The Snowshoe is a shorthaired cat breed, man-made, which results from crossbreeding between different breeds (Ragdoll, American Shorthair, Siamese, British Shorthair, and others).

The head is a broad, modified (rounded) wedge, the head is almost as broad as long, and forms an almost equilateral triangle. The cheek bones are high set and clearly visible. The muzzle displays a slight pinch, but it is not pointed, it is moderately broad. The nose is medium wide and shows a slight stop at the base, when viewed in profile. All contours of the head are gently rounded.
The ears are of medium size, medium broad at the base, and placed to continue the side lines of the head.
The eyes are oval and slightly slanted. The eye colour may be any tone of blue.

Overall, the body of the cat is elongated (semi-foreign), but very solid and muscular. The body may not appear cobby or oriental.
The legs are medium long and muscular, they fit to the body. The paws are slightly oval.
The length of the tail fits to the body, the tail is medium thick and tapers slightly to the tip.
Males are distinctly larger than females and have a stronger boning.

The coat is medium short to short, relatively dense, it is only moderately close-lying to the body.
The coat pattern is very characteristic: bicoloured Points with white paws.

History

The first Snowshoes were bred in the 1960-s in the USA by the Siamese breeder, Dorothy Hinds-Daughtery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she detected 3 Siamese kittens with white paws in one of her litters. Thus she developed the breed by crossbreeding these Siamese kittens to a bicoloured American Shorthair with Tuxedo pattern.
Due to Vikki Olander recognition of the Snowshoe as experimental breed was done by CFF and ACA in 1974. The interest in this new breed decreased over the years, thus having only 4 cats registered up to 1977. Due to the effort of Jim Hoffmann and Georgia Kuhnell at least a revival of the breed was possible. In 1982 the Snowshoe got championship-status in CFF. In 1994 the Snowshoe got the championship-status in TICA.

Breeding was started in the UK in 1986. The survival of the breed was mainly achieved by Mollie Southall (Coldenufforsnow-cattery) and Maureen Shackell, who was the only remaining breeder in 1998. Both together had only 5 cats left for breeding: Mrs Shackell's stud male Linkret Jaywalker, her two breeding queens Linkret Octopussy and Kalahari Cutie, and two queens of Mrs Southall Arctic-Moon Balsara and her sister Arctic-Moon Bathsheba.
As it was impossible to import cats from the US, they used outcrosses between the Ragdoll and the Oriental for their breeding program, like the two queens Emerisle Blue Cinders, blue tabby mitted, and Emerisle Snowitch, lilac tabby bi-colour.

Emerisle Blue Cinders
Owner: Mollie Southall, cattery Coldenufforsnow, UK
Photo: Alan Robinson, CatImages

The male Ferry vom Friedewald, seal point, was imported from the German breeders Gunter and Renata Noetzig, this male originated 100% from American bloodlines. Ferry and his daughter, Coldenufforsnow Pila, became the first FIFe-champions.
But it took until 2004, when the Snowshoe was recognized by the FIFe.

Temperament

The breed is very equilibrated, nothing can shock them or disturb their gentle temperament. They are extroverted, are able to run quite fast and are good climbers. They love to play and are very intelligent. They learn fast "Catch and Fetch". 
They adapt very fast to a new surrounding, are very comfortable with other animals. The love children and are the ideal companions.

Grooming

The cat is easy to groom. But you can do a favour to the coat, when you remove dead hairs with a brush.