CFA Siberian Breed Standard

General

The Siberian, Russia's native forest cat, first appeared in recorded history around the year 1000 and hails from the unforgiving climate of Siberia. This is a cat that nature designed to survive, with no extremes in type. The Siberian is a medium to medium large, strong triple coated cat with surprising heft for its size. The overall appearance should be one of strength, presence, and alertness, with a sweet facial expression. The breed is extremely slow to mature taking as long as 5 years. Females are generally smaller than males and allowances should be considered when comparing females and young cats to the standard. Size is secondary to type. The general impression is one of roundness and circles, rather than rectangles and triangles.

Point Score

Head

Shape: modified wedge of medium/large size with rounded contours, in good proportion to the body. The head is broader at the top of the skull and narrows slightly to a full-rounded muzzle. The cheekbones are neither high set nor prominent. There should be a slight doming between the ears and an almost flat area on the forehead. Males will have well developed jowls and females will have a more moderate look.

Ears: medium-large, rounded, wide at the base and tilt slightly forward. The ears should be set as much on the sides of the head as on top. The hair over the back of the ear is short and thin. From the middle of the ear, the furnishings become longer and cover the base of the ear. Ear tipping is allowed.

Eyes: medium to large, almost round. The outer corner angled slightly towards the base of the ear. The eyes should be set more than one eye's width apart and should be open, alert, and expressive. There is no relationship between eye color and coat/color pattern except in the color points which have blue eyes.

Chin: the chin is well rounded but not protruding, and is in line with the nose.

Muzzle: the muzzle is moderately short in length, full and rounded. There is a slight muzzle curvature, but the transition between the side of the head and the muzzle is gentle and inconspicuous.

Profile: the top of the head is almost flat, with a slight nose curvature of a gentle slope from the forehead to the nose and a slight concave curvature before the tip when viewed in profile.

Neck: rounded, sturdy, and well muscled.

Body

Torso: the body is medium in length, and well muscled with the back arched slightly higher than the shoulders, with a barrelshaped, firm belly giving the sensation of solid weight.

Legs: medium in length. The legs should have substantial boning with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs.

Feet: the feet are big and rounded, with toe tufts desirable.

Tail: the tail is medium in length, being somewhat shorter than the length of the body. It should be wide at the base, tapering slightly to a blunt tip without thickening or kinks, evenly and thickly furnished.

Boning: substantial.

Musculature: substantial, powerful.

Coat/Color/Pattern

Length: this is a moderately long to longhaired cat with a triple coat. The hair on the shoulder blades and lower part of the chest should be thick and slightly shorter. There should be an abundant full collar ruff setting off the head in adults. Allow for warm weather coats. The hair may thicken to curls on the belly and britches, but a wavy coat is not characteristic.

Texture: varies from coarse to soft, varying according to color. There is a tight undercoat (in mature cats), thicker in cold weather.

Color/Pattern: all colors and combinations are accepted with or without white. White is allowed in any amount and in all areas. White or off-white allowed on chin, breast and stomach of tabbies. Buttons, spots and lockets are allowed. Strong colors and clear patterns are desirable.

Other

Temperament: must be unchallenging.

Allowances: because the Siberian is a slow maturing breed, coat and physical structure should be taken into consideration when judging kittens and young adults. Buttons, spots and lockets are allowed.

Penalize: straight profile, narrow or fox-like muzzle, long tail, delicate boning, non-muscular, long body, almond-shaped eyes, and very long legs or very short legs; an adult with a long body or without good body weight.

Disqualify: kinked tail, incorrect number of toes, crossed eyes. Evidence of illness, poor health, emaciation.

Siberian allowable outcross breeds: none.

Due to a wide variety of Siberian coat colors, we are only posting information on the colors we currently have in our cattery. You can read about all other colors on CFA web site.

Colorpoint Colors

Siberian (point) pattern

Body: clear color is preferred with subtle shading allowed. Allowance should be made for darker color in older cats but there must be a definite contrast between body color and point color. The points, consisting of ears, legs, feet, tail, and mask show the basic color of the cat. The ideal mask extends from above the eyes down through the chin and stretches beyond the eyes from side to side.

Seal point: body even pale fawn to cream, warm in tone, shading gradually into lighter color on the stomach and chest. Points deep seal brown. Nose leather and paw pads: seal brown. Eye color: blue.

Siberian lynx (point) pattern

Mask must be clearly lined with dark stripes, vertical and forming the classic "M" on the forehead; horizontal on the cheeks. The mask contains light rings around the eyes and dark spots on light whisker pads, clearly outlined in dark color edges. Inner ear light with ticking on outer ear. Markings dense, clearly defined and broad. Legs evenly barred with bracelets. Tail barred with lighter underside. Body shading may take form of ghost striping.

Seal lynx point: points beige-brown ticked with darker brown tabby markings. Body color pale cream to fawn, warm in tone. Nose leather: seal brown or brick red. Paw pads: seal brown. Eye color: blue.

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