Exotic Shorthair Cat

In the late 1950s American Shorthair breeders, motivated by the popularity of the Persian, secretly began to mix Persians into their American Shorthair bloodlines to improve body type and to introduce the beautiful and favored silver Persian color into the American. (At that time and until 1965 American Shorthairs were known as Domestic Shorthairs.) Because of this hybridization, the American Shorthair conformation went through a period of remodeling in the 1960s. The boning of the American grew heavier, the head rounder, and the nose shorter, and the coat became denser and longer. Because the Persian's conformation was popular (and still is), the hybrids did well in the shows, although they were not a recognized breed at the time.

Other American Short-hair breeders, appalled at the changes occurring in the breed, became determined to disallow any Americans that showed signs of hybridization. Exotic Shorthairs might have remained illegitimate if it wasn't for the efforts of CFA judge Jane Martinke. She was the first to suggest that these hybrid American/Persian mixes should have a room of their own, rather than be allowed to rearrange the furniture in the American Shorthair's suite.

The Exotic Shorthair was first accepted for Championship status by the CFA in 1967. CFA breeders were then allowed to shift their American Shorthair/Persian hybrids into the newly formed Exotic Shorthair classification.

Few breeders chose to transfer their cats to the new class, however, and the breeders who did decide to work with the Exotic had a long road ahead of them. Because of the initial resistance to the new breed and because few Persian breeders would allow their cats to be used in the Exotic breeding programs, progress was very slow.

At first, Exotic breeders used Burmese and Russian Blues in addition to American Shorthairs to introduce the shorthair gene. The breeders used the shorthaired breeds just often enough to keep the shorthair gene in the bloodline.

As the breed began to gain in popularity, and as the gene pool grew larger, the CFA began limiting the outcrosses. In 1987 the CFA closed the Exotic to shorthair outcrosses altogether, leaving the Persian as the CFA?s only allowable outcross.

Even with the slow start, the Exotic made steady progress with the help of the devoted advocates of the breed who saw that a Persian in a Shorthair's clothing would make a valuable addition to the cat fancy. In 1971 the first Exotic Shorthair achieved the status of Grand Champion. In 1991, an Exotic was the CFA's Cat of the Year, and in 1992 the CFA's Best Kitten was also an Exotic. Today, the Exotic has a large following among cat fanciers.