What You Don't Know About Exotics

Imagine a Persian in its PJs

Introduction

Gorgeous silky hair, a babydoll face, tiny little ears and a plume for a tail … these are the key ingredients of the cat fancy’s best-known breed, the Persian. However, all that hair requires intense daily grooming and expert care to ensure that the cat’s beauty remains in condition. Many pet owners are intimidated by the challenge.

Meet the Solution—the Exotic!

“As spectators at the show walk by the cage they look quizzically at the cat and say, ‘It looks like a Persian but it has short hair. The sign says Exotic. Exotic what?!’”1 Exotics are bred to the Persian standard “with one special exception: the coat has a thick, dense, plush, short coat.”Affectionately known by some as, “the lazy man’s Persian” because its lush fur requires less combing than the fur of a Persian, Exotics offer the beauty and charm of their parent breed along with grooming requirements that are easier to manage. Tailor made for today’s time-pressed lifestyles, the Exotic is the best kept secret of the cat fancy.

A Little History, If You Please

A relatively new cat breed, the Exotic primarily resulted from breedings between Persians and American Shorthairs in the early 1960s.3 At about the same time, American cat breeder Carolyn Bussey crossed a Persian with a brown Burmese in hopes of designing a brown colored Persian.”5 While producing black kittens rather than brown, the result was adorable, short-haired kittens that looked like Persians yet required less grooming than the meticulous Persian protocols.