The Abyssinian is a short-haired elegant creature with a strong personality and history going back to the ancient Egypt. It wants to be a rightful family member and you won’t get enough of its thick, silky fur.
The Abyssinian probably lived at the courts of Pharaohs in the ancient Egypt. You can see it on various pictures from that period and also the similarity of this breed with the statues and found mummified cats is obvious. Even though there are no conclusive proofs of their kinship.
However, we do know for sure that an ancestor of the Abyssinian cat was brought to the Great Britain in 1868 by a field marshal from Ethiopia, called Abyssinia then. This cat was called Zula and it was probably the mother of all Abyssinians. However, she didn’t look very similar to the current Abyssinians except for their typical hair colour. It was recognized quite soon in Britain, in 1882.
The following events including both world wars and the epidemics of cat leukaemia took care of the vast reduction of the members of this breed and it almost became extinct. The situation started to change only in the 1960s when the Abyssinians started becoming popular and nowadays, it is one of the most well-known and popular short-haired breeds of cats.
As I have already mentioned, the Abyssinians have a strong personality, therefore, they are not suitable for everyone. They are very smart, extrovert and stubborn cats. Even though they are still elegant and mostly quiet, they can clearly tell a human what they want. They are incredibly curious and restless explorers. They will carefully perform an inspection of anything, starting from a shopping bag to a visitor. And they don’t like to take risks.
To be happy, they need a lot of contact with their family and to be its rightful member which is not missed out from any situation. So if you spend most of the day outside the house and the cat would be home alone, it would suffer. They get on very well with other cats and they can also be great companions of dogs.
And if you don’t know how what an Abyssinian cat looks like, it has a muscular and flexible body of a slightly oriental type. In general, it looks light and elegant. Its fur is thick, soft and silky. Its original colour is wild, the so-called “ruddy”. Other colours also occurred over some time but always with some kind of ticking. It means that there are two or three stripes with darker colour on each individual hair. You can see the same colouring in wild rabbits as well.
The interesting fact is that kittens are always born with dark fur which gets lighter as they grow older. It can happen that a long-haired kitten is in a litter – it is a Somali cat. Because it can have a gene of long hair.
Do you have an Abyssinian at home? I like the ruddy colour most, it makes them look interesting and wild.
Doing yoga with a dog, or doga in other words (the combination of “dog” and “yoga”), has become popular in the United States of America, but it has not become so popular in the Czech Republic yet. What is it about and what benefits does this sport have...
Earlier, this heart disease was attributed only to certain pure-blood breeds. Nowadays, it can even occur in cross-breeds. Another disease which reminds us of how important regular preventive check-ups at the vet are.
Days are getting colder and it is time again to prepare our furry friends who live outdoors for winter. All cats (whether they live outdoors or only go outside occasionally) need our greater attention in this season.
A Somali cat is a long-haired version of Abyssinian cat, one of the oldest cat breeds in the world. But it does not have an interesting or long history itself. Even though it is named after an African country, first Somali cats were born in the United...
Until recently, Cairn terriers were the most popular terriers in Great Britain (until they were overtaken by Westies). It comes from Scottish island Skye and it used to hunt foxes and otters here already in the times of Mary, Queen of Scots. That’s...
A team of Swedish athletes one of whom is Mikael Lindord regularly attends one of the most difficult races in the world to challenge other teams – the Adventure Racing World Championship. When Mikael and his friends stopped in the middle of an...
Each dog is an individual and has different needs. When it comes to diet, it depends on its health condition or physically demanding activities. However, we can generalize these needs to a certain degree according to a breed, age and mainly the size of...
Adopting a dog senior might save his life. They also need stable home and love which unfortunately can never be fully provided in the shelter. Nevertheless, most people who are considering adoption as an option automatically look for a puppy or at...
The International Rabbit Day is celebrated on the fourth Saturday or Sunday in September. This year, it was 22 September. This annual celebration of a cute mammal with long ears, short tail and a velvet coat is not only meant for the million of rabbits...
Do you also follow the recent trend which encourages us to come back to our roots and mind our planet more? I am personally very happy about that. More and more households live according to zero-waste and non-toxic principles and we don’t forget about...
Cats enjoying themselves in a doll house are a hit on Iceland. Their creators probably didn’t expect so much fame and first of all, they didn’t create the whole project for money, fame and for a short-time amusement. There is a much more noble purpose...
Your furry friend might get poisoned in a minute, only a few seconds of carelessness or a slow reaction is enough, especially if your dog is similar to mine and “eats everything he finds on the way”. Fortunately, my dog hasn’t been poisoned yet but I’m...
