Among the cat breeds, the American Shorthair is very popular among cat lovers. Its simple appearance is enough to make us have the urge to take it home. Here we will talk about the breed of American Shorthair as well as the price and how to buy American Shorthair cats.
I. Introduction and origin of the American Shorthair cat breed
The ancestors of the American Shorthair cat originally lived in Europe, and later followed the early pioneers into North America. There are records that several cats were kept on the «Mayflower», and their duty was to catch the rats that stole food and spread germs on board. Through continuous breeding, the native North American Shorthair cat was eventually established.
In the early twentieth century, as foreign cat breeds were introduced to the United States, the native lineage of the American Shorthair began to be weakened, and kittens were mated with long-haired cats and Siamese cats, with a variety of different lengths of coat, shapes, colors and temperaments. The early breeders succeeded in obtaining perfect markings, colors, strong forms, beautiful faces and lovable personalities.
In the history of American Shorthair breeding, the breed was initially registered as «Shorthair» and later changed to «Shorthair Domestic Cat» until 1966 when the name «American Shorthair» was introduced. It was not until 1966 that it appeared under the name «American Shorthair». This breed was also one of the first five breeds to be certified by the CFA when it was first done. Until today, the American Shorthair has been one of the top ten most popular cat breeds.
Second, how to buy American Shorthair cats
1、When buying an American Shorthair cat, pay attention to check whether the body surface of the American Shorthair cat is healthy, whether the skin is red and hair loss; also check whether the cat’s eyes are clear and bright, whether the inside of the ears are clean, and whether the anus is clean.
2. You can touch the cat’s nose with your hand to see if it is cool and moist and has a little mucus.
3、At the same time, you can feed the American Shorthair some food to observe the cat’s reaction to the surrounding food and the diet to determine whether the cat is healthy.
4、Likewise, when selecting the American Shorthair cat, in order to ensure their own interests and to buy a pure and healthy American Shorthair cat, the buyer should go to a regular pet store to buy, and not at the roadside stalls at will.
5、On the whole, the American Shorthair has a gentle temperament, a lively character, and is full of curiosity and desire to explore things in the outside world. From the appearance of the American Shorthair cat, the American Shorthair cat has a large body, thick bones and muscles, and is a large breed of shorthair cat. The American Shorthair has the brave and hard-working character of its ancestors. They are gentle, always full of patience and appear to be very amiable. American Shorthair cats do not lose their temper with their family members.
- American Shorthair morphological characteristics
The American Shorthair has a beautiful appearance, a strong and healthy body, and a quiet personality. Generally speaking, it can live up to 15-20 years. It takes 3~4 years for a kitten to fully grow into an adult, and males are significantly larger than females, weighing 5.5~7.5 kg for males and 4~6 kg for females.
The American Shorthair has more than 80 colors and markings, from coffee tabby to pure white with blue eyes, from onyx to tricolor, with silver tabby being the most familiar color of the American Shorthair. An ideal American Shorthair should have a strong and uniform body shape, medium to large, although the female is not as strong as the male, but the overall fit should be the same as the male.
The body length is slightly longer than its height. From the side, the body is divided into three equal parts, and the length of the tail is equal to the length of the shoulder to the base of the tail. The head is large, the cheeks are full, the ears are medium in size, the tips are slightly rounded, and the distance between the ears is twice the distance between the eyes. The forehead is smooth and protrudes appropriately at the top of the head, with no visible bulge between the ears when viewed from the front. The eyes are large and round, with the upper eyelid resembling an almond broken in the middle and the lower eyelid rounded, the outer corner of the eye higher than the inner corner, and the eyes bright, clear, and alert. The nose is medium in length, with an inwardly curved bridge extending from the forehead to the tip of the nose when viewed from the side, a strong jaw, and a strong, well-developed chin that is parallel to the upper lip. The neck is medium length, strong and muscular. The legs are strong, with rounded paws and thick pads of flesh. The coat is short, thick and uniform, with a hard texture.
