Eurocatfancy

Gold Dream cattery
Breeder: Evgenia Gubanova
Moscow, Russia
Shorthair, Golden tabby

The Kurilian Bobtail exists in many colors, except chocolate-lilac, cinnamon-fawn and pointed:

white,
black, blue, red, cream, tortie and blue tortie.
All these colors also come with silver or golden, in smoke, shaded and chinchilla, for example: blue smoke, tortie smoke, blue-cream smoke, golden shaded, blue golden mackerel, red silver tabby, tortie silver spotted, cream silver mackerel, etc.

Nikola Alexander-Fred
Breeder: Elena Ponomareva, Alexander-Fred cattery
Moscow, Russia

All these colors may also have a tabby-pattern, classic tabby, mackerel and spotted, they may also be silver tabby.
All the colors also come with white, as Van and Bicolour. For example: smoke bicolour, blue tabby Van, chinchilla bicolour, etc.

Gordey Alexander-Fred
Breeder: Elena Ponomareva, Alexander-Fred cattery
Moscow, Russia
Shorthair, black tabby

Eurocatfancy

Standard FIFe

Standard LOOF

Standard WCF

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Breed profile

The Kurilian Bobtail Shorthair is medium to large in size.
The head is large, trapezium-shaped with rounded contours (not square) and broad at the level of the cheekbones.
The ears are medium in size, broad and open at the base, and slightly tilted forward. The tips are rounded. The ears are set medium high and erect. The distance between the ears is as broad as one ear width.
The eyes are rounded, set wide apart and slightly slanted. The eye color is from yellow to green. Bicolor may also have blue or odd eyes.
The nose is broad and medium in length, it has a slight indentation at the base, but no pronounced stop.
The body is compact and muscular, the bones are solid. Females may be less solid and smaller.
The back shows an arc from to shoulders to the rump, which appears higher. The legs are medium in length, strong and solid. The hind legs are longer than the front legs and have prominent thighs. The paws are rounded.
The tail has one or more kinks and curves, or a combination of both. These kinks (angles) may be stiff or flexible. The base of the tail is flexible and movable. How the tail is kinked or curved, is not important. Visible length of the tail is (without coat) between 3 and 8 cm.
The coat is short, it has well developed awn hairs and firm guard hairs. The cats have a skirt-front, a frill and breeches. The coat is dense and rather fine, it has rather little undercoat, which is quite interesting, because the climate at the Kurilian Islands is rather rough.

History

Kurilian Bobtails come from the Kurilian islands, where they live as free roaming domestic cats. The Kuriles are located between the Russian semi-island Camchatca (in the far east of Russia) and Japan in the Sea of Okhotsk (North Pacific).
Kurilian Bobtail were shown in a Russian show the first time in 1990.
The first breeders were Lilia Ivanova (Kunashir Cattery, Longhair) and Tatiana Botcharova (Renessance Cattery, mostly Shorthair). In 1997 Elena Ponomareva joined (Alexander-Fred Cattery, Longhair and Shorthair).
In 1995 the Kurilian Bobtail was recognized by WCF.
In 2003 it was recognized by FIFe.

Genetics

The Kurilian Bobtail is a natural mutation, which developed completely isolated on the Kurilian Islands. The Bobtail-tail is inherited incompletely dominant, i.e. it is variable inherited.
That means: If a Kurilian Bobtail is mated with a cat with a normally long and straight tail, all kittens will have a shortened, angulated tail, where the pom-pom effect will be variable (=different), some will have a short angulated tail, some will have the typical pom-pom tail.
That is different from the Karelian Bobtail, which inherits the tail recessively. That means, both parents must have a Bobtail-tail that the kittens will also have a Bobtail-tail.
As there are many Kurilian Bobtail on the Kurilian islands, it is not necessary and also not permitted to do mating with other breeds.

Temperament

The Kurilian Bobtail is extremely friendly, also these Bobtails directly imported from the Kurilian Islands are like domestic cats. They have a very robust health, as they have to survive in the rough climate of the Kuriles.
The cats are lovely and make friends fast with other cats. They want to know about everything. They will follow you like a dog, as they do not want to miss anything. The like to sit on the lap and to cuddle.
The breed is easy going and may be kept and bred without any problems.

Grooming

Although the coat is fine, the cats need relatively little grooming. The coat is shiny and glossy and feels like natural silk. The cats do shed very little. You should brush them, when they change their coat, to remove dead hairs.