Siberian cat, this beautiful animal endowed with natural grace, will become a luxurious decoration of any home and will give its owner many wonderful moments.

Alice White

Written by Alice White

Alice White, a devoted pet lover and writer, has turned her boundless affection for animals into a fulfilling career. Originally dreaming of wildlife, her limited scientific background led her to specialize in animal literature. Now she happily spends her days researching and writing about various creatures, living her dream.

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