Pictures of Norwegian Forest Cats

Half-Norwegian Forest Cat picture: © Halo Efeckti

This post - Pictures of Norwegian Forest Cats - is just that, with very few words. One of the best ways to see pictures is through a slide show. So if you want to only see pictures to check whether you like this cat's appearance, then you can stop here.

This post brings together all the pictures on this website as the pictures you see in the following slide show have been used elsewhere on this website to illustrate posts about this cat from the history of this breed of cat through to a resumé of facts about this fine and popular cat breed. Use the labels in the left hand margin to select other topics.

Here's the slide show:



These photographs are mainly by and the copyright of Helmi Flick probably the world's best cat photographer.

Photographs that are not by her are the copyright of excellent amateur photographers who generously and sensibly allow their photographs to be used by others under a creative commons license.

Pictures of Norwegian Forest Cats are always likely to be good because this cat is so photogenic. The range of coat colors and patterns is near infinite (no points allowed but other than that the associations allow any color/pattern).

The picture on the bottom right hand side of the brown tabby wegie (nickname for this cat breed) is by and © copyright Froskeland

Pictures of Norwegian Forest Cats to Maine Coon cats a very similar cat.

Norwegian Forest Cat Facts

Norwegian Forest Cats photograph © copyright Helmi Flick

Here are some key Norwegian Forest Cat Facts as I see them:-

1. This is a natural cat. This is perhaps the most important fact. This means that this cat breed evolved in Scandinavia (or was it just Norway? - no it is native to Northern Europe¹) without the interference of mankind over a long period of time (centuries it is said starting in about AD 1000²) until it was decided by the "cat fancy" (people involved in breeding and showing cats essentially) that what was an ordinary non-purebred non-pedigree domestic house cat (a moggie) should be a show cat. That happened in about 1930. At that time until the present this cat's evolution would have been largely in the hands of people concerned primarily (but definitely not exclusively) with the appearance of the cat.
2. Other names for this cat are: Skogkatt or Skaukatt, Wegie. Also skogkatter or the Norsk skaukatt (meaning in English: Norwegian Forest Cat)¹.
3. There are no outcross breeds.
4. Weight: About 3 - 9 kg or 7 - 20 lbs (see domestic cat weights for comparisons).
5. This cat breed is similar to the Maine Coon and Siberian but does not suffer from the same predisopisitions to certain genetic disorders as the Maine Coon (e.g. heart disease, HCM but see Maine Coon Cat health for more on that). Although there are one or two health issues they are in my estimation less serious. This is a pretty robust cat.
6. This is a cat that is bigger than the average. As I said she is similar to the Maine Coon, which is probably the biggest wholly domestic cat breed (i.e. not a wild cat hybrid). However the Norwegian Forest Cat is smaller than the Maine Coon. The NFC is heavy boned and tall.
7. This is a cat with medium-long hair. Any coat pattern and color can be seen except for a pointed pattern (like the Siamese or Himalayan, for example). This is in contrast to some cat breeds for example that are only bred to one color, e.g the grey cat breeds. The top coat is a protective coat and the undercoat keeps her warm (see cat hair). It seems that the ancestors to the current NFCs are normally black and white. You can see a black and white NFC in the video. Tabby NFCs are the most common with white on their chests and paws.
   
8. This breed is fully recognized by all the major cat associations, which include the GCCF, FiFe, CFA, TICA.
9. The Norwegian Forest Cat is an athletic, confident climber to the point where it can come down trees from a considerable height (say 30 feet) head first, running down the tree trunk (well my half NFC could - only two wild cats can do that: the Margay and Clouded Leopard). Most cats shimmy down backwards and slowly or sometimes get stuck as the claws are not designed for descending forwards. This skill was probably acquired over the duration of the cat's evolution in the Norwegian forests. This breed likes high vantage points. Of course not all cats of this breed do as I have just described.
   
