Read reviews Add a review
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)

Casablanc@'s picture
Written on Thursday, December 14, 2017
by
5
Cons: loves playing with curtains

Hello Irecommend.reviews friends!

I’d like to tell you about our lovely pet that is the favorite of our family at the moment. Also, I’d like to share my experience and impressions about the British Shorthairs in general.

7 months
7 months

First up, a few words about how this fluffy kitten appeared in our family.

We’ve never planned to have a pet in our house, especially a pedigree one till the moment I saw this wonderful kitten in the picture!

Kitten
Kitten

I’ve never dreamt about British cats and I’ve never played favorites with them. Moreover, I always had these mixed-breed or moggy cats at my house.

Somewhere about 3 years ago, my neighbour bought a British cat and became a cat fancier. She was breeding, exhibiting and selling them. I met her in the late summer and she invited my son to pet the kittens and play with them. After that she sent me some photos of them. Yes, they all were so super cute, but one of them totally won me over! For a couple of weeks I’d been dreaming of him and thinking that I needed exactly THAT cat! After a while I went to see him in person and I just couldn’t help taking him with me. It wasn’t really only me. My son was excited about that idea too… So, I talked to my hubby and we decided to buy him!

3 months
3 months

Before actually buying this cat, I’d decided to read about the breed, its characteristics and peculiarities to avoid further problems.

It’s easy to find the appearance description of the breed floating around the Internet. And I’d like to note that not all the cats that are blue are actually the British Shorthairs!

Appearance of the British Shorthair

kitten
kitten

The British Shorthair is a relatively powerful, sturdy and compact cat, having a broad chest, strong thick-set legs with rounded paws and a medium-length, blunt-tipped tail. The head is relatively large and rounded, with a short muzzle, broad cheeks (most noticeable in mature males, who tend to develop prominent jowls) and large round eyes that are deep coppery orange in the British Blue and otherwise vary in colour depending on the coat. Their medium-sized ears are broad at the base and widely set.

The 'British Blue' variant can often be confused with the grey Scottish Fold. However, the Shorthair can be characterised by having its pointy triangle ears, whereas the Fold has softer, folded ears.

They are slow to mature in comparison with most cat breeds, reaching full physical development at approximately three years of age. Unusually among domestic cats they are a noticeably sexually dimorphic breed, with males averaging 9–17 lb (4.1–7.7 kg) and females 7–12 lb (3.2–5.4 kg)

Temperament

They are an easygoing and dignified breed, not as active and playful as many but sweet-natured and devoted to their owners, making them a favourite of animal trainers. They tend to be safe around other pets and children since they will tolerate a fair amount of physical interaction, but as a rule do not like to be picked up or carried. They require only minimal grooming and take well to being kept as indoor-only cats; however, they can be prone to obesity unless care is taken with their diet.

We purchased him when he was only 2 and a half months old. He wasn’t really friendly towards me at first. He even hissed sometimes.

2.5 months
2.5 months

We couldn’t think of a proper name for him. After a while my husband and I read a list of names on the Internet and decided to call him Cheetos.

3 months
3 months

He adjusted to his new home very quickly and discovered the new place very keenly.

Nutrition

In fact, you better choose the nutrition for your cat right from the beginning. You have to decide between homemade and ready-food for your kitten. You can feed him with natural homemade food or with dry nutrition, but it’s undesirable to mix them, because it impacts his digestive system.

Having read all the information and relying on the experience I had with my previous cat that lived 16 years, I’ve chosen the dry food.

We have been feeding him with Royal Canin Mother & Babycat for the first four months. After that we had Royal Canin Kitten for British cats. I like this brand and Cheetos loves it too, but the most important thing is that he has no allergies or other health problems.

Sometimes I treat him with wet food from Royal Canin or Proplan.

The main thing when feeding with dry food is to provide a clean water bowl.

Litter box and hygiene.

The first thing we did after bringing him home was that we showed him his litter box. At that moment I had already bought him the litter the previous owner was buying for him. By the way, he gave us some used up litter to add to his new box. In such a way the cat was to understand where he should pee.

Since day one Cheetos used only his litter box! I’m so happy that we didn’t have any problems with it!

Right from the beginning I’ve noticed a curious thing about him: he had never cleaned himself after eating, peeing and even after bathing. As a rule, the cats groom themselves after bathing to remove the extra moisture from the fur.

So, I had to for him. I was cleaning his ears and eyes.

7 months
7 months

I wiped his ears out with a damp cotton pad saturated with a 50/50 mixture of cider vinegar and warm water.

