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The American Longhair was developed from crossing a Persian with an American Shorthair. The ensuing cat is a playful, easygoing, and pleasant pet that loves spending time along with his household. If you’re searching for an attractive and affectionate cat to undertake, the American Longhair could be simply the cat you’re looking for. Read on to study extra about this breed, together with its weight loss plan, train, and grooming necessities.
| Height: | 9–16 inches |
| Weight: | 8–15 kilos |
| Lifespan: | 12–17 years |
| Colors: | All colours and patterns |
| Suitable for: | Families, youngsters, residence life |
| Temperament: | Sociable, easygoing, curious, playful, light |
The American Longhair is a mixture between the American Shorthair and a Persian. Their nice, however not clingy, character makes them improbable companions for a myriad of households. These stunning, medium-sized cats are available numerous colours and patterns and sport coats of various thickness.
The American Longhair is usually confused with the Maine Coon just because the latter is also known as America’s first domestically created long-haired cat breed.
American Longhair Cat Breed Characteristics
American Longhair Cat Breed Kittens
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American Longhair kittens could also be tough to search out as most cat fancier associations don’t acknowledge this breed and are subsequently not in excessive demand. If you do want to undertake certainly one of these fairly kitties, you have to to analysis to see if there are any breeders native to you already specializing within the breed. If you do occur throughout a breeder for the American Longhair, you’ll be able to anticipate to pay rather less than you’ll for different long-haired breeds, such because the Angora or the Persian.
Temperament & Intelligence of the American Longhair Cat
The American Longhair combines a few of the finest traits of his ancestors, the American Shorthair and the Persian.
Taking from his American Shorthair aspect, this cat is probably going very pleasant, easygoing, and interested by his environment. They love spending time with their households and luxuriate in participating in actions with their people.
These cats are usually candy, light, and affected person like their Persian bloodline. They can choose a calmer surroundings, although they will simply adapt to extra lively and chaotic households with time.
Are These Cats Good for Families? 
The American Longhair is a improbable household pet. These kitties are recognized for his or her affable personalities and candy, pleasant, and nice temperament. They usually do properly in properties with youngsters, supplied they know the right way to respect boundaries.
The American Longhair is joyful to spend time subsequent to his members of the family, although it’s okay to be alone and impartial, too. This means he’s much less doubtless than his Persian ancestors to kind unhealthy attachments to his people.
Image Credit: Anastasiia Skorobogatova, Shutterstock
Does This Breed Get Along With Other Pets?
American Longhairs can get alongside very properly with different cats and animals of various species. However, they require a gradual transitionary interval earlier than being launched to different pets. Ensure you’re doing a gradual and deliberate introduction to make sure concord in your house.
Things to Know When Owning an American Longhair Cat
Food & Diet Requirements
Feeding an American Longhair is not any totally different than feeding some other cat breed. All cats are obligate carnivores, that means they require a weight loss plan of animal-derived meals. They want particular amino acids discovered solely in meat-based protein in any other case, their well being can endure. Taurine, for instance, is especially vital for a cat’s eye and coronary heart well being. They can change into blind or develop coronary heart failure if not fed a weight loss plan with taurine.
It’s vital to not overfeed your cat; in any other case, you place him susceptible to creating weight problems and its associated circumstances like diabetes and coronary heart illness. Most cats choose consuming frequent, small meals all through the day versus one bigger one.
An excellent rule of thumb for locating the most effective cat meals is to decide on one with an actual meat protein listed as the primary ingredient.
Image Credit: Stephen B. Goodwin, Shutterstock
Exercise 
Your American Longhair requires average train to stave off boredom and stop weight problems. He doubtless enjoys staying lively and may even be taught to play fetch with you. Be positive to supply loads of toys in your kitty, together with ones he can play with solo and interactive ones he wants you for.
If he’s extra like his American Shorthair aspect, chances are high your kitty will love spending time outdoors. Try to show him to stroll on a leash so he can safely discover the outside.
If your American Longhair takes after his Persian aspect extra, he could also be extra apt to lounge and loosen up all day than play. However, that doesn’t imply you need to let him. He nonetheless wants every day bodily exercise to remain wholesome.
