Exotic Shorthair

Exotic Shorthair
Brown Tabby Exotic Shorthair Female Kitten - 1 year old
Origin	United States
Breed standards
CFA	standard
FIFe	standard
TICA	standard
AACE	standard
Domestic cat (Felis catus)

The Exotic Shorthair is a breed of cat developed to be a short-haired version of the Persian. The Exotic is similar to the Persian in many ways, including temperament and conformation, a flat nose and face with the exception of the short dense coat.

In the late 1950s, the Persian was used as an outcross by some American Shorthair (ASH) breeders. This was done in secret in order to improve their body type, and crosses were also made with the Russian Blue and the Burmese. The crossbreed look gained recognition in the show ring, but unhappy American Shorthair breeders successfully produced a new breed standard that would disqualify ASH that showed signs of crossbreeding. One ASH breeder who saw the potential of the Persian/ASH cross proposed and eventually managed to get the Cat Fanciers' Association judge and American Shorthair breeder Jane Martinke to recognize them as a new breed in 1966, under the name Exotic Shorthair. Since 1987, the CFA closed the Exotic to shorthair outcrosses, leaving Persian as the only allowable outcross breed.

Because of the regular use of Persian as outcrosses, some Exotics may carry a copy of the recessive longhair gene. When two such cats mate, there is a 1 in 4 chance of each offspring being longhaired. Ironically, longhaired Exotics are not considered Persians by CFA, although The International Cat Association accepts them as Persians. Other associations like the American Cat Fanciers Association register them as a separate Exotic Longhair breed.

The Exotic Shorthair meets every standard for the Persian breed, except for the coat.

Head: Oval, massive. Very broad skull. Rounded forehead. Round, full cheeks. Short, broad, round muzzle. Short, broad nose with pronounced stop. Strong chin. Broad, powerful jaws.

Ears: Small, rounded at the tip, not too open at the base. Widely spaced and well-furnished with hair on the inside.

Eyes: Large and round. Pure, deep color corresponding to that of the coat (gold to copper in most varieties; green in the chinchilla and the golden; blue in the white and the colorpoint).