Cats have been domesticated for centuries and come in countless patterns, colours, and coat types.
Some cats are even born without tails! But what is normal cat breeds?
This article will explore all you need to know about average cat breeds-their size, lifespan, temperament and more!
What are normal cat breeds?
The word ordinary does not only mean typical. Normal also means average or standard.
Cats that belong to a typical cat breed usually have no unusual physical features that make them stand out from other cats.
These typical cat breeds come in a wide range of coat types and colours.
Different standard breeds are distinguished by their appearance and size, by their weight and height.
Normal cat breeds come in different sizes: normal cat breeds are found from very small to normal-sized cats.
These normal-sized cats may be as big as normal housecats or up to average jaguar and tiger cubs!
Normal cat breeds come in a vast array of colours and patterns.
The most common typical cat breeds are their basic colour like black, white or brown.
What is the most common breed of cat?
According to the International Cat Association, the most popular breed of cat is the Abyssinian.
There are many reasons why these cats are so popular.
For one thing, they have elegant features, with their lithe bodies and balanced elements.
They also have long glossy coats that come in various colours, including brown, grey, blonde, black, and white.
They’re also brilliant and curious animals that get along well with everyone in the family- even dogs! With their athletic build and sharp eyesight, they are natural hunters.
While the most popular cat breed is the Abyssinian, many people might be surprised to find out that these cats aren’t naturally born in the United States.
All twenty-two different breeds of cat originated from either Europe or Africa.
It was widespread for sailors, traders, and military men to pick up a kitten while in port.
They brought them home so that they could hunt rats on their ships and serve as companions.
Within a few generations of these cats being domesticated, the breed’s unique characteristics began to show- including their preferred habitat type.
Over time, specific genes in different breeds became more dominant while others went into hiding.
The breed born here did not look like their ancestors at all, even though they had the same good traits and desirable characteristics.
Once cats were brought over around the mid-1800s, it only took a few generations for evolution to take its course and for them to look like tabbies.
Many people are curious about how cat breeds developed over time, so we have summarised each different type of breed below.
Keep in mind that there is still some disagreement between experts about the origin of each particular cat breed.
While these are the most agreed upon theories, we may never know precisely how these cats got their start.
1.) The Siamese Cat.
This is one of the rarest and oldest types of cat breed out there.
They are also known as Old-style Siameses.
They were domesticated in Thailand, in the area of Siam, which is where they get their name from.
They are very popular with cat enthusiasts, and many people even argue that they originated in Egypt.
Regardless of what part of Asia they came from, there isn’t much doubt that this breed has existed for a long time.
The Siamese cat bears strong similarities to the Asian Leopard Cat.
The Siamese cat is the most intelligent breed of cat, even more so than the human!
They’ve been known to develop a strong bond with their owners.
However, they are also compassionate and cautious creatures that don’t adjust well to change.
They took on this trait from their parents, the Asian Leopard Cat and the Jungle Cat.
As for their looks have a long slender body covered in medium-length fur that is coloured seal point or blue point.
Their most distinguishing feature is their ears, which are large and pointed, just like an elf’s ears.
They also have striking eyes that can be any colour except blue, even a pale green or yellow.
2.) The Cornish Rex.
This is one of the most unusual looking cat breeds in existence.
They have very short and curly fur that doesn’t require any special grooming to look good.
It takes a lot of work to make their coats smooth!
This is why they are sometimes referred to as having a poodle coat.
They originated in Cornwall, England, when Evelyn Moote created a breeding program for cats with curly fur.
While many experts believe that the Cornish Rex is a cross between the Devon Rex and the Burmese cat, some speculate that their short hair might be linked back to their ancestors from France.
While they’re not very large cats, they are very playful and easygoing creatures with many personalities.
However, their delicate build and unique appearance can be challenging to care for at times, especially if you have other pets or small children!
One other interesting fact about these felines is that they make different sounds than most breeds.
3.) The Bengal Cat.
One of the most popular breeds to come out in recent years is the Bengal cat.
While it doesn’t have any official breed club, many enthusiasts keep their own and actively participate in their breeding program.
Dr Willard Centerwall originally developed them at Texas A&M University in 1963. Still, he didn’t quite get them right until the 1990s, when he finally figured out how to breed these awesome cats!
Their ancestors include Asian Leopard Cats and other felines from Asia like the Jungle Cat.
Their appearance includes a golden coat that can be red, yellow or brown (but never white!), stripes on their legs, and a white belly.
