Siberian Cat Picture

A strong, solid looking domestic cat, you can tell that this cat breed comes from somewhere cold. In this case it is East Russia. This is a heavier than average cat breed with a triple coat including a "tight" undercoat. You can see a large ruff on the cat in the Helmi Flick Siberian cat picture above. The fur above the hock is longer too. Breeders (or one breeder!) claims that this breed is hypoallergenic. It is not true. There a lot of talk about that subject in general. Watch out for misleading information. I bracket the Siberian with two similar cats; the Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest Cat. This is a stately looking cat with an independent mind and strong limbs! The Siberian cat is still in Siberia as a random bred cat. They have been there for perhaps a thousand years. The cat fancy is quite strong in Russia so no doubt breeders turned the robust moggie into a purebred cat and from there it was exported to the USA (1990), the UK and Europe generally. You will see this cat in a wide range of colors and patterns. Read more if you wish....

Norwegian Forest Cat Picture

Sheer beauty. Stunning presence. Venus is a goddess of a purebred cat! The Norwegian Forest Cat (NFC) is on a par I think with the Maine Coon and would be as popular as the Maine Coon (MC) but for the fact that the MC is considered an American cat and the biggest market place for domestic cats is America by far. The NFC is a substantial, long haired cat developed from the icy forests of Norway from the 1930s onwards, when the first NFC was shown at a cat show in Germany. This cat is seen in all traditional colors and patterns. Venus is a classic tabby and white with an impressive ruff. It seems that the character of the Norwegian farm cats from which they were developed has remained with this breed. They are somewhat single minded and intelligent. I include a video I made years ago, which adds some detail. It is basic but has proved to be popular. Read more...

Norwegian Forest Cat in the Wild

norwegian forest cat
Originally uploaded by gari.baldi

This picture of a Norwegian Forest cat in the wild makes my mind soar to a time hundreds and thousands of years ago when this was normal, when all domestic cats were semi-feral (barn cats). They lived outside. There was no commercial cat food and there were no full-time indoor cats. In American many millions are full-time indoor cats. I understand why but dislike it.

Of course this cat is probably a domestic cat and not a feral cat and the stream is probably about 50 feet from the back door of a house!

I don't care, it looks like the way it was all that time ago and it is more natural and I love it when things are natural because only then are we in harmony with nature and our true selves.

The Norwegian Forest cat was a forest dweller in Norway before becoming a purebred show cat in Germany in the 1930s. Until then it got along fine as a moggie cat (random bred cat) in Norway superbly adapted to the climate and environment.

Norwegian Forest Cats are good climbers, a legacy of their forest dwelling days. Many wild cats are forest dwellers and fantastic climbers. The clouded leopard and margay come to mind but there are more.

This boy cat (I am sure it is a male) has a brown tabby coat that looks very functional. I like that. He might not be purebred. He likes water. Maine Coons also like water. The Maine Coon is similar to the Norwegian Forest Cat and there just may be a common origin with the Vikings bringing over long haired cats (the precursor to the NFC) from Norway to the American continent about 1000 years ago. Some may have evolved into Maine Coons.

It is a fallacy to think that cats don't like water. Some do and some don't on an individual level. And in some breeds there are a greater than average number of individuals who like water. Another breed that fancies water is the Bengal cat. This is a hand down from the wild cat parent, the Asian leopard cat which lives a lot of the time on and around water course where there is more suitable prey. The Turkish Van is a good swimmer and its origins are around lake Van in Turkey.

So, a Norwegian Forest cat in the wild gets my imagination going, thinking about the natural world, a world we have long lost.

See Norwegian Forest Cat for more.