Traditional Persian

Traditional Persian
A white female doll-face Persian in front of a male doll-face Persian
Other names	Longhair Persian Longhair
Origin	Iranian plateau ("Persia")
Breed standards
WCF	standard
SACC	standard
Domestic cat (Felis catus)

Traditional Persian is one of several names for a group of cats that are considered to be essentially the original breed of Persian cat, before the variety was selectively bred to have extreme features. Other everyday usage names are: Doll Face Persian, Classic Persian, Old Fashioned Persian, Long-nosed Persian, Old-style Longhair, Traditional Longhair and Original Longhair.

The physical appearance of this domestic cat breed barely changed when compared to photos dating back to the late 1800s. However, since some breeders in the United States and other parts of the world introduced the brachycephalic mutation into the breed, the short nose and clear break became shorter and higher. This resulted in the modification of the original Persian breed standard so that modern show quality Persians must have peke-faces. This resulted in the breed disappearing from cat shows.

However, this older form of Persian cat is immortalized in popular films like You Only Live Twice, Enter the Dragon, and (briefly) the Austin Powers movie franchise (which otherwise showcases the Sphynx breed).

Some "ultra-typed", "peke-face" or "flat-nose" Persian develop some problems such as teary eyes, breathing problems and undershot jaws.

Persian cats originate from Persia (Iran). The cats were introduced in Europe in the 1500s as highly valued items of trade. The Europeans were impressed by the Persian's long silky coat and purposefully bred the cats to perpetuate the trait. Other long-haired cats such as Angora came from Turkey and added to the breed. References to such cats dating back to 1684 BC were found.

Two mutations of note influenced the Persian cats: the color inhibitor gene (1882) that gave rise to the so-called "chinchilla" coat and the brachycephalic mutation (circa 1942) that gave rise to the so-called "peke-faced" or "snub-nosed" Persian cats.