Legaturi.ro
For those of you who are interested in this wonderful cat, Russian Blue, I’ll post here a brief history of this breed, containing: origins, breeders, official breed recognition, breed salvage after World War II.
Out of consideration for the work of lots of breeders to maintain, salvage and ameliorate the Blue Russian breed, I’ll remind a few milestones in its history:
The Russian Blue breed appeared naturally,
the most probable variant being the one which considers the
White Sea shore, in Occidental Russia, as the craddle of the “blue shadow”.
Russian Blue’s birth city is considered to be the Russian harbour
Arhangelsk, at 247km distance from the Arctic Circle (explaining
also another name of Russian Blue cats: “The Archangel Cat”)
Beautiful legends tell that cossack warriors used to launch their attacks in battle, wearing their blue cats clawed on their backs. Its intelligence and beauty made the Russian Blue the favourite cat of the tzars, their wives and of aristocratic families. Thus, amongst the breeders of Russian Blue, there are famous names such as Peter the Great, Nikolai the Ist, Ekaterina the IInd, Elizabeth …
Via British and Russian ships (which included her on board because of her excellent mouse hunter skills), the gracious feline arrived from Arhangelsk to Great Britain. It seems that this has happened starting with the 17th century, but the first acknowledged information about the Russian Blue breed in Great Britain date from 1860. They are mentioned as company pets for the queens of England, Elizabeth I and Victoria.
In year 1871, Russian Blue was exposed for the first time at Crystal Palace in London. The English used to call it with any of the following names: The Archangel Cat, The Maltese Blue, The Spanish Blue, The Foreign Blue, The short hair Russian cat. It competed next to other blue colour breeds, yet being considered as a separate variety.
In 1893, an English industry woman brough a pair of Russian Blue cats from Arhangelsk and started, by selection, the growth of this breed.
Year 1912 brings, through breeders’ endeavour, the first standard for the Russian Blue breed, less imposant but more elegant than the other blue breeds. Its name becomes “Foreign Blue”, in order to differentiate it from the British Blue.
In 1939, the Russian Blue was officially registered in Great Britain, as standard breed, under its proper name. As in England there were too few representatives of this breed, the Russian Blues were coupled with cats from other blue breeds. The most exposed, following this breed, was the colour of the eyes. After the official registration, in 1939, the breed was added Oriental group blood, in order to differentiate the type. Thus, there were controlled breeds with Siameses, whose fur had blue reflexes. As a consequence, the body gained in elegance.
During the World War II, there was the danger of physical destruction of the breed. Breeders from Holland, in order to save the cats, evacuated them from occupied territories in England, USA and other countries. After the war, nobody in Russia tooke care of breeding the beautiful and innocent feline. In Great Britain, the Russian Blue was very appreciated, thus proper conditions for maintaining and enhancing the breed were created.
After
the war, in the trials for salvaging the breed, a group of
British breeders (the Blues from UK usually had yellowish
eyes) and Scandinavian (the Blues from Scandianavia usually
had green eyes) did some
cross-breedings with Blue Point Siameses, having as consequences
the gain in elegance and the return to the green eyes also
in UK. The blue fur,
of average hue is desirable, as it enhances the silky gloss.
It has been said that the activity required for salvaging this
breed was similar to the one required for the works of art …
It is
only in 1965, that the selection results become close to the
standard that was fixed before the first world war,
the breeders managing to obtain an aspect in between the original
one and the Oriental
influence one.
As USA also took part in salvaging the breed, let’s see what happened
there. In USA, the descendants of the cats brought here even
since 1900 (also by Russian sailors), were breeded after the second world
war, with
cats brought from UK and Sweden.
The American standard was adopted in 1949 (CFA). Here (after 1940), one variety, namely the Nibelung (a Russian Blue with semi-long hair), had a wider spread. It was acknowledged by TICA as a distinct breed, in 1987. In USA, a shade of blue lighter than the European one, was preffered.
In Russia, in the second half of the
20th century, the Russian Blue had completely dissapeared.
Around year 1990, a small
contigent was put together. The male had been brought from
USA and the females from Czech
Republic, about 20 years before.
Nowadays, there are less Russian Blue cats in Russia than
abroad.
In Australia and New Zealand, the white and black
varieties were selected, and between 1993 and 1998, some
international specific organizations acknowledged them.
It has to be mentioned here that most of the international
organizations acknowledge only the originary blue colour
and the originary short hair type (they acknowledge neither
the white and black varieties,
nor the Nibelung).