The American Shorthair’s coat is both short and thick, with a stiff, dense coat to resist moisture, cold and epidermal damage. There are over one hundred coat colors, and the CFA recognizes a total of 62 colors, including white, black, blue, red, brown tiger spot, silver tiger spot, red tiger spot, blue tiger spot, tiger spot patch, bi-color, and tortoiseshell.
American short-tailed cats will lose hair every day, just like people lose about 30 hairs every day. If your cat is long-haired, be sure to insist on daily combing. If it is a short-haired cat so cat hair flying is really a bit strange, but the individual cat’s physique is different, you can try to comb the hair every day to see how effective, if still a lot of hair fall off, you have to re-examine the nutrition you give the American short-tailed cat. In fact, as far as the top 10 cat foods in the United States are concerned, not every American short-tailed cat is suitable.
These are the morphological characteristics of the American shorthair cat and how to care for the hair we talked about today, if you want to have an American shorthair cat might as well quickly bring it home, I believe this cute cat cat will certainly add infinite fun to your life.
- American Shorthair character traits
The American Shorthair cat has a cute and simple appearance, and its character is also very well-behaved, with human nature and affection. As long as it is kept in a gentle and loving manner, it will be very close to the owner’s family, and there is no need to worry if there are children at home, as the American Shorthair is also very friendly to children.
Character of the American Shorthair
Mischievous sportsman
Perhaps inherited from their fathers’ skills in catching mice on cargo ships, the American Shorthair’s athletic talent is evident from the time they are born. These youngsters will use their mother’s belly as a playground even before they open their eyes, and you will find that they like to change positions to move around even when they are breastfeeding. As a result, you rarely see young American Shorthair cats sitting quietly. These athletic talents will be tempered a bit as they get older, but you can never ask an American Shorthair to sit still all day, so playing with them regularly is the best way to develop a bond with them. Of course, they are also very understanding and will never yell at you to put down the work in hand. When asked, these smart little guys will just sit nicely next to their favorite toy and look at you with wide eyes.
Customized all-around kitty
For a cat lover, the American Shorthair is simply an all-rounder, they have all the good qualities of a cat, they are sometimes naive, sometimes mischievous, sometimes quiet and independent, sometimes tender, these extremely smart little guys, they always know what you want to say and know exactly what to do with themselves. On top of that, their superb adaptability allows them to calmly accept various environments. They can play with other cat breeds and even dogs, and playing with children is also their favorite. Their sharp short hair, elegant body shape, athletic qualities and independent and gentle personality make those who keep them feel relaxed and happy, so if you also aspire to such a life the American Shorthair will surely help you achieve it instead of being a problem for you.
The most economical cat
The American Shorthair cat is not only beautiful to look at, but also very robust and is rarely sick by birth. Under normal circumstances, its average life expectancy can reach 15-20 years, and for such a robust guy, it only needs to go to the vet once a year for a routine health checkup. It can be said that it saves the owner a large amount of medical expenses. Because of this, this healthy cat has a place among the «long-lived» cat breeds.
Care of the American Shorthair
For a beautiful coat, the care of the American Shorthair is very simple. As long as you set aside a little time every day to hold it in your arms and gently stroke it with warm hands, it is the best care for it. Because this will help it transfer the oil needed for its coat and make its coat more shiny.
American Shorthair cats can accumulate many hairballs in their stomachs, so feeding them hairball spitting cream regularly can help them clean up the hairballs and also help them take care of their intestines.
American Shorthair cats have a mild personality and will not change because of the environment or mood. They are always patient and amiable, do not lose their temper and do not like to make a lot of noise, which is very suitable for families with small children.
American Shorthair cats are very energetic, unlike other cats that are always lazy. So it is best to have cat furniture such as a cat climbing frame at home to let the short consume energy.
Overall the American Shorthair cat is very good, do not worry about its personality and the children in the family can not get along, do not worry about its care problems, if you have children at home usually do not have too much time to take care of cats, American Shorthair cat is your best choice. Of course, since the cat has been taken home like a family, or to take some time to accompany it, or it will be sad.