10. Some purebred cats are rarer than others. This is not one of the rare ones.
11. The Norwegian Forest Cat ranks just outside the top 10, out of about 70 listed purebred cat breeds, in this website's popularity poll on visitors votes. The top cats are the Maine Coon and Siamese.
    

These are the core Norwegian Forest Cat Facts.


Norwegian Forest Cat doing a spot of fishing. They do this apparently. The Bengal to name one other cat breed also likes water. Photo © copyright gary.baldi reproduced under a creative commons license.

Sources:

 Myself
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Forest_Cat
2. Encyclopedia Of The Cat by Dr Bruce Fogle

Norwegian Forest Cat Facts to Norwegian Forest Cat History

Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders

Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders is the second most popular keyword search for the Norwegian Forest Cat as far as I can tell. That is why I am making this post on the subject. Of course, people will be looking for cats to buy and they won't find any on this site. But stick around guys. Although I am not a cat breeder I know a bit about cat breeding and cats generally so this post, I think and hope, will be useful. In any event, you get nice pictures ullustrating this post and lots more nice pictures on this site too. Also, I have no axe to grind so what I say is completely objective.


Norwegian Forest Cat. This is a fine cat photographed by Helmi Flick. The photo is copyright Helmi Flick.

If I where looking for Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders, it seems to me, that you have to think of these things in this order:

1. Do an Internet search (that's why your here). You can tell quite a lot about a cat breeder from their website (if they have one). First does it have a PageRank? PageRank is a Google term. It measures the number of inbound links to a website. If there are a lot of good links the rank will be higher. This is because inbound links indicate a website contains useful information that others want to link to.

In also takes time to get a lot of inbound links because it takes time to build a site that people want to link to and it takes time to find that site.

You can find out the rank by installing a Google toolbar. It will show in the form of a white bar in the middle of the toolbar. You can also find out PageRank on some websites. One is the free Page Rank Checker.

So the site has a page rank, probably somewhere from 1-4 (10 is the max but it is rare to go higher than 5). Note: this sub-domain site at the time of making this post does not have a page rank because it is brand new. It takes time and presence to get a page rank, a good reason why a breeder's site with one is a good indication of the breeders longevity.

2. Next thing to check is the Alexa rank. This will give you a clue as to how much traffic a site gets. It is a bit like knowing how many potential customers Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders have. It is not going to be absolutely accurate but it is a good guideline nonetheless. You can check the Alexa traffic rank of all sites that you visit by installing an Alex Toolbar. It won't hurt anything and it's free. Go to the Alexa site and scroll to the base of the page to see a link (bottom RHS) for installing this. You will find that most cat breeder sites have traffic ranking at about 2m - 10m. That is 2 million. This means the site is ranked the 2 millionth site of all websites in terms of traffic. There are about 100m -200m sites. If any of the Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders have an Alexa ranking of below 1million it is doing well and is one that I would bookmark.


Norwegian Forest Cat photograph copyright Ack Ook. Reproduced under Creative Commons license. I love the facial markings.

3. Of course, once you have isolated the good websites you have also found potentially the good cat breeders. The above are all very good signs. After all it takes a lot of motivation to build a good website and motivation is a good quality for good breeder but not the only one.

If the cattery has no website it may, and probably will, be listed in one of the online cattery directories. It may not even be there. As you are going to have to visit the cattery this is not that important. The advantage of a website is that you get a chance to check out the catteries before visiting and get a feel for their quality.

4. The next stage will be the location of the cattery. It is a must to visit it so it should be within reasonable driving distance. Once you have the right signs from the website as to the quality of the cattery, you'll need to see it and smell it to check first hand how good it is. How big is it? Are the cats well socialized? Is it clean? Good Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders will answer your most probing questions politely and with confidence. Think about the health issues that I have mentioned and raise questions.

Do you get a contract? If so read it carefully. In fact I would get to see a copy before I visited to give time to digest it so that I could ask questions about it when I was there. What about neutering and spaying? The cattery will probably do this for you. What is their policy if you have difficulties? Do they take the cat back if there are unforeseen behavioral difficulties. This will be exceptional as good Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders will ensure that the cat is well socialized to humans and other animals allowing the cat to integrate easily. But remember cats do take about 6-9 months in my experience to settle into a new place. If there are problems look at what you are doing. It is as much likely to be something that you are doing as due to the cat's personality. Cats are reactive and behave naturally.


