'Pans Truls' the ORIGINAL Norwegian Forest tomcat born 1st of May 1973

Pans Truls (Pan's Truls) is the original Norwegian Forest tomcat from which the breed standard was written, and it still applies today. I find that interesting. It is the first time that I have seen a photograph of the foundation cat of an entire cat breed. It should remind us of how the Norwegian Forest Cat (NFC) should look. Here he is.

Pans Truls the original Norwegian Forest Cats born 1st of May 1973. The photo is in the public domain (certain).

Breeders can sometimes wander from the breed standard. Pans Truls is the target. The quality of the photo is poor. I have enlarged it slightly. It is actually a photograph of a print of a photograph. This accounts for the poor quality.

Pans Truls was a brown tabby and white. He had a very copious coat. Look how full it is. A Google Scholar abstract (summary) tells us a bit about this handsome tomcat who was so crucial in the creation of the NFC.  

Below is a re-writing of that summary (further summarised!):

"This passage (the abstract) discusses the history and current status of the Norwegian Forest cat breed. It mentions that the breed was recognized as an official breed in 1977 and has a breed standard based on a tomcat named Pans Truls. The Norwegian Forest Cat Breeding Club (Norsk Skogskattring) works with breeders to maintain the breed's health and appearance. The passage also mentions that the Norwegian Forest cat is not at risk of extinction and is popular around the world as a pet. However, the passage notes that there are some genetic diseases that can occur in the breed, including Glycogen storage disease IV, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hip dysplasia, retinal dysplasia, non-pruritic granuloma, and patellar luxation. The passage suggests that screening for these genetic diseases could improve the breed's genetic status."

Remember that the NFC is somewhat like the Maine Coon in one important respect: they were both farm cat moggies with a long history going back thousands of years it is believed until it was decided that they should become purebred, pedigree cats and join the cat fancy. Selective breeding began to achieve this.

RELATED: Origin of the breed.

The article that provides some detail is "Breed status of the Norwegian forest cat from viewpoint of Eugenics". The 'Fageraas, Ina Pernille' states:

"Pans Truls is the tomcat where the breed standard is taken from. He was born 1st of May 1973 and lived with the Nyland family outside of Oslo. It was the photographs of Pans Truls that got the breeding committee to decide that Pans Truls should be the breed standard for the Norwegian Forest Cat."

The Norsk Skogskattring (The Norwegian Forest Cat Club) is a club comprising members who are interested in preserving the breed and ensuring that it progresses. It was founded in 1975 and has today around 300 Norwegian members (188 in Norway plus others in sister organisations). 

In the late 1970s a pair of NFCs were shipped to the USA. The breed achieved championship status under the CFA in 1993.

I guess there are two main objectives: health and appearance. These two objectives can clash as preserving the original appearance through inbreeding leads to inherited diseases and the NFC is no exception in this regard.

The NFC suffers from the following inherited diseases: Glycogen storage disease IV, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hip dysplasia, retinal dysplasia, non-pruritic granuloma and patellar luxation. There should be better screening for Glycogen storage disease IV.

Here is some more on non-puritic granuloma:

The eosinophilic granuloma complex is a group of skin disorders that affect cats and are characterized by the presence of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, in the affected tissue. a study describes a group of Norwegian Forest cats with this condition, including six that had a linear granuloma on the caudal (tail) thigh, three that had a granuloma on the lower lip, and one that had a granuloma in combination with an indolent ulcer. The high prevalence of the disease in this population suggests that there may be a genetic component to the development of this condition. It is important for veterinarians to properly diagnose and treat cats with the eosinophilic granuloma complex, as it can cause significant discomfort and potentially lead to further complications if left untreated.

RELATED: Norwegian Forest Cat - plenty of detail.

It is sad to see this. When breeders start with a small gene pool as they must you get these diseases which you find much less often in the random bred population. In combination they shorten lifespan.