The American Shorthair is a distinguished breed renowned for its robust build, amiable disposition, and striking appearance. Originally developed as a working cat to protect homes from vermin, this breed embodies strength, endurance, and agility. This comprehensive guide delves into the official breed standard, outlining the physical characteristics that define the American Shorthair, and explores the extensive palette of colors and patterns recognized within the breed.
Physical Characteristics of the American Shorthair
The American Shorthair is a medium to large-sized cat, prioritizing quality and conformation over sheer size. Its body is solidly built, muscular, and well-balanced, designed for power and agility. The conformation indicates a cat capable of stamina, with a body that is slightly longer than it is tall. This balanced physique is crucial to the breed’s heritage as an effective working cat.
Head and Facial Features
The head is large and features full cheeks, giving it a distinctive, slightly oblong shape that is just a bit longer than it is wide. This contributes to a sweet and open expression. The head can be visually divided into two equal halves from the base of the ears to the middle of the eyes, and from the middle of the eyes to the chin. Ears are medium-sized with slightly rounded tips, not overly wide at the base, and set at a distance that is twice the width between the eyes. The forehead curves smoothly into the neck, without a prominent dome between the ears.
The eyes are large, wide-set, and alert, with the upper lid shaped like half an almond and the lower lid forming a rounded curve. The distance between the eyes should be at least the width of one eye.
The nose is of medium length and consistent width. In profile, it exhibits a gentle, concave curve from the bridge to the forehead. The muzzle is squared, with definite jowls in mature males. Strong jaws are essential, accommodating both level and scissors bites. The chin is firm and well-developed, aligning perpendicularly with the upper lip.
Body and Structure
A medium-length, muscular, and strong neck supports the head. The body is solidly built, emphasizing well-developed shoulders, chest, and hindquarters. The back is broad, straight, and level, with a slight downward slope from the hip bone to the base of the tail when viewed in profile. From above, the outer lines of the body appear parallel.
Legs are medium in length with substantial bone structure and heavy musculature. When viewed from the rear, all four legs should appear straight and parallel, with paws facing forward. The paws are firm, full, and rounded, featuring heavy pads. There are five toes on the front paws and four on the hind paws. The tail is medium in length, heavy at the base, and tapers to an apparently blunt end, though the vertebrae taper normally.
Coat
The American Shorthair’s coat is short, thick, even, and hard in texture. It is dense enough to offer protection against moisture, cold, and superficial skin injuries. Regional and seasonal variations in coat thickness are permitted.
Recognized Colors and Patterns
The American Shorthair boasts an extensive array of recognized colors and patterns, reflecting the breed’s versatility. These are broadly categorized as Solid and Parti-Color, Smoke, Shaded, and Tabby patterns.
Solid and Parti-Color
- White: Pure, glistening white with pink nose leather and paw pads. Eye color can be deep blue, gold, or odd-eyed (one blue, one gold).
- Black: Dense, coal black, free from any rust tinge or smoke undercoat, with black nose leather and paw pads, and gold eyes.
- Blue: A lighter shade of blue is preferred, with a uniform tone from nose to tail. Nose leather and paw pads are blue, with gold eyes.
- Red: Deep, rich, clear, brilliant red, without shading or markings. Nose leather and paw pads are brick red, with gold eyes.
- Cream: A single, even shade of buff cream, lighter shades preferred, with pink nose leather and paw pads, and gold eyes.
- Tortoiseshell: Black with patches of red, or softly intermingled red areas. Nose leather and paw pads can be black and/or brick red, with gold eyes.
- Blue-Cream: Blue with patches of cream or softly intermingled cream areas. Nose leather and paw pads are blue and/or pink, with gold eyes.
- Bi-Color: White combined with unbrindled portions of black, blue, red, or cream. Eye color is gold.
- Van Bi-Color: A white cat with color confined to the extremities (head, tail, and legs). One or two small colored patches on the body are permissible.
- Calico: White with distinct patches of black and red, or white with distinct patches of blue and cream (Dilute Calico). White is predominant on the underparts. Tabby markings may appear in the red or cream patches. Eye color is gold.
Smoke Colors
Smoke varieties appear solid when at rest but reveal a white undercoat when in motion.
- Black Smoke: White undercoat deeply tipped with black.
- Blue Smoke: White undercoat deeply tipped with blue.
- Cameo Smoke (Red Smoke): White undercoat deeply tipped with red.
- Tortoiseshell Smoke: White undercoat tipped with black, with patches of red and cream-tipped hairs.