Norwegian Forest Cat Photograph reproduced under a creative commons license and copyright Faustenator

Back to health issues, the most important of all. I think that if the cat you are looking at has, say an upper respiratory infection (cat flu), I would seriously consider not proceeding despite what the breeder says. You might like to have a skim through some of the illnesses that cats can suffer from before searching for your cat. Some infections such as URI can be carried and spread so can be hard for the breeder to eradicate. They can be fatal in young cats, especially. Your new cat may also bring the infection to your household and if you have a cat already this would be very unfortunate.

I personally wouldn't take any excuse from the breeder for any infection. Either the cat is healthy or she isn't. Your new cat is for life whatever her condition and if she is ill this may be a long term condition requiring lots of treatment, expense and worry. Hope this post helps a bit.

Photo - 2nd Picture down from top is copyright Quatre Mains and reproduced under a creative commons license.

Norwegian Forest Cat Breeders to Home Page

Norweigan Forest Cat spelling wrong

photo copyright Helmi Flick

Norweigan Forest Cat spelling is wrong not too infrequently. The title is spelled as some people incorrectly spell the name of this breed. I am writing this short post to see if I can pick up these people as they may have difficulty in finding a website about the Norwegian Forest Cat. It is the "i"that is at fault. Some people put it before the "g" when it should be after it. I am getting a bit anal here I think...........:)

So guys, please take care in spelling the name of this lovely cat. Now that you have found the place have a look around and enjoy. Leave a comment and admire the photos of this distinguished cat.

Norweigan Forest Cat spelling wrong to Home page

Norwegian Forest Cat Photos

Photo copyright Helmi Flick - tabby and white and grey tabby coats. The cat on the right seems to be black or black smoke.

Norwegian Forest Cat Photos are popular and I have them right here; probably the best on the Internet. I can't just publish the photos so I'll make reference to the breed standard from the UK Breed Standard (NFC Cat Club in the UK) at the same time.

This Norwegian Forest cat is a very handsome cat and frankly I am bit surprised that this breed is not as popular as the Maine Coon. According to a Poll currently being conducted on the main website this cat breed was ranked 7th but is now just outside the top ten most popular cat breeds as judged by visitors' preferences (and not number of cat association registrations). The Maine Coon gets twice the number of votes and is ranked 1st, the most popular cat breed as at March 2010. They are very similar breeds and the Forest cat may be a founding cat of the Maine Coon. Perhaps the Maine Coon is more popular on account of the fact that the majority of voters are American and will naturally favor a cat breed, which is considered an American cat.


Photo copyright Helmi Flick - tabby and white a classic NFC look.

The Breed Standard (UK) - highly condensed

It is important that breeders maintain the original appearance of this cat, which has developed over a long natural history as a semi-domestic barn cat in Norway. This cat's coat is the most outstanding feature arising out of this background. Tabbies and bicolors are both common coat types as the naturally occurring NFCs in Norway¹. Apparently, black and whites are common too². The coat should be a double coat (guard outer hairs and a down undercoat for warmth - see cat hair).

This breed can be any coat color.


Norwegian Forest Cat Photos - this photo copyright Orin and reproduced under a creative commons license. This photo was taken with a softened and bounced flash light and it works well I think. This cat seems to be a solid orange and white.

The head should be triangular with all three sides of equal length. This is the same as the Japanese Bobtail. There should be no break in the profile ("long straight line" - see photo below that illustrates this clearly).

The ears should be large but not rounded with classic " ear furnishings" (ear hair) and tufts coming from the top of the ear. This is similar as expected to the Maine Coon.


Photo copyright Helmi Flick - notice the long straight profile. Tabby and white.

