According to the GCCF Standard of Points, the BSH is:

“compact, well balanced and powerful, showing good depth of body, a full broad chest, short strong legs, rounded paws, tail thick at base with rounded tip.  The head is round with a good width between small ears, round cheeks, firm chin, large round and well- opened eyes and a short broad nose.  The coat is short and dense.  A muscular cat with an alert appearance and in perfect physical condition.”

British Short Hairs are bred in a vast range of colours and patterns.  First there are the ‘selfs’.  These are cats of one solid colour, showing no pattern at all.  Perhaps the most well known is the British blue, but there are also black, white, cream and lilac, as well as the newer colours of chocolate, red, cinnamon and fawn.

Tabby BSH are very popular, especially the black silvers (as in the television advertisements).  Again there is a wide variety of colours but this time there is the added excitement of choosing the pattern, too.  The Classic tabby has the typical oysters, or ‘bullseyes’ on the flanks, the butterfly across the shoulders, and the spine lines.  The Mackerel tabby has vertical stripes along the length of its body and the Spotted tabby is, surprisingly, spotted!  
All three tabby patterns should include tail rings, spotted tummy and the tabby ‘M’ on the forehead.  Whatever the colour, silver series or not, there should be good contrast between the pattern and the ground colour.

Tortoiseshell, or ‘tortie’, BSH are a mixture of black and red, with the colours well mingled.  Blue-cream, chocolate tortie and lilac tortie are varieties which are also available.  The tortie colouring is sex-linked and the vast majority of kittens born are female.  Occasional live male kittens do crop up, but they are most often born dead (why, I don’t know).  Tortie and white cats, on the other hand, should be patched, not mingled.  The proportion of colour to white is the same as for the bi-colour (which follows).

Bi-colour BSH are the self colours with white. They should be at least one third and no more than a half white.  The more symmetrical the pattern, the better, and the patches should be clear, with no mingling of colours and no tabby markings.  ‘Van’ patterned BSH are a variety of bi-colour, but in these cats, the colour is limited to the tail (which should be fully coloured) and small patches on the head.

Smoke and Tipped are very attractive varieties.  In the Smoke, the overall appearance of the cat at rest is of a self colour, but when the cat moves and the coat ‘breaks’ a silver undercoat is seen.  The Tipped, in contrast, has the colour restricted to the very ends of the hairs and the rest of the coat is so pale as to be almost white.  Both Smoke and Tipped are genetically non-tabby silvers.  The Golden Tipped is the only non-silver variety and its coat is a golden apricot with black or brown tipping.

Colourpoints are BSH with Himalayan (or Siamese-type) markings restricted to their extremities.  As with the Tabbies, it is important that there is good contrast between the colour of the points and the ground colour.  Colourpoints are bred in all colours and patterns.

Eye colour in BSH is often stunning.  Most varieties should have copper/orange/golden eyes (the colour does tend to fade with age).  One exception is the Black silver tabby which should have green/ hazel eye colour.  The Silver tipped have green eyes and the Colourpoints have blue.  Unfortunately, in the BSH the blue is often very pale.  In the White BSH there are three possibilities- their eyes can be orange, blue or odd (one blue, one orange). 

BSH make lovely pets.  They tend to be quite placid and easy-going.  They are quite happy to be house cats but if they are allowed to go out they are unlikely to roam too far and can be lured back by the prospect of food!  BSH do enjoy their food! 

BSH are a very affectionate breed and enjoy being made a fuss of.  This makes a weekly grooming session a pleasure, not a chore.  They are also quite lazy which makes a few hours in a show pen no problem at all.

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Thursday, 24 April 2008 22:02
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