Norwegian Forest Cat

Here is a nice picture of a silver tabby Norwegian Forest Cat. The tabby pattern appears to be the classic blotched type: Norwegian Forest Cat Photo by Ornithorynque (Flickr)

This list shows the year that the NFC was introduced to selected countries: Australia: First introduced in the late 1990s Japan: First introduced in the early 1990s United States: First introduced in 1979 United Kingdom: First introduced in 1986 South Africa: First recognised in 1994 These dates are all relatively recent bearing in mind that the show cat career or career as a purebred cat, started in 1930. Before that the Norwegian Forest Cat was a moggie or random bred cat in Norway. Indeed a vet (Dr Clark) who has assessed the genetic diseases of purebred cats says that the recent history of this breed makes it more difficult to assess genetically inherited diseases. He is based in the USA.

Is it important if your cat is a possible purebred cat? Of course not. Unless your heart is really set on a purebred cat. But if you really love cats you will get the same if not more fun and pleasure from being the human companion to a beautiful moggie, particularly a rescued moggie. After all they need us more. That makes a difference. Anyway, here is a cat whose human caretaker describes as a "likely Norwegian Forest Cat". He looks like one. But we can never tell from appearance alone. You need a pedigree in writing and certified to be certain! The Siberian for one is a breed that is similar to the NFC. And sometimes a Maine Coon can look like an NFC. They do have a similar background it is said. Norwegian Forest Cat - photo by Steph (Nikon D80) His name is Boobear and he smiles a lot. This "smile" may be due to his mouth being slightly open and the shape of his mouth. Cats do leave their mouths slightly open fairly frequently sometimes with their tongue

Norwegian forest cat adoption will nearly always be through a cat breeder. Occasionally there are rescue purebred cats at "ordinary" rescue centers but these are rare. A classic example is the story of the RagaMuffin cat and the princess . There is a list of purebred cat rescue centers on this page. NFC - photo by Helmi Flick. It is easy enough to find Norwegian Forest Cat breeders. Just search in Google or go to one of the major NFC cat clubs. Another option is the Cat Fanciers Association's breeders list. This, of course, applies to USA citizens. Here are a couple of links: CFA Breeder search - this page is hard to find. I wonder if the CFA have done that deliberately? Not sure but it is useful for Americans searching for breeders. They have just 9 breeders listed at July 2010. The CFA do not vouch for the quality of the listed breeders. This actually surprises me. If they can't check on them who can? Norwegian Forest Cat Club - this is a UK club. They have a