The eyes like the coat can be any color and should be alert, large and oval. The body as expected should be big, long and strong. This cat can jump very well. The back legs are longer than the front. This is normal and probably to allow greater leverage and better jumping and running skills.


Norwegian Forest Cat Photos - This is another profile - a nice photograph by and copyright Faustenator - thanks for your photos which are reproduced under a creative commons license. I think, despite the screwed up face yawning, that the profile fits the breed standard - nice and straight. You've got a show cat Faustenator! This is a spotted tabby cat as far as I can tell..

Finally the coat. This should be semi-long with a woolly undercoat and a smooth water repellent outer coat. The standard requires a "shirtfront", a full ruff and "knickerbockers". We know what a ruff is as you see them on the big cats. The shirtfront is probably the longer hair at the front (like old fashioned dress shirts) and the knickerbockers describes the long hair on the upper part of the hind legs.

The longhaired coat of the Norwegian Forest cat is not as full as that associated with Persian cats. The NFC coat is firmer. It is though silky with a thick undercoat. This will requires some maintenance. The tabby pattern sometimes mixed with white because of the presence of the white spotting gene are probably the most popular coat colors (see tabby and white cat coats and tabby cat coats).

NFCs are great climbers so the hind legs are powerful.

Norwegian Forest Cat Photos - Source:

• http://www.nfcc.co.uk/breedstandard.html
• Go to the full CFA breed standard
• 1. The Encyclopedia of the Cat by Dr Bruce Fogle
• 2. The Cat, Its Behavior, Nutrition & Health by Linda P Case 

Norwegian Forest Cat Photos to Maine Coon a similar cat

Norwegian Forest Cat Health

Norwegian Forest Cat Health - Norwegian Forest Cat - Venus - photograph copyright Helmi Flick. There is no connection with Venus and bad health that I am aware of. She is illustrating this post as a fine example of this breed, no more.

A cat's health is the most important aspect of the cat but something that is not readily visible. The cat fancy tends to give priority to appearance sometimes.

The question that concerns "buyers" is this. Does this cat breed have any inherent disorders or is she a sound cat?

As a semi-wild cat she was pretty robust; she had to be. I would have expected this breed to the same as any other mixed breed cat before she became a show cat. But in the show world appearance counts and in order to achieve the finest appearance cat breeders run the risk of fixing not only good characteristics but the bad too which can sometimes be attached to recessive genes that are normally hidden away. This is because of line breeding or even inbreeding.

Both HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) and PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) are diseases that are present in a number (perhaps all) of cat breeds to varying degrees. The question is to what degree? In some breeds such as the Persian the incidence of PKD is higher. Similarly for the Maine Coon, HCM is an issue as it occurs more frequently than normal. There is a growing awareness at the time of this post that HCM in Bengal cats is becoming an issue.

Both the above disorders can affect Norwegian Forest Cat Health but as far as I am aware not to an unusually high level. Note: In a research paper entitled: Prevalence of polycystic kidney disease in Persian and Persian related cats in France (on this page) Norwegian Forest cats were included and therefore considered as Persian related cats but no PKD was detected. High levels (41.8% of cats) of PKD was detected in Persian cats however.

One disorder however seems to be particular to this cat breed, namely Type IV glycogen storage disease (type IV GSD). This is a disease found in humans too. It is called Andersen disease or amylopectinosis. It is a rare disorder linked to an autosomal-recessive gene. It results in the deficiency of an enzyme. The enzyme is required to produce glucose. It is an inherited disease in this cat breed. [See this scientific research article if you are interested in learning more]

As the disorder is due to a recessive gene (autosomal - sex related) both parents have to carry the gene for the disorder to be present in the offspring which are sometimes still born and if not die at about 4-5 months due to "neuromuscular degeneration".

Clearly questions need to ask to the breeder about the above before proceeding. The latter disorder being the main focus I would have thought. There is one last health issue. Retinal Dysplasia may be present more frequently than normal in this breed of cat. It results in the malformation of the retina. The symptoms can be more or less severe, causing a small blind spot (relatively minor) or blindness. This disease can be inherited. There is no treatment currently.