As for the eyes, I’ve been using a specific medicine for that purpose. To tell you the truth, it was the first time I carried out such procedures, because my previous cats were doing it themselves! Cheetos was probably used to the fact that his mom was doing that for him.

After about 5 months I’ve noticed that he started cleaning his ears and washing himself after eating.

I trim his nails with specific clippers. We started conducting this procedure from an early age, so now when he’s older, he is patiently waiting till we finish with him.

However, it’s different with grooming. I bought a brush for him when he was already 6 months old. At that point I realized that we would have problems there. This is the only thing he can’t endure. However, I’m not being obtrusive. The first shedding season was hardly noticeable. I was just removing his fur from the carpets and furniture with a specific brush.

Although he is an indoor cat, I give him some medication for deworming every 6 months.

Now to the bath. It’s a long story.

Cheetos didn’t appreciate bathing at first. I knew that he wasn’t enjoying it. However, he wasn’t trying to get out or escape by any means.

8 months
8 months

When he grew up, I’ve noticed that his interest to the bathing procedure has risen. Cheetos loves lying in the sink.

8 months
8 months

As soon as I get out of the bathroom, he rushes there to observe how the drops fall. Once I’ve decided to wash my hair and as soon as I turned on the shower, I realized that he wouldn’t let me do it. When he saw the water dropping from the shower hose, he began trying to catch the water flow!

I was dumbfounded! I didn’t know that our cat loved water so much! Since then he always rushes to the bathroom when he hears a splash. After that he comes out satisfied and all wet.

Personality

I didn’t know that this breed is so gentle and affectionate!

Right from day one, our sweet babe started purring when I petted him. So every time we hold or carry him, he purrs very actively and fawns over us.

3 months
3 months

He doesn’t really like when I hold him in my hands, but he doesn’t try to escape either. He only waits till the moment I let him free.

Before buying him, I learnt from the Internet that they are actually fine when they stay alone and they don’t really need an owner to sit near them all day long. In other words they love being by themselves! I can’t say anything about it, but when I come home from work, Cheetos rushes towards me joyfully, purrs and rubs his head against my legs.

8 months
8 months

At nights we sleep peacefully.

3 months
3 months
As soon as the alarm clock goes off, Cheetos runs into our bedroom and starts ‘singing the songs’ to us, trying to make us pet him.
7 months
7 months

Cheetos loves playing and running across the room occasionally jumping onto the walls. He is really fond of the laser pointer and mice toys.

kitten
kitten

On a negative note, Cheetos loves curtains. They were all damaged after a while. We had to replace them over time.

Once we were at my parents’ place where they had a parrot. When I saw how Cheetos reacts on him, I realized that they would never be friends. Our couch potato transformed into a true predator. So we had to keep the parrot in the cage for a while.

When we have guests, Cheetos is happy to get acquainted with them. He even lets them pet him.

8 months
8 months

Neutering

Although I had cats before Cheetos, it was the first time I let him get sterilized. He went through a surgery when he was 7 and a half months old.

8 months
8 months

I worried about him so much, but the surgery didn’t last long. The anesthesia wore off within a day and in two days he was already running in the house like crazy. His behavior hasn’t changed, but the only thing I’ve noticed was that he started playing more actively. My husband is joking now that the organ the surgeon had cut was probably the reason our cat wasn’t so lively and playful before Smile

7 months
7 months

By the way after neutering you should feed your cat with specific food for sterilized cats.

We are incredibly happy to have this cat in our family! My son loves playing with Cheetos and Cheetos loves it too. We don’t have much trouble with him, except for the damaged curtains.

How would I describe our cat? ‘A kind soul to pet and play with.’

He is the cat that never scratches or gets angry! He is the cat that I want to pet all the time, because he has such fluffy fur and an incredibly thick tail.

Plus, his muzzle is always smiling! Smile

7 months
7 months

I’m so glad that we purchased him!

7 months
7 months

Thank you for reading my review! See ya!

report to moderator

Casablanc@ recommends British Shorthair

How helpful is this review?
Group Copy 7
Remove the review The review contains spam, advertisement or Site rules violations. The review has to be removed.
Not helpful The review is not helpful. It must be corrected.
Somewhat Helpful The review is helpful, but additions/improvements are advised.
Helpful The review is good, it contains a lot of helpful information.
Great The review is very helpful, it contains a lot of information about the product, styled text, high-quality photos.
Category: Cat Breeds
See also