They also have a distinctive look with strong brows and large “puppy” eyes that are either light in colour or dark green.
One thing you should know about them is that they can be pretty vocal!
Their voices can range from loud to extremely loud, depending on the type of cat and how he was raised.
4.) The Chartreux.
Many cat lovers know about the Chartreux since it’s a modern and well-known breed.
It was first recognised as a breed officially being bred in France in 1952, although they may go back much further than this date.
They are one of the oldest cat breeds out there, and their ancestors likely came from France as far back as 1550 A.D.
This makes them one of the oldest breeds known to man! Initially, they were kept by The Carthusian Monks but eventually spread across Europe through other breeding activities.
The Chartreux has a beautiful thick coat that can be almost any colour aside from pure white or black (but I hope to see pale cream or grey in the future!)
They have a distinctive look, so they are often referred to as having “the wise old man” type of face.
It includes large almond-shaped eyes that can be blue or gold.
The breed is known for its sweet disposition and playful personality, as well as its brilliant nature.
5.) The Ocicat.
This breed was developed at the State University of New York in 1966 by crossing Siamese cats with Abyssinian cats and American Shorthair cats.
Their ancestors were supposedly bred with Abyssinians because they wanted to eliminate the fear factor these felines have when it comes to water.
The name Ocicat comes from the word ocelot, a wild cat native to Central and South America and other regions in the world.
This breed has a distinctive coat with tawny markings covering them, although it can be light enough for people to mistake them for one of the Ocicat’s cousins – Oriental Shorthair cats!
You should know about this breed because they are considered very loving and affectionate creatures that do exceptionally well when living with other pets or children.
They love being around humans and tend to crave attention from others in their family, depending on their upbringing.
Normal cats come in all shapes and sizes, from very small to normal-sized.
Some cats are so small.
They fit in a person’s hand. Others can grow as large as big dogs.
The smallest cat on record was a hairless female tabby named Tinker Toy, who weighed 4 ounces and measured 6 inches from nose to tail.
The giant cat ever recorded was a 43-inch-long Amur tiger longhair named Hercules, who weighed 243 pounds and stood 7 feet 3 1/2 inches tall on his hind legs.
Cats have flexible bodies.
Some can curl up their bodies like a ball while sleeping or squeeze through tiny spaces.
Other cats can turn their back feet around to walk on the outside of their legs and sometimes even walk backwards.
Cats also have a perfect sense of balance, which allows them to land on their feet if they fall from high places (like trees) without being hurt.
The tail of most cats is long and thin with fur.
This helps the cat keep its balance when running because it touches whatever is behind them as they are running forward.
The tip of the cat’s tail has tiny hairs called whiskers that help the cat “touch” ahead as it moves into unfamiliar areas to ensure there aren’t any dangers ahead.
Cats have powerful jaws and sharp front teeth, which they use to catch and hold prey.
All cats are good at catching their own food, but some cats like the cheetah, leopard or lion eat only meat.
These big cats usually hunt for larger animals than themselves.
This is dangerous as the cat has to get close enough to the animal to catch it with its paws (and claws) and bite down on it with its mouth.
The cheetah is swift and has long legs that help it move fast enough to run down zebras and antelope in Africa!
A cheetah’s tail is always up over its body when running because this keeps the animal’s body and legs balanced as it runs.
Normal cats are found in colours like black, white or brown
A cat is a carnivorous
the animal that usually weighs anywhere from four to sixteen pounds. Cats are used as pets and research animals for humans.
Depending on the light conditions, cats vision and can see, depending oy and one hundred twenty feet.
A cat’s eyesight is also affected by its particular breed.
Cats are very flexible in climbing trees or other elevated surfaces to catch birds.
They use their paws as hands with five toes per paw (the back of the paw is a fibrous pad).
Cats have potent muscles which they can use when jumping from a high place.
Different types of coat patterns and colours make up the vast array of typical cat breeds.
Different types of coat patterns and colours make up the vast array of typical cat breeds.
Siamese cats have a blue-eyed, point colouration with a white background, while other species, such as Scottish Folds, have forward ears.
Other characteristic traits of these breeds include whiskers and an absence or shortness of fur on the feet.
Colours are controlled by genes on either the X or Y chromosomes.
Since females have two of each, they can inactivate one of the chromosomes during development, while males only have a single X (or Y) chromosome.
This causes them to exhibit more diverse colouration and coat patterns than female cats.
