Saturday, February 28, 2009

Culture Lesson - Class #1004

Using this site, which lists various cat breeds, I am presenting the fourth in our series of Cat Breeds.

American Shorthair

(picture taken from this site)

History
American shorthair has a History of approximately 400 years. They arrived in America with the Europeans. Evidence indicates that several cats may have sailed over from England aboard the Mayflower in 1620. These cats were brought along to hunt rats that ate the ship's food supplies and were first prized for their hunting abilities. With the import of foreign breeds in the early 1900s the original American Short hair bloodlines became diluted. A group of breeders began a selective breeding program to preserve the natural beauty, mild temperament, and hardiness of the American Shorthair.

Appearance
American Short hair is a strongly built, well-balanced, symmetrical cat with a look that signifies power, endurance and agility. They are medium to large in size with a solid body and wide chest with thick hind legs. Their heads are oblong in shape with a wide face, wide-set ears and round eyes. American Shorthair comes in variety of colours but the most striking and best known color is the silver tabby

Personality
American Shorthairs are very gentle and affectionate and make wonderful companions. They are known for their amiability with children and other pet animals. They are sociable and can be easily trained. They generally do not like to be picked up and they cherish their freedom.

Now this is a cat I understand.
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2 comments:

Lisa said...

Thanks for the lesson. My Amelia might be close kin to the American Shorthair.
She's really playful and so naughty.
Shredds paper, card board boxes, both she and her litter mates knock items off the table (salt shakers, eye glass holders, along with the eye glasses)


I love how you have 'meows' instead of comments!!

Bevie said...

[haha]

I think Firestar may be, too. We didn't choose the picture, but there was a picture which was the spitting image of him.

Yeah. I only recently figured out how to do that. I was seeing other blogs which used other things besides "comment".

Music to Make the Cats go Wild

Just a love song.

Musical Cats



Our Theme Song

Kitten of the Month - August

Kitten of the Month - August
Tara
Tara - Nick name 'ity-bit' because she's so tiny - just over 6 pounds. She's the most skittish of all my babies and even when being petted has the 'pet me, no don't pet me' look

Kitten of the Month - July

Kitten of the Month - July
Amelia
Amelia - Nickname 'Bratelia' since she gets into every draw, cabinet that she can put her paws in.
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Kitten of the Month - June

Kitten of the Month - June
Sethra

“She’s got tuna. I know she’s got tuna.”

“Shut up, Sethra. Stay on mission.”

“What’s the mission? I thought the mission was to get tuna.”

“No, you stupid fluffbrain—it’s to escape and become outdoor cats, walking by ourselves, on our wild lone, waving our tails.”

“Oh, yeah? And isn’t it you, my dear stripy sister Aliera, who keeps pushing the FEED button on the printer and waiting for tuna to come out?”

“That was when I was much younger. Anyway, she’s at the computer—yes, eating tuna casserole—so we can go into the bedroom and see if we can knock the window screen out.”
“You do it, Aliera. I’d rather mess with her stuff.”

“Will you GET OVER that fixation on her wristwatch?”

“I like the feel of the Velcro on my paws. Hey! That reminds me. We’ve been declawed. How are we going to survive as outdoor cats?”

“New plan coming up….”

“What’s the big deal about being outside cats? Even StalkerCat, who used to hang around and chat us up, is a house cat now and loving it. We’ve got it made—food, petting, toys, valet service for the litter box, and we get to sleep on her bed twenty hours a day. And we can stick our noses up to the window and smell anything interesting going on outside. Why ruin a perfect situation?”

“Sethra, have you no sense of adventure? No curiosity? No cattitude? We were meant to live wild and free, to stalk and slay our prey, to be mistresses of the night!”

“Look, we’re cats. We were meant to rule the world, but that doesn’t mean we have to WORK at it. You can if you want, but I don’t need to. After all, I’M beautiful!

“Did I mention she’s got tuna?”

Kitten of the Month: May

Kitten of the Month: May
Caitlin
Kitten Close-Up.

Kitten of the Month: April

Kitten of the Month: April
Mikey
At 8, you'd think Mikey would understand that he's a carnivore. But, no, he's rather fond of the shrubbery! At 20+ pounds, the veggie-enhanced diet is likely mitigated by a love for long naps on a warm comforter, wet cat food, begging at the table, and a nice lap to drape himself upon in the evening. And he drools when he's happy, which may or may not mean there's a Siamese ancestor lurking in the old dna.

What? Green teeth attract mice!

Kitten of the Month: March

Kitten of the Month: March
Geoff
Who needs a wickerwork basket when you can hop on a cushion and bask?

Kitten of the Month: February

Kitten of the Month: February
Rufus
Rufus is clearly a cat to be reckoned with.
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Kitten of the Month: January

Kitten of the Month: January
Firestar
Firestar is a tough cat. He has to be, living in Minnesota. He takes care of his family: wife, husband and their son. This was recently proven by his daring capture of yet another mouse in the house. Foolish rodents. They never learn. When not engaged in derring do, Firestar naps, looks out the window and sleeps. Firestar was born in April of 2006.
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