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Norwegian Forest Cat In the Beginning
Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty, love, and fertility-- and, on the odd occasion, battle and death as well--often went cruising in a chariot hitched to a large pair of cats. Norwegian forest cat fanciers like to relate that the two cats providing the horsepower for Freya's chariot--and another celebrated feline who was so heavy the mighty Thor could not lift him--were the mythological ancestors of today's Wegies.
In real life, the forest cat is a naturally occurring breed that has lived for hundreds of years in Norwegian woods. The earliest references to cats that resemble today's Wegies are found in Norwegian folk tales that were gathered and recorded between 1837 and 1852. The history of cat breeds, however, is an oral, not a linear affair; and some observers theorize that forest cats may be the descendants of backwoods rendezvous between shorthaired cats brought to Norway from England by the Vikings and longhaired cats imported by the Crusaders. (At least one writer challenges the notion that the Crusaders returned home with any cats.)
Whatever its origin, the forest cat owes its vitality, resourcefulness, and sensible, water-repellent coat to the rough winters of its native country. The Wegie's domain is the farmland and woodland of central Norway, which lies roughly between the 59th and 62nd degrees of latitude. (Alaska is the only state in this country which lies above the 59th parallel.) Thus, unlike many show cats that could only survive in a drawing-room atmosphere, the Wegie has a diehard constitution, a resilience forged in a harsh, wet climate that rewards the survivors of one winter by giving them the opportunity to survive another one. These characteristics, so valuable to the Wegie throughout its development, still serve to make this breed a sturdy indoor show cat or pet.
For all but the last 20-some years, the forest cat has been a prophet without a pulpit--or papers--in Norway. The Wegie was left to survive outdoors while the two-legged Norwegians who fancied cat shows sought the company of other, more exotic breeds. A red-and-white Norwegian male was shown in Norway in 1930, and a forest cat club was started in 1938, but World War II delayed the breed's advancement.
After the war, continued breeding between Forest Cat and the shorthaired hauskatt, the equivalent of our free-ranging domestic feline, almost stopped the Wegie's progress cold. Fortunately, in the early 1970s Carl-Fredrik Nordane, past president of the Norwegian Cat Association, began lobbying on the Wegie's behalf. He organized a meeting at which the first Norwegian forest cat breeding program was designed, and he helped to charter the Norskskogkattering,>/I>, a Wegie breed club which held its first meeting in February 1975.
Two and a half years later Nordane traveled to Paris, where he made a presentation about forest cats to the general assembly of the Feline International Federation (FIFe) on November 25. Norway's quarantine laws made it inconvenient for Nordane to bring live cats with him, but he showed the FIFe assembly slides of two Wegies with winning names: Trules and Pippi Skogpus. The cats must have had winning conformation, too, because FIFe voted to confer championship status on the breed. When Nordane returned to Oslo the following night, he was greeted with flags, music, and 40 cars' worth of NORAK (Norwegian Cat Fancy Council) members in a joyous parade.
Two years to the month after its anointment by FIFe, the Norwegian Forest Cat arrived in the United States. The first Norwegian litter born in this country appeared on March 21, 1981. As of this writing, the Wegie is accepted for championship competition in all the major North American cat-registering associations.
It Looks Like ...
The Norwegian forest cat is a moderately long, heavily boned cat that carries a double coat: a long, smooth outer garment arrayed with oily guard hairs; and dense, cottony small clothes. Age, climate, and color combine to influence coat development and texture in the Norwegian.
"It takes about two years for the coat to come in completely on colors other than tabbies," says one association's Norwegian forest cat standard. What's more, "solid colors, tortoiseshells, and bicolors have a smoother, softer coat than tabbies"; and during hot weather, "the tail, ear and toe tufts" are the only factors that "distinguish the cat as a longhair."
Large, expressive, almond-shaped eyes--set at a slight angle, with the outer corner somewhat higher than the inner one-- gladden the Norwegian forest cat's triangular-shaped head, which leans toward but does not quite approach an equilateral triangle. Between six and 12 twelve months, the cat goes through a stage of development where the eyes appear almost round; this should change at the time of the first birthday.
The Norwegian's nose is "medium straight" or "medium to long" or "medium-long," depending on the association. In all cases the nose should be straight, but females "may exhibit a minimal curve."
The forest cat has medium to large ears, slightly rounded at the tip, and set as much on the side of the head as on the top. The ears are upright, alert, and, arched forward. Ear furnishings are heavy, and lynx tips, though "desirable," do not constitute a fault by their absence.
Personality
Though Norwegian forest cats take time to mature--not reaching full flower until they are five--they waste no time playing a tune on their owners' heartstrings. "Their purr boxes are constantly working," says one breeder, "and they continuously exhibit their love of people.
"If you're talking on the phone, they're walking across the receiver; if you're working at your desk, they're lying across your papers.
"Without a doubt they are tied to people more than any other cat I've seen. It's almost like they determine who in the household they want to be attached to for the rest of their lives. And if a Norwegian decides that person is you, you better like cats because he'll be with you every minute."