A HIMALAYAN is a blue eyed Persian cat with Siamese color points.
In 1930 Dr. Clyde Keeler
of Harvard Medical School teamed with Virginia Cobb of Newton
Cattery to merge the two most popular breeds of cats-Persian and
Siamese. Their first generation offspring produced color point
carriers, solid-colored Persians carrying the color point gene.
First they bred a Siamese female to a black Persian male, producing
Bozo, a black male kitten with a wavy coat. Next they bred a Siamese
male to a black Persian female and got a black female named Bitzie.
They then crossed Bozo and Bitzie, which resulted in a long-haired
black female Babbit. Babbit was then bred to Bozo and that cross
introduced the first HIMALAYAN, Newtons Debutante.
The name HIMALAYAN was
selected for the new breed because the color evolution of the
Himalayan cat coincided with the color pattern found on rabbits and
goats living in the Himalayan Mountains in Asia. In other words,
they have light bodies and dark extremities, although they are born
with almost white coats and develop their color points over several
weeks. The darker colored ears, nose, paws and tail is attributed to
the cooler body temperature in their extremities.
The Himalayan was
recognized by the Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc. (CFA) for breed
status in 1957. The colors included seal, blue, chocolate and lilac
points. Since that date, CFA has added flame, tortie, blue-cream,
cream, lynx with its several variations and OPCC (Other Pointed
Colors Class). In 1964 CFA also incorporated the solid colored
Himalayans into the Persian Division and called them Color Point
Persians (CPC) and accepted Color Point Carriers (Hybrids) in the
show ring.
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