- American Shorthair cat care knowledge
Many cat lovers in the purchase of the American Shorthair cat, not only worried about how well they can keep, how to care for the usual, but also struggle with the difference between the American Shorthair and the British Shorthair. The following listen to the editorial.
The difference between the American Shorthair and the British Shorthair
American Shorthair cat, it has many color combinations, the CFA recognized coat color is more than 80 kinds of. Although the classic tiger spot is the most common among the American Shorthair cats, the British Shorthair also has the classic tiger spot coat color, including the silver classic tiger spot British Shorthair, the color of the eyes may be green, just from the appearance, there is little difference with the American Shorthair, if not look at the pedigree certificate, it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Therefore, it is not absolutely reliable to identify the British Shorthair and American Shorthair simply by the color of their hair.
What is the most reliable, of course, is the pedigree certificate. (This is not nonsense ……) Because the cat does not look like what breed, is what breed. And in fact, if a cat is not a purebred cat, you do not have much need to bother about whether it is a British Shorthair or American Shorthair or any other short, because it is basically a string no doubt – no one knows what it is above the generations of cats. When you mention it to someone, you can just say it looks like a British Shorthair, or simply describe its appearance as a big fat cat with blue fur and yellow eyes, round and good-natured.
In addition to the color of the coat, there are many differences between the British short and the American short in terms of body shape, for example, the British short will be more round and rolled than the American short, with a larger head and sturdier limbs.
But they do have a lot in common – they are both medium-sized, strong, hard-working, docile, easy to get along with (especially with children and dogs), and easy to care for short-haired cats. Another common character trait is that they are relatively independent (probably because they were raised in the early years to catch mice in the warehouse), so they are not very happy to be held for a while, but after a long time they must struggle to run away.
Because American Shorthair and British Shorthair cats are particularly popular nowadays, many people in the market breed these two types of cats. However, in order to «increase production», most of them do not follow the scientific breeding rules, so the cats born are all kinds of cats, many of which are not even in proportion, and such cats will only make the offspring worse if they continue to breed.
In fact, the easiest way to distinguish is still the color. Although these 2 breeds recognize many colors, the American Shorthair is still predominantly tiger-spotted and the British Shorthair is predominantly solid-colored.
Care of the American Shorthair
The American Shorthair has the habit of licking the hair on its body. Since the cat’s tongue is rough and resembles a hair brush, it will often lick itself with its tongue to remove dirt and comb the hair. But this does not leave the care of the body all to the cat itself. Because the hair is soft, there are places where the tongue cannot lick, especially for long-haired breeds, it is difficult to keep the hair clean by the cat itself, so the owner’s help is essential.
And if the cat is manually groomed regularly, the hair that has been shed can be cleaned up in time to prevent the cat from swallowing the hair into the stomach and getting hairball disease, which causes indigestion and affects the cat’s growth and development.
Daily fur care not only removes dirt and lice and prevents hairballs, combing and brushing is also good for blood circulation and promotes skin metabolism. Regular petting by the owner can also check the cat’s physical condition. Most of all this is the time for the owner and the cat to communicate. The cat’s spirit will settle down under the owner’s gentle stroking and murmuring.
Generally short-haired breeds are combed once every 2-3 days, and long-haired cats are combed at least once a day, preferably after the kitten is weaned.
Feeding of American Shorthair cats
Feeding kittens within 3 months of the cat food should be softened with milk or warm water, so that it is easier to digest, when it grows to 3 months can not feed too soft food, that has an impact on the health of the cat’s teeth, feed the cat to eat cat food at the same time to ensure sufficient water, you can feed cool white water, do not feed raw water, you can also feed mineral water, anyway, the cat will not drink a lot, but also to make the body material more adequate, a bottle of about You can drink two or three days, and there is no difficulty in consumption.
Cats should not always eat a cat food for a long time, you can change the taste of a cat food every month or two months, you can also do something delicious for the cat, but pay attention to the salt to put less, mixed into the cat food to our beloved kitty, let it enjoy. Be careful not to feed it greedy, if it feeds it picky food is very bad, that is very bad for health and will not be good to feed, to correct the cat picky eating is very difficult.