Source:

• Pictures of Cats
• http://www.winterfyre.com/testing/
• http://arpa.allenpress.com
• http://cats.lovetoknow.com/Norwegian_Forest_Cat
  

Norwegian Forest Cat Health to Maine Coon Cats

Norwegian Forest Cat History

Norwegian Forest Cat History - Left: White Norwegian Forest Cat photograph copyright noeoracio.

I have illustrated this post with photographs of the same white Norwegian Forest Cats taken by the same photographer and I presume living with the photographer. She labels the photographs "Noé et Oracio des Fines Terres". They are beautiful cats and the photographs are reproduced here under a creative commons license for which I thank her.

The Norwegian Forest Cat History is long and distinguished. I love this cat for its naturalness and established origins in the cold landscape of Norway. This is a truly natural cat until the cat fancy got involved in the middle of the 20th century.

This cat breed is a part of Norway's history and is mentioned in mythological tales. It is said that cats arrived in Norway around AD 1000, over 1000 years ago by way of the Vikings who had trade routes with Byzantium. Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas¹. The coat colours of Turkey that were rare across Europe are commonly seen in the NFC. Therefore it is possible that the history of this cat breed starts with long haired Turkish cats (Turkish Angoras and/or Vans - see  The Turkish Turkish Angora what does it look like? and Are Turkish Vans and Turkish Angoras the same cat?)

There may be a direct connection to the Maine Coon, a cat very much associated with North America. There are three cats that are similar in appearance, the Norwegian Forest (NFC or Skogkatt - this means Forest cat in English) , the Maine Coon and the Siberian. It is thought (and a lot of cat breed history is a bit vague) that the Vikings brought the NFC from Norway to America and that the Maine Coon is descended therefore from the NFC. Well, that is one theory.


Norwegian Forest Cats photograph left copyright noeoracio

This cat has evolved naturally over a long period of time to become suited to the cold environment. The HFC developed a coat well suited to the cold. Being a forest cat she has powerful hind legs and is a fine jumper able to climb trees well and climb down them equally efficiently. In fact they sometimes come down from a considerable height head first running down the tree trunk as if on the flat. I have seen this myself as I lived with a NFC hybrid.

In 1599 a Danish priest living in Norway described a cat he called the Norwegian Lynx. He was describing, it seems, the Norwegian Forest Cat. He wrote of the cat catching fish and liking water. This is totally to be expected. Lots of current wildcats live by water courses and fish for their food. The Asian Leopard for one (the wild founder of the Bengal Cat) and another is the Asian Fishing Cat that can swim as well. It seems then that this cat breed was semi-wild or perhaps totally wild.


Norwegian Forest Cats photograph
copyright noeoracio

By the 1930s the Norwegian Forest cat had become a domestic (moggie) cat probably in similar circumstances to that which occurred in the United States with the Maine Coon. Cats will migrate to where there is food. That is why they learned to fish and like water. Farmers keep grain and grain attracts rodents so it is to be expected that this cat came out of the forest to feed on the rodents and a relationship struck up with humans.

Also about this time the cat fancy was developing into something serious although it was early days. There was it seems a realization of the value of this cat being a part of the heritage of the country which lead to the desire to preserve and develop the breed. The cat fancy became involved and the beautiful but humble Skogkatt was to become a show cat and purebred cat. There was also the problem with naturally occurring hybridization by the Forest cat mating with other domestic cats which diluted the purity of the genes. That needed to be dealt with by the cat fancy.

In 1930 the Skogkatt was first shown in a cat show in Germany. The second world war intervened and cat breeding became low priority. The second world war had a very bad effect on a number of cat breeds including the Chartreux, for example. However by the 1970s controlled breeding apparently got underway. The Norwegian National Association of Pedigree Cats having been founded in 1963.


