Abyssinian Breed Information
Learn all about Abyssinian cats, read about the Abyssinian breed information,
find out about the Abyssinian Breed Standard, Abyssinian behavior and more.
Although the Abyssinian is one of the oldest known breeds, there continues to
be speculation and controversy concerning its history. In appearance,
Abyssinians resemble the paintings and sculptures of ancient Egyptian cats which
portray an elegant feline with a muscular body, beautiful arched neck, large
ears and almond shaped eyes. Abyssinians today still retain the jungle look of
felis lybica, the African wildcat ancestor of all domestic cats.
The source of the name is not because Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, is
thought to be the original home of these cats, but because the first
"Abyssinian" exhibited at a show in England was reported to have been imported
from that country. In the British book, by Gordon Staples, Cats, Their Points,
Etc. published in 1874, there is the first mention of an Abyssinian. The book
shows a colored lithograph of a cat with a ticked coat and absence of tabby
markings on the paws, face and neck. The description reads: "Zula, the property
of Mrs. Captain Barrett-Lennard. This cat was brought from Abyssinia at the
conclusion of the war…" British troops left Abyssinia in May 1868, so that may
have been the time when cats with ticked coats first entered England.
Unfortunately, there are no written records tracing the early Abyssinians to
those imported cats, and many British breeders are of the opinion that the breed
was actually created through the crossing of the various existing silver and
brown tabbies with native British "Bunny" ticked cats.
Recent studies by geneticists show that the most convincing origin of the
Abyssinian breed is the coast of the Indian Ocean and parts of Southeast Asia.
In fact, the earliest identifiable Abyssinian is a taxidermal exhibit still
residing in the Leiden Zoological Museum in Holland. This ruddy ticked cat was
purchased around 1834-1836 from a supplier of small wild cat exhibits and
labeled by the museum founder as "Patrie, domestica India." Although the
Abyssinian as a breed was refined in England, its introduction to that country
and others may have been the result of colonists and merchants stopping in
Calcutta, the major port for the Indian Ocean.
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