The Somali cat

Production and publishing house: Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
ISBN 9783476094083
 

Author: Elke Broda

 144 sites - 16,99€
First edition 02/2018

 

 

After I have been asked again and again by Somali lovers if there are newer, breed-related readings.
 I decided to write my own book.
In this book you will find information about the history, posture, nutrition, curiosities and much more
around the Somali cats and many photos.


I hope you enjoy reading!


 


 

 

Here are a few reading samples:

 

Ancestry / Origin

That the Somali originates from the Abyssinian is no secret, at least not anymore. This was different at the beginning
since the Abyssinian was considered to be a purebred for short hair. Obviously more than one story circulates about
the evolutionary history of the Somali, but probably no one will ever know which one to be true.


 

 

Personality & Behaviour


The Somali is highly intelligent, full of sprits, lively, bubbly, amazingly playful, teachable, intensely affectionate
to her people and compliant. She is a mixture of breath-taking beauty, elegance and personality. She is self-confident and
sensitive and knows exactly what she wants and will apply all her charm to get
just that. You will never get bored with a Somali!

 

Colours

At first there were only ruddy coloured Somalis. But soon also red was accepted and then chocolate, blue, lilac and
fawn appeared and also variations of silver followed. Especially in UK there are many variations of colours to be found.

COAT COLOR: warm and glowing. Ticking: distinct and even, with dark coloured bands contrasting with lighter coloured
bands on the hair shafts. Undercoat colour clear and bright to the skin. Deeper colour shades desired, however, intensity of ticking not to be
sacrificed for depth of colour. Preference given to cats UNMARKED on the undersides, chest, and legs; tail without rings. Markings: darker
shading along spine continuing through tip of tail; darker shading up the hocks, shading allowed at the point of the elbow; dark lines
 extending from eyes and brows, cheekbone shading, dots and shading on whisker pads are desirable enhancements, eyes...


 
 

Exhibitions / Cat Shows

very first cat exhibition was held as early as 1598 in England (Winchester)! Later on, in 1871, an exhibition was held at
the Crystal Palace in London. From there on, cat exhibitionwith the standards as known today, were slowly developed. Standards are a
yardstick by which the breeder may measure his advances toward a perfect feline. At the show hall speciallytrained judges will rule according to these
guideline when seeking for the cat coming closest to the requested standard of a breed.

 

 

Tomcat (male) or Queen (female)

Some humans prefer male cats to female cats or the other way around. As breeder you become familiar with both genders and
you always discover that they are different every time. Tomcats are often cuddlier, more relaxed and sometimes even appear a bit gawky.
Queens are supposed to be touchy and bitchy, but from experience - this is something we cannot confirm. There are very balanced creatures in both genders.
Between the 6 and 9 month of age a tomcat will notice a female cat.

 

 

Who takes Care during your Vacation?

This is an important issue to ponder upon before even thinking about buying a cat. The optimal solution for a cat is if she can
remain in her usual environment and a familiar trustworthy person would live with her while you are away.
But since this very often proves to be a difficult task to achieve, maybe you have a family member,
a close friend or a neighbour who is willing to take care of your cat while you are on holiday
.

 

 

Pregnancy and Birth

On average, cats are pregnant for 63 to 70 days. Most cats behave “as usual” during pregnancy, but it varies from cat to cat.
Some sleep very much, others are instantly more affectionate and some even get a bit bitchy.

1 - 5 days before giving birth, your queen’s abdomen may “drop” a bit due to false labour pain.
When the cat’s neck of the womb starts to open up, you may see a clot of slime
coming out, but sometimes this goes unnoticed as the clot of slime comes along while the kittens are delivered.

 

The old Somali

Typically cats do not age slowly, but almost overnight. Suddenly their paces get slower and stiffer. Their fur also
needs a bit more help with grooming from human hand. The location of their sleeping place is suddenly not found as high up as before.
If the springiness of your Somali is reduced, you can help her reaching the window sill by
setting up a small ladder, a small staircase or podium. Maybe also the cat tree needs a little rebuilding to make access a bit easier.

 

Feeding

B.A.R.F.

Let’s assume wild living cats. They almost exclusively feed on prey animals they caught themselves. Mostly this will be mice,
birds and insects, which all have an approx. 70% moisture content. That is the reason, why wild living cats do not
need much drinking water. The moisture content in dried food is 7 -10%, in canned food
 and prey animals approx. 70 – 75%.

The meat we can feed our cats is exsanguinated (bleed out) and therefore does not contain enough moisture,
almost no blood and above all - not enough mineral compound and iron. Years back, cat were fed more natural and
there was no convenient cat food available. Also most cats were free to go outside and prey.

 

Home stories

Our Charly

Charly is an Abyssinian Variant, a huge, beautiful and intelligent tomcat. We had a big terrarium with 6 female gerbils in our
living room, posing as “cat television”. The gerbils were not afraid of the cats; they even came close to the window to get a better
look at the cats. Our Charly absolutely loved to play with fur toy mice and the reason for us, to not having any fur toy mice in our household was,
that Charly absolutely refused to share this toy with the other cats and always got very angry
when they also wanted to play with them.

 

 

 

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