Solid Color Persian

Stargazing
A Historical View of Solid Color Persians
by Judy & Greg Brocato

Copper-eyed WhiteReviewing the history of the Solid Color Persian is like taking a stroll down the Walk of Stars in Hollywood. Around every corner one finds another famous name, another memorable face. The streets are bright with feline stars who marked their time in history. Their legacy has left an imprint on our Persians of today.


The CFA standard today suggests that the ideal Persian should present an impression of a heavily boned, well-balanced cat with a sweet expression and soft, round lines. Our present standard recognizes Solid Persians in nine different color classes: white Persians (in blue-eyed, copper-eyed, and odd-eyed), blue Persians, black Persians, red Persians, peke-faced red Persians (quite rare today), cream Persians, and chocolate and lilac Persians (shown together in the Other Solid Color Class).

These beautiful Solid colors form the glamour division of the Persian Breed. Their long flowing coats, pansylike faces, and familiar coat colors make them favorites of cat lovers worldwide. They have sweet and gentle personalities that adapt as easily to the hustle and bustle of cat shows as they do to quiet family life. Their quiet, melodious voices are pleasant and non abrasive. They communicate as much with their large expressive eyes as they do with their voices. Playful but never demanding, they like to have their feet planted firmly on the ground. The dignified Persian is not inclined to swing from the drapes or perch atop the bookcase. Their more sedate nature, however, does not reflect a lack of intelligence. Solid Persians are very bright and many owners have described them as being doglike in devotion to the special people in their lives.

The grooming required to keep a Solid Persian looking beautiful requires a great deal of effort. The long, flowing coat that makes the Persian so glamorous can quickly become a nightmare for an inattentive owner. Perfect grooming can not be achieved unless the animal is in first-class condition. Appropriate condition can be achieved by providing protected environment, proper diet, daily exercise to encourage muscle development, and freedom from parasites and disease. Owners should be prepared to spend time each day grooming. A routine should be established to include a daily cleaning of the face to remove stains and a complete run-through with a metal comb to eliminate tangles. Baths are necessary once a week (or at least every two weeks) to remove excess oils, dead coat and to stimulate new coat growth. It is not necessary to keep temperatures uncomfortably low to encourage coat growth. It is the photoperiod (length of daylight to which cats are exposed) that most strongly influences coat changes. Most indoor cats will shed moderately year-round because indoor life provides an artificial environment of electrically extended daylight. Shorter amounts of daylight will encourage coat growth. In the reverse, longer exposure to daylight will encourage cats to cycle. Solid Persians exhibit one of two different coat textures. The first and easiest to care for is the dominant or hard coat texture that is characteristic of black, red, and some white Persians. This hard coat texture is silky, shiny, and more resilient. The second coat texture that may be encountered is the dilute or soft coat that is often exhibited by blues and creams. The soft coat texture is cottonlike, standing away from the body, and much more inclined to stain or mat. Each of the Solid Persian colors have products that are specialized for their unique color.

Copper-eyed WhiteFor instance, some breeders of white Persians use shampoos or rinses that contain bluing. It is thought that a bluing rinse reflects light, giving a purer, sparkling appearance to the coat. Many black and red Persians are groomed with Bay Rum as a finishing spray to make the coat glisten and stand off from the body. But beware, such sprays can bring out any tabby bars hiding under that solid coat. Various powders are used to even coat color in blues and creams. Dark tips which appear on the ends of blue and cream coats are often removed by finger plucking or trimming with thinning scissors. There are as many techniques as there are cats on which to use them. Trial and error will show very clearly which method of grooming is best suited to the different coat texture and color of a particular cat.

It is interesting to note that the term Solid proves to be inaccurate when viewing Solid Persians in genetic terms. Solid Persians are genetically tabbies. Since all cats carry some form of the tabby gene, how is it that some have solid color coats? The answer lies in the agouti gene. The gene that causes agouti banding has an alternate non-agouti form. Cats that express the non-agouti form of the gene do NOT have banding on the hairs between their tabby stripes. The non-agouti hairs mask the tabby appearance, making the cat appear solid (self) colored. These cats are, nonetheless, genetic tabbies. They carry the gene for the pattern, and they usually have ghost tabby markings when they are kittens. But when they become adult cats, you may not be able to see the tabby markings, explains Dr. Soliveig Pfueger, a clinical geneticist.

* The Early Years
* White Persians
* Blue Persians
* Black Persians
* Red Persians
* Peke-Face Red Persians
* Cream Persians
* Solid Chocolate and Solid Lilac Persians
* The Modern Years

The Early Years (1900-1970)

The history of the Persian is unrecorded prior to 1520 and its origin can never be proven. Persians may have stemmed from cats known as Angoras originating from Turkey which were crossed with other longhairs from Persia, Afghanistan, Burma, China, and Russia. Cats from these blended lines were brought to Europe about 300 years ago through Italy and France. Rustic examples of our modern solid Persians appeared in England among the 160 exhibits at the first British show held on July 13, 1871. At the first cat shows in Britain there were few recognized breeds, so cats were put into classes more or less according to color. There were Longhair classes for some specific colors such as black, white, and tabby, but the majority of cats were entered under the heading of Any Other Color. By the turn of the century British imports began influencing the Persian breed in America. The British cat fancy, although still in its own infancy, laid the groundwork for what would become decades of dominance of the Solid Color Persians in the United States.

Odd-eyed WhiteMrs. Clinton Locke, founder of the Beresford Cat Club of Chicago, was the first woman in America to operate a cattery. It is claimed to have been in existence for 25 years prior to 1900. Mrs. Locke had the second imported cat in the US. (The first was Madam, a black Longhair from Spain). Mrs. Locke's cats carried off the Best Cat Awards in each of the first three Beresford shows. Her silver male, Lockehaven Smerdis, won Best in Show in 1900 but her Solid Color Persians dominated the subsequent shows. Her blue female, Melrose Lassie, was the winner in 1901, and Romaldkirk Lupin, a blue male, won in 1902. Mrs. Locke's Beresford Club published its Stud Book and Registry from July 1899 through July 1905. The registration fee was $1. The first entry was Lake Shore Vashti, a golden-eyed blue female Longhair owned by Mrs. S.E. Gross of Chicago. In 1903 the string of Mrs. Locke's Best In Show wins came to an end with the award going to an orange-eyed white Longhair male named Bartimeus, owned by Mrs. Josiah Cratty.

Harrison Weir, a well-known British artist and cat lover, studied cats for almost half a century and gave us the first Standards for all recognized breeds and colors. Published in a book entitled Our Cats in 1889, these Standards were called Points of Excellence. American breeders initially followed these standards. In 1903 H.F. Vidal published the Cat Journal in the U.S. giving detailed descriptions of the Solid Color classes of his time. And in 1909 D.B. Champion wrote Everybody's Cat Book which described the perfect show-type Persian. Many phrases from this 1909 description sound quite familiar: round head, short face, snubby nose with stop, round and full cheeks, large eyes, cobby body deep and broad in the chest. At this time, however, each color was treated as if it were a separate breed.

It is obvious that Solid Color Persians were already present and competing by the time CFA appeared on the scene in 1906. By this time, Solid Color Persians had credentials complete with breeding and show statistics. The first official CFA Longhair Standard was adopted at a Special Board Meeting held May 19, 1914. Among the nine color classes described under these 1914 Longhair Standards, the following solid colors were noted: whites, blacks, blues, oranges, and creams. It has taken decades of selective breeding to produce our modern Solid Persians. Yet it is amazing how closely our current Solids resemble the ideal standard described by D.B. Champion in 1909.