American Shorthair

History

When settlers sailed from Europe to North America, they carried cats on board (ship's cats) to protect the stores from mice—for instance, the cats that came over on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims to hunt rats on the ship and in the colony. Many of these cats landed in the New World, interbred, and developed special characteristics to help them cope with their new life and climate. Early in the 20th century, a selective breeding program was established to develop the best qualities of these cats.

The American Shorthair is a pedigree cat breed, with a strict conformation standard, as set by cat fanciers of the breed and North American cat fancier associations such as The International Cat Association (TICA) and the CFA. The breed is accepted by all North American cat registries. Originally known as the Domestic Shorthair, in 1966 the breed was renamed the American Shorthair to better represent its "all-American" origins and to differentiate it from other short-haired breeds. The name American Shorthair also reinforces the breed's pedigreed status as distinct from the random-bred non-pedigreed domestic short-haired cats in North America, which may nevertheless resemble the American Shorthair. Both the American Shorthair breed and the random-bred cats from which the breed is derived are sometimes called working cats because they were used for controlling rodent populations, on ships and farms. The American Shorthair (then referred to as the Domestic Shorthair) was among the first five breeds that were registered by the CFA in 1906.