About the breed
I would begin with a quote from Francesco Suriano ...
“It is wonderful to see them, for nearly all are maimed by the snakes.
One has lost a nose, another an ear. The skin of one is torn, another is lame.
One is blind of one eye, another of both. And it is a strange thing that at the
hour for their food, at the sound of a bell, they collect at the monastery
and when they have eaten enough, at the sound of that same bell, they all
depart together to go fight the snakes.”
Fragment from the archives of Kykkos Monastery in Cyprus , 1484
History of theAphrodite cat`s
The recorded history of the Cyprus Cat starts some 9500 years ago. It was brought into the public domain as a result of the archaeological discovery of domesticated cat remains by a French archaeologist, Prof. Jean Guillain, in 2004.The most influential period for the cat’s development occurred, in 328AD when two boatloads of cats were sent to the island from Egypt and Palestine by St Helena (the mother of Alexander the Great). This was done to combat the infestation of snakes on the island following a drought lasting 37 years. The cats were able to breed for hundreds years with little outside influence. This has resulted in a breed of cat which is big, robust, and extremely healthy.
Standard:
Head: From the front a long triangle, cheek line straight. Long straight muzzle and nose, with a very slight dip under the height of the eyes. Strong chin and teeth. Front slightly rounded, slight dome to the forehead.
Eyes: Olive shaped, from a bit rounder to a bit more oval. Eyes are placed oblique. All colours allowed. Pale blue and light yellow is valued to be as good as dark blue and green. Colour should be uniform.
Ears: Wide at the base, medium to large ears, placed in form of an open V with a slightly rounded space between the ears on the top-head
Body: Big and strong. Elegant, lean muscular body, not cobby. Long back and neck. Muscular shoulders and hips Big body measures. Morphology develops quickly. Due to development of breed, kitten could be less muscular but big boned from the beginning. Back legs slightly longer than front legs. Tail medium to long and in balance with the body measures. In shorthair variety tip of tail more slender than the heavy root.
Coat: Soft cotton-woolly coat, not too short with undercoat in Winter, in summer much shorter and no undercoat. Not much topcoat covering. Neither in summer nor in winter. Only on back very little top-coat covering Coat very soft to the touch.
Colours: All colours with the exception of pointed colours and mink. Solid colour
should be without white. In bicolour non regular colour setting is desired
General:
The Aphrodite's are based on the oldest documented cat that lived tamed with humans. Found in a Stone Age grave with a skelet on similar to the today living Aphrodite's on the island of Cyprus. The Davis laboratories in the U.S., Dr.Lyons in a Genetics research program has produced a specific fingerprint for purebred cats. 30 Aphrodite's were also investigated and shown genetically. From the basis of DNA scans, Dr. Lyons has agreed that the genetic fingerprint of the Aphrodite's is very consistent and could be recognized on this basis a breed. It is believed, that they developed separated from
other populations in the inner country of Cyprus. Due to the hard circumstances of living, cold, wet winters and very dry hot
summers they developed their tremendous coats and huge boning. The main food were big lizards, snakes and rats. Smaller cats or cats with weak teeth were not able to survive hard living in the mountains.
Contact :
Wieser Diana
Tel: 00381/65-465-21-56
Email: mythologica.cattery@gmail.com
Address: Davida Pajica
11000 Beograd
Serbia
© 2015 Mythologica cattery