Norwegian Forest Cat

History and adaption

The Norwegian Forest Cat is adapted to survive Norway's cold weather. Its ancestors may include cold-adapted black and white British Shorthair cats brought to Norway from Great Britain some time after 1000 AD by the Vikings, and longhaired cats brought to Norway by Crusaders around the 14th century. These cats could have reproduced with farm and feral stock and may have eventually evolved into the modern-day Norwegian Forest breed. The Siberian and the Turkish Angora, longhaired cats from Russia and Turkey, respectively, are also possible ancestors of the breed.

Norse legends refer to the skogkatt as a "mountain-dwelling fairy cat with an ability to climb sheer rock faces that other cats could not manage." Since the Norwegian Forest Cat is a very adept climber, author Claire Bessant believes that the skogkatt folktale could be about the ancestor of the modern Norwegian Forest breed. The name Norse skogkatt is used by some breeders and fancier organizations for the modern breed.

The ancestors of the Norwegian Forest Cat most likely served as ships' cats (mousers) on Viking ships. The original landrace lived in the Norwegian forests for many centuries, but were later prized for their hunting skills and were used on Norwegian farms, until they were discovered in the early 20th century by cat enthusiasts.

In 1938 the first organization devoted to the breed, the Norwegian Forest Cat Club, was formed in Oslo, Norway. The club's movement to preserve the breed was interrupted by World War II. Owing to cross-breeding with free-ranging domestic cats during the war, the Norwegian Forest Cat became endangered and nearly extinct until the Norwegian Forest Cat Club helped the breed make a comeback by developing an official breeding program.

In the 1950s, King Olav V declared them the official cat of Norway. Since the cat did not leave Norway until the 1970s, it was not registered as a breed in the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe), the pan-European federation of cat registries, until Carl-Fredrik Nordane, a Norwegian cat fancier, took notice of the breed, and made efforts to register it. The breed was registered in Europe by the 1970s, and in the American Cat Fanciers Association in 1994. In 1978, it was recognized in Sweden as an official breed, In 1989, they were accepted as a breed in the United Kingdom by the Norwegian Cat Club of Britain.

The Norwegian Forest breed is very popular in Norway and Sweden. Since 2003, it has been the fifth most popular cat breed in France, where there are about 400 to 500 births per year.

Description

Appearance

The Norwegian Forest Cat is strongly built and larger than an average cat. Adult females weigh 3.6–8 kg; males, 4.5–9 kg. The breed has a long, sturdy body; long legs; and a bushy tail. The coat consists of a long, thick, glossy, water-repellent top layer and a woolly undercoat and is thickest at the legs, chest, and head. The undercoat appears as a ruff. The profile of the breed is generally straight. Their water-resistant coat with a dense undercoat developed to help the cat survive in the harsh Scandinavian climate.

The head is long with an overall shape similar to an equilateral triangle, a strong chin, and a muzzle of medium length; a square or round-shaped head is considered to be a defect. The eyes are almond-shaped and oblique, and may be of any color. The ears are large, wide at the base, and high set, have a tufted top, are placed in the extension of the triangle formed by the head, and end with a tuft of hair like the ears of the lynx.

All coat colors and divisions in the traditional, sepia, and mink categories are accepted. Since the cats have very strong claws, they are very good climbers, and can even climb rocks.

Behaviour

They are friendly, intelligent, and generally good with people. The Norwegian Forest Cat has a lot of energy. Fanciers note that these cats produce a variety of high-pitched "chirping" vocalizations.

Norwegian Forest Cats that live primarily outdoors become swift and effective hunters, but the breed can also adapt to indoor life.

A study comparing Norwegian Forest Cat kittens to Siamese, Oriental, and Abyssinian kittens found the Norwegian Forest Cat to be more likely to explore and try to escape.

Health

In an experiment directed by John C. Fyfea, Rebeccah L. Kurzhals, and others, it was concluded that a complex rearrangement in the breed's Glycogen branching enzyme (GBE1) can cause both a perinatal hypoglycemic collapse and a late-juvenile-onset neuromuscular degeneration in glycogen storage disease type IV in the breed. This disorder, while rare, can prove fatal to cats that have it.

The breed has also been known to suffer from hip dysplasia, which is a rare, partially hereditary disease of the hip joint.

An analysis of pedigree records of cats in England found evidence of hereditary cardiomyopathy. A 2005 study looking at 17 cases of eosinophilic granuloma complex in Norwegian Forest Cats found a link between the cats after reviewing pedigree analysis, suggesting a hereditary nature of the condition.

References

References

1. "Breed Profile: The Norwegian Forest Cat".
2. "Accueil - chat norvegien - chat des forets norvegiennes". Kogkatt-norvegien.org.
3. Rousselet-Blanc, Pie. (1992). "Encyclopedie Active Le Cha". Larousse Kingfisher Chambers.
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8. "Norwegian Forest Cat Breed Information". Vetstreet.
9. Bessant, Claire. (1999). "The Complete Guide to the Cat (Complete Animal Guides)". [[Barron's Educational Series]].
10. "Breed Profile: The Norwegian Forest Cat". [[Cat Fanciers' Association]].
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22. (13 August 2018). "Norwegian Forest Breed".
23. Rousselet-Blanc, Pie. (1992). "Encyclopedie Active Le Chat". Larousse Kingfisher Chambers.
24. [http://www.tica.org/members/publications/standards/nf.pdf Norwegian Forest Breed Standard] {{Webarchive. link. (28 July 2011 . [[The International Cat Association]]. Published 1 May 2004. Accessed 26 March 2011.)
25. (23 March 2009). "Breed differences in behavioural development in kittens". Physiology & Behavior.
26. (2007). "A complex rearrangement in GBE1 causes both perinatal hypoglycemic collapse and late-juvenile-onset neuromuscular degeneration in glycogen storage disease type IV of Norwegian forest cats". Molecular Genetics and Metabolism.
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31. (30 October 2014). "Familial cardiomyopathy in Norwegian Forest cats". Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
32. (30 April 2005). "Non-pruritic granuloma in Norwegian forest cats". Veterinary Record.