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American ShorthairIn the Beginning
Though shorthaired cats are as old as Thanksgiving in the United States--some historians believe there was at least one cat aboard the Mayflower when it landed in 1620--cats had been established for 275 years or so in this country before anyone thought to keep track of their ancestors. Ironically, when this practice began, the first shorthaired cat registered by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) was an orange-tabby male with the unlikely name of Belle, who had been imported from England around 1901.
The breed in which Belle was enrolled was simply called "Shorthair." Sometime later "Domestic" was added to that designation, an acknowledgment of the presence of native sons and daughters--many with unknown parentage--in breeding programs in the United States. These hometown feline heroes, whose first registered representative was a male named Buster Brown, gave shape to the domestic shorthair in its early days.
For roughly 50 years the domestic shorthair was granted little more than working-class status in a feline social order dominated by Persians and other exotic breeds. Often there were often no cages provided for domestic shorthairs at shows and no trophies or rosettes offered to the winners in domestic classes.
As the 1960s wriggled free of the Eisenhower years' paint- by-numbers influence, however, the domestic shorthair effected its own liberation. A silver-tabby male named Shawnee Sixth Son was CFA's kitten of the year in 1964, and in 1965 a silver-tabby male named Shawnee Trademark was CFA's best cat. As though to celebrate this social transcendence, breeders voted to exchange the bland, unassertive "domestic" label for the more muscular "American" tag as of September 1965.
Coincident with this change in name and fortune, the American shorthair underwent a change in fashion. Noses, bodies, legs, and tails grew suspiciously short, while coats grew suspiciously longer--the result of attempts to gussy up this all- things-in-moderation cat through clandestine hybridization. In fact, there were so many no-tell-motel breedings arranged during the 1960s--primarily with Persians--that a new breed, the exotic shorthair, was created in 1967 to give breeders who had been indulging in un-American activities a chance to make honest women (and men) of their hybrid kittens.
The determination of American breeders to keep their cats free of overweening foreign influence is reflected in the proscriptions against nose breaks in several standards and in CFA's injunction that "any appearance of hybridization with any other breed--including long or fluffy fur, deep nose break, bulging eye set, [or] brow ridge"--is cause for disqualification in the show ring. Yet a century's worth of selective breeding-- and the aforementioned tomfoolery on the side--have produced a stylized American shorthair cat. One that shares the domestic cat's heritage and still flaunts a drop-forged hardiness, but a cat which, nevertheless, bears the same relationship to the domestic variety that Air Jordans do to regular sneakers.
It Looks Like ...
The American shorthair is a muscular, solidly built, medium- to large-sized cat. Somewhat longer than it is tall, it has well- developed shoulders, a deep chest, and powerful hindquarters. Its head is medium to large, broad and well-rounded with ample cheeks and a pleasant, open, some would say smiling, expression. Its medium-sized ears are wide-set and slightly rounded at the tips, but not excessively open at the base.
There are some differences among associations regarding eye shape and size in the American shorthair. The International Cat Association (TICA) stipulates medium to large in expanse. CFA says large, with a round lower lid and an upper lid shaped like an almond that's been cut lengthwise. The Cat Fancier's Federation (CFF), TICA, and the American Cat Fanciers Association (ACFA) prefer round eyes, while the American Cat Association (ACA) fancies oval.
The American shorthair has a medium to medium-short nose, with anywhere from dip to a moderate stop in the profile (a stop is a depression in the face at the junction of the forehead and muzzle). The shorthair should not have a nose break, which is a angular change in direction rather than a gradual slope. The muzzle is squared, but not foreshortened, and the chin forms a perpendicular line with the upper lip.
ACA and ACFA declare that the American shorthair coat is short, lustrous, well-bodied, and close lying. CFA describes the coat as short, thick, even, and hard in texture. TICA prefers a short, even coat; CFF a medium length, well-bodied one.
Personality
"I chose the American Shorthair because I wanted a cat that I could live with and enjoy," says one American shorthair fancier. "The American Shorthair is friendly, but not too demanding. If you want an extremely affectionate, demanding cat, the American shorthair is not for you. If you want a cat that's just going to sit there, it's not for you, either. What it does offer is that very happy medium, and it's not really neurotic in any way. In fact, American shorthair breeders are so crazy about their cats' temperaments, they're bound and determined to keep them [that way] at all costs."