What exactly is an Abyssinian Cat.


 

The Aby origins.

The Abyssinian can be considered to be one of the oldest "breeds" of cat on earth. Their camouflage ticked tabby coat is perfectly versatile in natural environments, everything from deserts to jungles. It's no wonder that many species of wild animals share this type of coat pattern. Cats resembling Abyssinians have been reportedly found in parts of India, Greece, Egypt, and Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, from whence Abyssinians get their name. Images of small domestic sized cats resembling Abyssinians have been found in paintings from Egyptian tombs. One pictured is from the tomb of Nebamun, in Thebes, c. 1450 B.C. Some of the smaller breeds of African wild cats, have looks much in common with the Abyssinian. The most popular theory is that Abyssinians came from Egypt, though the Egyptian Mau has the same claim. There is a report of a cat resembling modern day Abyssinians, named Zulu, being brought back to England during the Abyssinian War in 1868. The British were known for bringing home "souvenirs" of their conquests. It's not too hard to imagine that they probably brought these unusual cats also, just as they did with the Persian, Angora, and Siamese types. Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, includes some of the sources of the Nile river, so it's also not hard to imagine that similar cats were also found along the length of the river. The Egyptian's reverence of their cats was well documented by ancient historians. Abyssinian maidens who owned one of these cats were highly desirable as a marriage partner. Another theory is that the Abyssinian breed was created by selective breeding of domestic British cats. This theory is also quite valid, especially since the British cat population included the descendants of the earlier mentioned souvenirs! Truly, the British have to be credited for the establishment of the Abyssinian as a breed, since it was the British that created the pedigreed cat registries and made a name for the Abyssinian. Cat shows became quite popular in the late 1800's and the earliest recorded Abyssinian was registered in 1896. Many of the earliest had one or both parents listed as "unknown", and early pedigrees show Siamese and brown tabbies as contributors to the gene pool.

The first Abyssinians came to the United States in the early 1900's. Aluminum II and Salt, rumoured to be silvers, were exhibited at a show in Boston in 1909. Another import, *CH Woodrooffe Ras Seyum, appears in the November 1938 issue of National Geographic. This issue contained the first published series of natural colour photographs taken by synchronized photo-flash, 25 of them, all of cats. Ras Seyum is mentioned as being one of the few adult siring males of his breed in the country at that time. Virtually every registered Abyssinian alive today can trace its ancestry back to this cat. Very few representatives of other breeds have added to the breed over the years, and those that did, were in carefully controlled breeding programmes. Most Abyssinian pedigrees today will show 15 to 20 generations or more of only Abyssinian to Abyssinian breeding. Within the last few decades, efforts have been made to re-establish the silver variety, and matings with silver non-Abyssinian cats were done. The breed has come a long way since the 1930's, and is now one of the five most popular breeds. The most popular colour variety is Usual, with Sorrel, a close second. Blue and Fawn are also accepted colours all over the world. Some registries recognize the silver variations on those colours, and the GCCF, or Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, registers the breed in 23 colours, including chocolate and tortoiseshell. In other breeds, such as the Ocicat and the Singapura, the Abyssinian was bred to Siamese and Burmese respectively to create the new breed, and some Abyssinian genes contributed to the creation of the Bengal domestic breed.

The Aby as a Pet.

Abyssinians are the type of cat that do not like to be left out of anything that their owners are doing. Whatever you do, he or she will want to join in, be it in the sitting room, bedroom,or even the loo, there is no hiding place! When you arrive home they will greet you by jumping up onto your shoulders and head butting you in the nicest possible way. Now we get on to the subject of the "aby language", they 'chirrup' rather than meow, a bit like a mother cat talking to her kittens and heaven help you if you do not talk back to them when they are talking to you. With regards to playtime, I think there is a bit of 'the collie' in abys, because they will bring back most toys you throw for them, whether it is a piece of paper rolled into a ball, a toy mouse or small soft ball, they will also bring you things you do not expect like your clean socks out of the ironing basket.

Abyssinian Colours.

Abys come in various colours. The four most well known colours are:- The Usual whose overall appearance is a rich golden brown ticked with black, the base hair or undercoat is a ruddy orange or apricot and the nose leather is brick red with black pads. The Sorrel has a lustrous copper ticked with chocolate, the base hair or undercoat is a bright apricot and the nose leather and pads are pink. The Blue has a soft warm blue ticked with a deeper blue grey, the base hair is a pinkish mushroom and the nose leather is dark pink and mauvish blue pads. The Fawn has a warm fawn ticked with a deeper fawn, base hair is fawny cream and nose and pad colour is pink. All the above colours have Championship status.