How to distinguish between the American Shorthair and British Shorthair cats, you cat lovers understand it. At the same time in the American shorthair care feeding is not only the small said these, cat lovers also need to have their own patience on the cat and attention to the cat’s physical condition, so as to do nothing wrong.
- American Shorthair cat feeding requirements
American shorthair cat as one of the ten most popular cats, although people are very good, rarely sick, and very cute, but to the American shorthair cat nutrition is still essential, then the American shorthair cat usually to give her what to eat? The following editorial to answer.
American shorthair cat feeding myths
Cats love to eat fish
Nutrition experts point out that fish can provide cats with good protein and other nutrients, but too much fish can be harmful to a cat’s health. For example, tuna (also known as tuna), itself contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and at the same time requires a considerable amount of vitamin E to prevent fatty acid defeat. Cats that consume a diet containing too much tuna for a long period of time may develop yellow adiposity, a disease caused by insufficient levels of vitamin E in the food, which forms a yellow substance deposited in the body fat, and which produces a painful inflammatory reaction. The key to preventing the disease in cats is to give them a complete and balanced diet and to avoid feeding them too much tuna.
Cats need milk
Nutritionists tell us that cats can get the water they need from milk and some of their calories from carbohydrates; however, cats cannot live on milk alone. In addition, many adult cats are lactose intolerant. They do not have lactase, so they cannot digest the lactose in milk and may experience soft stools or dysentery a few hours after drinking milk. If dysentery occurs, the intestines will not be able to fully absorb water and nutrients. Therefore, cats can drink moderate or small amounts of milk, but kittens are definitely not dependent on milk for growth and development.
Cats can eat only vegetarian food
Many vegetarians believe that their cats can live on a vegetarian-only diet just as they do. While cats may occasionally nibble on plants in the house, that doesn’t mean they prefer them as their only food. Nutritionists say that cats who eat only grains or plants cannot get all the nutrients they need to maintain their health; therefore, a vegetarian-only diet cannot create a healthy and active cat. The main reason is that cats cannot synthesize taurine and eicosatetraenoic acid, two nutrients that can only be supplied by animal meat and fat, so they cannot live on a vegetarian diet.
Cats can only eat one type of cat food
Some of the dry cat foods on the market are produced to meet the different needs of cats, such as: hairball formula, gastrointestinal sensitivity formula, skin sensitivity formula, dental health formula, anti-urinary stone formula, long hair Persian cat (details) formula …… The cat slave can purchase different formulas according to the different needs of the American Shorthair cat.
Care of the American Shorthair
American Shorthair cats have short nasal passages, long days of tears, and are prone to tear marks around the eyes. Especially for light-colored cats, tear marks on the face are unsightly. In fact, they can be easily removed with daily attention to cleaning. A simple way is to use a hot towel to wipe the eyes every day. Or use some starch and boric acid powder mixed in half and then patted on the tear stains, the powder can absorb the stain to play a bleaching effect.
Another way is to take a large spoonful of boric acid powder and dissolve it in a teacup of boiling water, stirring it well. Buy a small container and put the makeup remover pads in it. Pour the solution over the makeup remover pads and then slowly pour off the excess solution and cover the box. Then take a piece of these pads every day to bleach, remove tears, and prevent the accumulation of tear marks. Remember to change the pads once a week to prevent infection caused by bacterial growth over time.
For stubborn stains on the cat’s face, you can use starch and boric acid powder to remove the powder in half as described above: first make a paste with water, apply the paste carefully to the stain to dry naturally, brush it off after drying and wipe it clean. Be careful not to let the powder fall into the eyes.
These powder particles may cause eye ulcers if they fall into the eyes. Boric acid powder is not hard to find and can be purchased at a general western pharmacy.
Whether cats and dogs will have tear marks, not only the usual care for American shorthair cats, diet should also be more attention, do not give cats and kittens to eat human food, especially chili and salt, these are the culprits caused by cats and kittens have tear marks, so owners for the sake of the little babies at home must keep in mind.
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