Norwegian Forest Cat History - Norwegian Forest Cat
photograph copyright noeoracio

By 1977 FIFe had recognized this breed and breeding on a international level began. In Norway it was recognised as a "distinct pedigree" (a purebred cat breed) in 1977². The biggest cat fancy market became involved in about 1979 when the Norwegian Forest Cat was imported in the United Sates. The cat is nicknamed the "Wegie" by the Americans . I am not sure where this name came from but it must be from the shape of the head - distinctly wedge shaped and handsome to boot.

The Norwegian Forest Cat History is one of normal and anonymous domesticity for centuries and then a comparative rush in development and recognition over the past 40 years or so. The Norwegian Forest Cat History has ended in the full recognition of this cat by all the major cat associations (for example GCCF (UK), CFA and TICA) which is to be expected as she is a natural cat of real distinction and handsome appearance.


Norwegian Forest Cat History to Home page

Sources:

• http://tiganlea.co.uk
• Myself
• 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium 
• 2. http://www.vikingcatclub.co.uk/history.htm

Norwegian Forest Cat Rescue

Norwegian Forest Cat - Calliope photograph © Helmi Flick

Norwegian Forest Cat Rescue is thankfully a search term used by a reasonable number of people. But you know it is very interesting to study keywords. If about 300 people search for Norwegian Forest Cat Rescue then 2,600 search for breeders or about 8 or more times the number. People still prefer something "new" even if it relates to a living creature.

I suppose people want a cast iron guarantee that they are going to be living with a genuine purebred cat and at rescue centers you most often won't get that kind of certainty. What you can be certain of though is a cat that needs you. And there is a lot of long lasting pleasure in caring for and keeping a cat that needs you. And in any event in this post I made a short list of purebred cat rescue centers (see below).

This is the first post on this new sub-domain to the Pictures of Cats.org website. One thing to note is that many cat breeders will take a cat back if the new keeper is having a problem. This is obviously a problem for the breeder in terms of cost etc. but many are very connected to their cats and would do what is required for the welfare of the cat.

Also please remember that if you confine yourself to one cat breed you may be unnecessarily restricting yourself. Two beautiful purebred cat breeds that are similar to the Norwegian Forest Cat are the Maine Coon and the Siberian. They may even come from the same origins. So, I'd think laterally and check out the two nearest breeds when enquiring at rescue centers.

USA - Purebred

You won't find a rescue center specifically dealing with NFCs as far as I am aware. Therefore the first center listed is the Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue center in the Midwest of America. If they give an address on their site I can't see it. However research tells me that they are based in the Southeastern Wisconsin, Northeastern Illinois area.

The next is called Cat Purebred Rescue and is located in the Catchment area of: Washington state and British Columbia, Canada. They have a new website under construction with contact details.

DFW Purebred Rescue. This as the name suggests is for purebred cats. The list of cats available is driven by Petfinder, so it seems to be affiliated to them.

Devine Felines Purebred Rescue Northern Nevada - now defunct (June 2010)

These are the only specific ones I can find in the USA. Of course websites like Petfinder will have mixed breed and purebred cats for re-homing.

I think that you will find that you need to be within driving distance as most if not all do not ship for the cat's sake.

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- Update -

Since making this post I have done further work on purebred cat rescue and built a comprehensive page on the subject, which you can access by clicking on the the link: Purebred cat rescue.

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UK - Purebred

The only contact that I can find is this (courtesy CatChat):

NORSK SKOGKATT SOCIETY - RESCUE
Tel: 01903 267672
Email: info@verdicatz.com

There are no websites that I can see concerned with Norwegian Forest Cat Rescue specifically. You might therefore contact the Norwegian Forest Cat Club for advice and assistance.

It looks like you're going to have to go to the rescue centers and enquire. This is a list of centers provided by the Animal Sanctuaries website.

One last note. The Norwegian Forest Cat Club in the UK run a welfare section which I think is a really nice thing to do. For example, the club organises fund raising events to allow the club to pay for veterinarian bills for Norwegian Forest Cat rescue cats. If you would like to read more click on this link.

Norwegian Forest Cat Rescue to Home Page