- Blue Cream Smoke: White undercoat tipped with blue, with patches of cream-tipped hairs.
- Smoke & White: White with unbrindled portions of smoke color.
- Smoke Calico: White with distinct patches of black smoke and cameo smoke, or blue smoke and cream smoke.
Shaded Colors
Shaded varieties feature an undercoat of white with the tips of the hairs colored, creating a darker appearance on the back, flanks, and tail, fading to white on the chin, chest, and stomach.
- Chinchilla Silver: Pure white undercoat with black-tipped hairs, creating a sparkling silver appearance.
- Shaded Silver: White undercoat with a mantle of black tipping.
- Blue Chinchilla Silver: Pure white undercoat with blue-tipped hairs.
- Blue Shaded Silver: White undercoat with a mantle of blue tipping.
- Shell Cameo (Red Chinchilla): White undercoat with red-tipped hairs.
- Shaded Cameo (Red Shaded): White undercoat with a mantle of red tipping.
- Cream Shell Cameo (Cream Chinchilla): White undercoat with cream-tipped hairs.
- Cream Shaded Cameo (Cream Shaded): White undercoat with a mantle of cream tipping.
- Chinchilla Shaded Tortoiseshell: Pure white undercoat with black and red/cream tipped hairs.
- Shaded Tortoiseshell: White undercoat with black tipping and patches of red and cream-tipped hairs.
- Dilute Chinchilla Tortoiseshell: Pure white undercoat with blue and cream-tipped hairs.
- Dilute Shaded Tortoiseshell: White undercoat with blue tipping and patches of cream-tipped hairs.
- Shaded & White: White with shaded portions.
- Shaded Calico: White with distinct patches of shaded silver and shaded cameo, or shaded blue silver and shaded cream cameo.
Tabby Patterns
American Shorthairs come in classic, mackerel, and ticked tabby patterns, applied to various ground colors.
- Classic Tabby: Features dense, clearly defined, and broad markings, including an “M” on the forehead, swirls on cheeks, and butterfly-shaped markings on the shoulders.
- Mackerel Tabby: Characterized by dense, clearly defined, narrow pencillings running parallel down the body.
- Ticked Tabby: Primarily shows ticked hair shafts on the body with distinct tabby striping on the head, neck, legs, and tail. The body should be free of obvious spots or stripes, with darker dorsal shading.
- Patched Tabby (Torbie): An established silver, brown, or blue tabby with patches of red and/or cream.
Tabby Colors
- Silver Tabby: Pale, clear silver ground color with dense black markings.
- Blue Silver Tabby (Pewter Tabby): Pale, clear bluish-silver ground color with sound blue markings.
- Brown Tabby: Brilliant coppery-brown ground color with dense black markings.
- Blue Tabby: Pale bluish-ivory ground color with very deep blue markings.
- Red Tabby: Red ground color with deep rich red markings.
- Cream Tabby: Very pale cream ground color with buff or cream markings.
- Cameo Tabby: Off-white ground color with red markings.
- Cream Cameo Tabby (Dilute Cameo): Off-white ground color with cream markings.
- Silver Patched Tabby: Pale silver ground color with black tabby markings and patches of red/cream.
- Blue Silver Patched Tabby (Pewter Patched Tabby): Pale bluish-silver ground color with deep blue tabby markings and patches of cream.
- Brown Patched Tabby: Coppery-brown ground color with black tabby markings and patches of red/cream.
- Blue Patched Tabby: Pale bluish-ivory ground color with deep blue tabby markings and patches of cream.
- Tabby & White: White with tabby portions in classic, mackerel, or ticked patterns.
The Van designation applies to any of the “& White” or “Calico” colors where the color is confined to the head, tail, and legs, with only minimal color on the body.
Color Class Numbers
For reference, the breed has specific color class numbers assigned, which are used in cat shows and record-keeping. These numbers help to officially categorize each specific color and pattern variation of the American Shorthair.
Penalties and Disqualifications
While the breed standard is comprehensive, certain traits are penalized or lead to disqualification. Penalties may be given for excessive cobbiness or ranginess, and very short tails. Disqualifications are reserved for cats showing evidence of hybridization, such as chocolate, sable, lavender, lilac, or point-restricted colors, or any long or fluffy fur, nose break, bulging eye set, brow ridge, kinked or abnormal tail. Lockets or buttons (white spots on non-specified colors), incorrect toe numbers, undershot or overshot bites, persistently protruding tongues, obesity, emaciation, or any exaggerated feature that fosters weakness will also result in disqualification.
