Editing Somali cat

{{short description|Breed of cat}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2023}}
{{original research|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox Catbreed
<!-- Put article text AFTER this infobox markup. see [[Template:Infobox Catbreed]] for more info.-->
| name          = Somali
| image         = Сомалийская кошка.jpg
| imagecaption  = A ruddy Somali Cat
| altname       =
| nickname      = Fox cat; long-haired Abyssinian<!--Note spelling, per [[domestic long-haired cat]]; no registry actually calls this a Longhair Abyssian, with capital L, no hyphen and no "-ed".-->
| country       = 
| notrecognized =
| extinct       =
| cfastd        = https://cfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/somali-presentation.pdf
| fifestd       = https://fifeweb.org/app/uploads/2023/10/ABY-SOM.pdf
| ticastd=https://www.tica.org/phocadownload/ab.pdf
| gccfstd       = https://www.gccfcats.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SOMALI.pdf
| acfastd       = https://acfacat.com/Breed%20Standards/SOMALI.pdf
| acfstd        = https://www.acf.asn.au/notices/notices/standards/Group%20Three/Somali.pdf
| ccastd        = https://www.cca-afc.com/documents/BreedStandards/SOMALI_20231109_205510.pdf
| otherstd      =
| note          =
|}}

The '''Somali''' cat is genetically similar to the [[Abyssinian cat]]. Due to inheriting 2 copies of the recessive gene for long hair, they have a characteristic luscious coat, unlike their cousin the Abyssinian.

== 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" />

== Appearance ==

=== Description ===
Somalis are recognised for their energetic and social nature.  Their appearance with sleek bodies, long tails, and large pointed ears have earned them the nickname of "Fox Cat." Their ticked coats contain between four and twenty colours on each hair are very fine in texture making their coats softer to the touch than those of other cat breeds. The cat itself is medium-large in size.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/cats-101/videos/somali/|title=Somali|website=Animal Planet|access-date=2016-04-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Legacy of the Cat|last1=Stephens|first1=Gloria|last2=Yamazaki|first2=Tetsu|publisher=Chronicle|year=1990|location=San Francisco}}</ref> Within the GCCF, short haired Somalis are recognised separately from [[Abyssinian cat]]s.<ref name="Somali Cat Club - Coat types and colours">{{cite web |title=Coat types and colours |url=http://www.somalicatclub.com/coat-types-colours |website=Somali Cat Club}}</ref>

=== Colours and patterns ===
All Somali cats have a ticked tabby pattern. The usual or ruddy coloured Somali has a golden brown ground colour ticked with black, so the official genetic term is black ticked tabby. The coat colour names in Somalis refer to the ticking colour. There are 28 colours of Somali in total although certain organisations accept only some of these colours. All organisations that register Somalis permit usual (genetically black, a.k.a. ruddy or tawny in Somalis), blue, sorrel (genetically cinnamon, a.k.a. red in Somalis), and fawn. Most clubs also recognise usual/ruddy silver, blue silver, sorrel/red silver, and fawn silver. Other colours that may be accepted by some registries include chocolate, lilac, red, cream, usual-tortie, blue-tortie, sorrel-tortie, fawn-tortie, chocolate-tortie, lilac-tortie, and silver variants of these (e.g. blue-tortie silver).

== Health ==
The Somali is one of the more commonly affected breeds for [[pyruvate kinase deficiency]]. An [[autosomal recessive]] mutation of the [[PKLR]] gene is responsible for the condition in the breed.<ref>{{cite book |author1-first=James A.C. |author1-last=Oliver |author2-first=Cathryn S. |author2-last=Mellersh | editor1-first=Barbara | editor1-last=Cooper | editor2-first=Elizabeth |editor2-last=Mullineaux |editor3-first=Lynn | editor3-last=Turner |title=BSAVA Textbook of Veterinary Nursing |date=2020 |publisher=British Small Animal Veterinary Association |isbn=978-1-910-44339-2 |edition=Sixth|chapter=Genetics| page=131}}</ref>

Somalis may also have hereditary retinal degeneration due to a mutation in the rdAc allele. This mutation is also seen in [[Abyssinian cat|Abyssinians]], [[Siamese cat|Siamese]] cats, and other related breeds.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Narfström|first1=Kristina|last2=David|first2=Victor|last3=Jarret|first3=Oswald|last4=Beatty|first4=Julia|author5-link=Vanessa Barrs |last5=Barrs|first5=Vanessa|last6=Wilkie|first6=David|last7=O’Brien|first7=Stephen|last8=Menotti-Raymond|first8=Marilyn|date=2009-09-01|title=Retinal degeneration in the Abyssinian and Somali cat (rdAc): correlation between genotype and phenotype and rdAc allele frequency in two continents|journal=Veterinary Ophthalmology|language=en|volume=12|issue=5|pages=285–291|doi=10.1111/j.1463-5224.2009.00710.x|pmid=19751487|issn=1463-5224}}</ref>

== Coat colour overview ==
<gallery>
File:Cat Somali.jpg|Ruddy Somali
File:Ruddy Somali female.jpg|Ruddy Somali female
File:Somali cat.jpg|Ruddy (usual) Somali kitten
File:Blue Somali kitten age 3 months.jpg|Blue Somali kitten
File:Sorrel (red) Somali - 20060816.jpg|Sorrel Somali
File:Chat Somali - Couleur Fawn - Hrakkar de la Rivaleraie.JPG|Fawn Somali
File:Chat Somali - Couleur Lilac - Nainasus Torrylinn.JPG|Lilac Somali
File:Roo Female Somali in Cat Café Tokyo.jpg|Female Somali in a [[cat café]]
</gallery>

== References ==
* {{cite book |last= Edwards |first= Alan|others= Trevor Turner (Consultant) John Daniels (Photographer) |title= The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Cats Cat Breeds & Cat Care |orig-year= 1999|year= 2005|publisher= Hermes House|location= London |isbn= 978-0-7548-1277-7  |oclc= 76934417}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Somali (cat)}}
* [http://www.cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsSthruT/Somali.aspx Cat Fanciers Association -- Somali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128173006/http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsSthruT/Somali.aspx |date=2020-01-28 }}
* [http://www.tica.org/public/breeds/so/intro.php The International Cat Association -- Somali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910085054/http://www.tica.org/public/breeds/so/intro.php |date=2015-09-10 }}
* [http://www.somalicatclub.com/ Somali cat club of Great Britain]

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[[Category:Cat breeds]]