Training 
Cats will be tough to coach as they usually have a thoughts of their very own and aren’t too keen on being advised what to do. However, that doesn’t imply you’ll be able to’t prepare your American Longhair; it simply means doing so would require extra effort and time.
As talked about above, these cats love the outside, so that you might be able to prepare your kitty to stroll on a leash if he reveals curiosity in it.
You may train him to do methods, like sitting or rolling over, supplied you’ve the fitting high-value treats available.
Image Credit: Amanda Liefeld, Shutterstock
Grooming 
Grooming your long-haired cat ensures his coat stays shiny and wholesome. We suggest brushing him a number of instances per week to stop tangles and mats. Regular grooming will even take away a few of the soon-to-be-shed hairs, decreasing how a lot hair your kitty inevitably ingests and lessening the hairballs he would in any other case throw up. Get your cat used to grooming classes by selecting a time when he’s relaxed to brush him and by no means forcing him into getting brushed if he isn’t feeling it.
Health and Conditions 
The American Longhair is mostly wholesome, although it could be susceptible to creating the identical well being circumstances as different cats and its dad or mum breeds.
All cats could also be susceptible to creating points like weight problems, dental issues, and feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most typical type of coronary heart illness seen in cats. This situation is believed to be inherited and can lead to coronary heart failure and sudden dying.
Because this breed has Persian blood in its ancestry, it is very important familiarize your self with the widespread well being circumstances seen in Persians. This contains polycystic kidney illness (PKD), brachycephalic airway syndrome, and eye discharge.
Minor Conditions
- Eye discharge
- Dental illness
Serious Conditions
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- PKD
- Brachycephalic airway syndrome
- Obesity
Male vs Female
As with most cat breeds, the largest distinction between female and male American Shorthairs is their measurement. Males are usually bigger in each top and weight than their feminine counterparts. All character variations between genders are purely anecdotal and never backed by science.
3 Little-Known Facts About the American Longhair Cat
1. The American Longhair was bred by chance.
The American Longhair was created by breeders making an attempt to provide an American Shorthair that possessed the gorgeous, shimmery coat and inexperienced eyes of a silver Persian. The ensuing breed was a cat with a shorter coat and leaner physique.
2. The main cat organizations don’t acknowledge the American Longhair as a breed.
Even although they’re a cross between two acknowledged breeds, main cat fanciers don’t acknowledge American Longhairs as an official breed. For instance, the American Cat Fanciers Association doesn’t but acknowledge the American Longhair as a breed, nor does The International Cat Association (TICA).
3. The American Longhair might have respiratory issues.
The American Longhair might inherit the shortened face that made certainly one of its dad or mum breeds, the Persian, so common. While these stubby faces are lovable to have a look at, they usually lead to critical respiratory points.
Image Credit: Todorean-Gabriel, Shutterstock
Final Thoughts
The American Longhair is an attractive cat breed with infinite redeeming traits. The breed combines the grace and gentleness of the Persian with the easygoing and pleasant perspective of the American Shorthair. These cats are usually people-oriented and luxuriate in being close to their people, although they’re much less vulnerable to develop the identical type of attachment points that plague the Persian breed.
However, discovering an American Longhair breeder could also be difficult as a result of no main cat fancier affiliation acknowledges them as a breed. Keep your ear to the bottom and put out some feelers in native cat teams to see if you could find somebody close by who specializes on this distinctive breed. And, in fact, at all times completely analysis the breeder you discover.
Sources
- https://www.petmd.com/cat/breeds/persian
- https://www.petmd.com/cat/breeds/american-shorthair
- https://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass/news/persian-cats-at-high-risk-of-health-problems-study-shows
Featured Image Credit: Phil N Morris, Shutterstock
The publish American Longhair Cat: Care, Pictures, Info & FAQ by Chantelle Fowler appeared first on Catster. Copying over total articles infringes on copyright legal guidelines. You is probably not conscious of it, however all of those articles had been assigned, contracted and paid for, so they are not thought-about public area. However, we recognize that you just just like the article and would adore it in case you continued sharing simply the primary paragraph of an article, then linking out to the remainder of the piece on Catster.com.
