Editing Somali cat (section)

== History ==
In the 1940s, a British breeder named Janet Robertson exported some Abyssinian kittens to Australia, New Zealand and North America. Descendants of these cats occasionally produced [[kittens]] with long or fuzzy coats. In 1963, Mary Mailing, a breeder from Canada, entered one into a local pet show. Ken McGill, the show's judge, asked for one for [[Animal husbandry|breeding]] purposes.

The first known long-haired Abyssinian, named 'Raby Chuffa of Selene', appeared in North America in 1953. Breeders assume that the long-haired gene was passed down through his ancestry. Most breeders were appalled by the sudden difference in appearance in their litters and refused to mention them. However, some breeders were intrigued and continued to breed the long-haired Abyssinian. At first, other Abyssinian breeders looked down upon the new development of the Somali and refused to associate them with the Abyssinian. They worked hard to keep the long-haired gene out of their own cats.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.petmd.com/cat/breeds/c_ct_somali|title=Somali Cats {{!}} Somali Cat Breed Info & Pictures {{!}} petMD|website=www.petmd.com|access-date=2016-04-15}}</ref>

An American Abyssinian breeder Evelyn Mague also received longhairs from her cats, which she named "Somalis". Mague put out a call for other cats to breed with her own long-haired Abyssinians and found the many other breeders internationally that had been breeding long-haired Abyssinians for several years already.<ref name=":0" /> Don Richings, another Canadian breeder, used kittens from McGill, and began to work with Mague. The first Somali recognized as such by a fancier organization was Mayling Tutsuta, one of McGill's cats. In 1979, the breed was recognized by the [[Cat Fanciers' Association|CFA]] in North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsSThruT/Somali.aspx|title=Breed Profile: The Somali|website=cfa.org|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2018-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625075153/http://www.cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsSthruT/Somali.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new breed was accepted in Europe in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.micetto.com/race/chat-Somali|title=Le Chat Somali|website=www.micetto.com|access-date=2016-04-21}}</ref> By 1991, the breed was broadly (though not universally) accepted internationally.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fogle |first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Fogle |title=The Encyclopedia of the Cat: The Definitive Visual Guide |publisher=Dorling Kindersly Pr |isbn=978-1-4053-3490-7 |page=224 |year=2001 |orig-year=1997}}</ref>{{verify source|date=August 2012|reason=It seems to be alleged that this source provides every detail in the two above paragraphs, from "The first..." on down.}}

The name "Somali" is in reference to the African nation, [[Somalia]]. Somalia borders [[Abyssinia Crisis|Abyssinia]], which is modern day [[Ethiopia]]. The name of the breed is a unique interpretation of the [[Ethiopian-Somali conflict]]; Mague charitably assumed that since the land borders were a human creation, so are the genetic borders between the Abyssinian cat and the long-haired Abyssinian.<ref name=":0" />

Mague also founded the Somali Cat Club of America, which included members from Canada as well. The SCCA worked to grant the breed championship status by the CFA, which occurred in 1979. In 1975, the CFA founded the International Somali Cat Club.<ref name=":0" />