Male calico cats are often sterile because their extra X chromosomes affect both gonadal development and sperm production.
In male tortoiseshell colouring, the hair follicles contain an enzyme called tyrosinase needed to develop pigmented cells.
A mutation eliminates this enzyme, causing all hair follicles to be affected, which results in male tortie.
Though white spotting is probably the most common form of phenotypic variation in domesticated cats, the mutation responsible for this effect was only found in the late 1990s.
The same gene that controls white spotting may work in other coat colours and patterns.
For instance, orange tabby patterns would contain at least one copy of the mutant fibroblast growth factor receptor gene (FGFR3).
Though it is not yet proven, there is a good chance that white spotting is also responsible for English Burmese and van cat colouration.
Orange tabby colouring ranges from solid red to one with patches or streaks of cream-coloured fur (an all over pale yellowish-orange) and black stripes on its face, ears, legs and tail.
Many experts assert that all tabby patterns contain the gene for white spotting. However, it is also possible that a separate gene causes this variation in tabby colours (instead of the underlying orange fur colour).
This could explain the difference between calico and tortoiseshell colouring since female cats with an orange coat may be carrying both mutations.
The iconic orange tabby pattern of domestic cats possesses black stripes on its face, ears, legs and tail.
These markings are associated with a specific region of chromosome CFA13 which contains at least three genes that control pigmentation.
The “Mc1r” gene (associated with melanocytes) affects whether pigment granules enter hair shafts.
At the same time, “KIT” helps regulate tyrosinase activity and “SLC45A2” codes for the transporter protein that moves melanin-forming components into pores in the skin.
One of these three genes must be deleted or mutated to produce black fur, while “Mc1r” also has variable alleles, determining whether pigmentation is fully present or significantly reduced.
Though cats can have a myriad of coat colours and patterns, it’s important to note that different types of mutations within each gene are responsible for these various traits.
For example, in Dutch domestic white (DWW) cats, only half of all kittens inherit two recessive mutations from their parents. In this instance, both parents possess the VGLUT1 gene variant despite being otherwise unrelated individuals.
This form is known as a “dominant negative mutation”, which results in panleukopenia (a viral infection causing inflammation of the blood vessels and bone marrow).
Another form of white spotting occurs in domestic short-haired cats, in which one copy of the pigment dilution gene causes a lack of melanin and all other pigments.
While these various mutations result in different patterns, they may also affect hair lengths or texture.
This can be seen with Siamese and Persian cats, whose fur tends to become coarse after only three generations, while Burmese have smooth coats and curly hair.
The best way to determine what specific genes an individual carries is through genetic testing.
Though this is usually expensive for pet owners, it is very doable on a research-level.
The most common type of cat breed is their basic colour-black, white or brown.
Black cats are considered to bring bad luck, and they are often burned or thrown out of a house if they aren’t given away.
But in some cultures, black cats are considered lucky.
White cats are the opposite, and they’re supposed to bring good luck and prosperity to many countries.
A brown cat can be any other colour of the coat, but it is often mixed with different colours like a tabby pattern or markings that mimic a tiger’s stripes.
This colour is most common in mixed-breed cats.
The second most common type of cat breed, such as the Siamese and Persian, comes from a group known as Asian breeds.
Asian species are mainly distinguished by their short hair and large ears and eyes. The exception to this rule is the famous Sphynx.
These cats usually have an exotic coat pattern like the pointed pattern or spotted pattern seen in Siamese or Oriental Shorthair cats.
Many other kinds of oriental breeds exist like Balinese, Javanese, Burmese, Tonkinese, LaPerm, etc.
Next up, we have our short-haired American shorthairs named aptly because they were born here but resembled many of our other breeds.
The American shorthair is considered to have originated in the early 19th century with two similar cats named Black Diamond and Whitefoot.
These cats were almost identical, with Black Diamond being a solid-coloured cat and Whitefoot having white feet and tails.
This breed has spawned all others like calico, tabby, tortoiseshell It, etc.
The final most common type of cat breed belongs to the British Shorthair group, which includes all domestic longhairs from Great Britain.
It was developed there during the 19th century by crossing different English longhairs together until they got what they wanted a healthy fat cat that had short hair instead of long fur, a broad head and short ears, and a silky coat.
Conclusion
There are many different breeds of cats, and they come in a wide range of colours, shapes, sizes and coat patterns.
If you have any questions about what types of cat breed there might be or want to know more about how the various colourings affect their personality traits, don’t hesitate to contact me!
