NEVAMEOW

Siberian cat characteristics

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Siberian Cat and Neva Masquerade

Siberian cats are one of the natural breeds of semi-long haired cats. The name of the breed was derived from the place of origin of cats. Siberian cat code EMS SIB comes from Siberia. The natural habitat of the Siberian cat is also Poland, the USA and Germany. The origins of the breed date back to the 17th century. Some sources even mention the 11th century.
In Russia, Siberian cats were originally bred as working cats to help catch mice and other pests. This cat is a natural species, it was not created from crosses of other species. One of the legends says that Siberian cats come from wild, forest cats living in the snowy taiga. It is said that in the Middle Ages, Siberian cats guarded monasteries in Siberia.
The history of Siberian cats as a recognized breed, as well as its colourpoint variety - neva masquerade, is not long. The beginning dates back to the 1980s and is closely related to the formation of cat lovers' organizations in Russia. Work on selection and breeding began in 1987 in Saint Petersburg. The appearance and character have remained largely intact since the beginning of the breed.
The first standard was created in the late 80s of the last century by felinologists from the club "Kotofei" - O. S. Mironova and I. J. Katser. At the same time, the Siberian breed was registered by other Russian felinologists in Moscow (T.S. Emelyanova, L. K. Ovchinnikova, T. D. Sapozhnikova). However, it was Kotofei who described the breed standard in 1989 based on a Siberian male named Roman, which can be found in many pedigrees. From the beginning, Siberian cats have been described as muscular, sturdy, with round paws, a full rounded muzzle, wide set ears, and oval eyes.
In 1990 it was recognized. that the first standard should be modified. Some features changed, others added.
In 1990, the allowed color variations were added to the standard - brindle, brindle with white, plain, plain with white and colorpoints (neva masquerade) in the same colors. The Soviet Felinological Federation has adopted a new standard for the breed of Siberian cats.
In 1991, on its basis, the first international description of the breed standard was created. In 1992, the World Cat Federation (WCF) was the first federation to recognize Siberian cats, including colourpoint (neva masquerade).
In 1997, during an exhibition recognizing the breed in the FIFe federation, Helios Onix Gloria
Unfortunately, unlike the females, there were few males that met the requirements of the standard and were suitable for breeding work. Unexpectedly, an old lady appeared at the local exhibition, bringing a cat in a bag. This cat was Max – born in 1989, a powerful black tabby tomcat Neva. He had an almost perfect head and fur (just a tad too short). Half a year later, the owner died, the relatives did not want to keep the cat, which was adopted by Katya Dudina. His line, started by the Nightingale kennel, was continued by the kennels of Dikay Krass and Dom Filin. Its head shape was soon incorporated into the WCF standard. In 1994, the same head shape was used to create a more specific breed standard. It was also then that the term "trapezium" appeared in the description of the head.
Subsequent international federations followed the WCF and recognized the breed: TICA in 2006, CFA in 2006, FIFe in 1997 (FIFe was the only federation, however, that did not recognize colourpoints, i.e. a variety of Siberians under today's name "neva masquerade"). In 2008, the FIFe recognized the nevy as a separate sister breed of cats and marked it with the NEM code. The FIFe Preliminary Recognition Show was held on December 15, 2007 in Warsaw, Poland.
Full recognition of the Neva Masquerade breed by the International Feline Federation took place exactly on May 28, 2010.
Siberian cats, as one of the few natural breeds, cannot be crossed with any other breed.


Siberian and Neva Masquerade breed standard

Size: Medium to large, strong, well muscled.
Weight: males 7-10 and even 12 kg, females 4-6 kg

Body: slightly elongated, strong and athletic; the silhouette must not give the impression of being angular, it should rather be rounded; the nape is quite broad, and the chest is covered with a beautiful oval ruff, which must not be excessively long.

Head shape: triangular, forehead slightly convex, chin rounded, cheekbones well developed, set high.

Ears: Quite large, broad at the base, slightly tilted forward and rounded at the tip, covered with tufts of hair inside.

Eyes: large, slightly oval, obliquely set; green or amber colour, independent of colour.

Nose: long, with a slightly marked breakthrough.

Tail: long and fluffy, tapering towards the end, does not moult in summer.

Limbs: Of medium length, hind legs slightly longer than forelegs; feet large, well hairy between the toes.

Hair: Semi-long, topcoat dense, smooth to the body. Soft undercoat - changes depending on the season, in winter it is double, dense and dense, almost disappears in summer; there is a rich collar on the neck (but it should not dominate too much), breeches on the thighs and a large feather on the tail. The topcoat is water-repellent due to its greasing to the body. Soft undercoat - changes depending on the season, in winter it is double, dense and dense, almost disappears in summer; there is a rich collar on the neck (but it should not dominate too much), breeches on the thighs and a large feather on the tail. The topcoat is water-repellent due to its greasing.

Ointment: comes in two color types: classic and neva masquarade. In the former, all colors and all variations with white are allowed, except for the colors: chocolate, lilac, cinnamon and markings. White color may occur in residual form, eg as a star, a flame, a medallion on the belly, on the chest, on the paws.
In the neva masquarade type, only point markings (mask, ears, paws, tail) are allowed.


I would like to focus a bit more on Neva Masquarade cats, because I am a big fan of these beautiful and intelligent cats.

The most likely theory of the origin of the Neva Masquerade breed says that it is a cross between Siamese cats, many of which lived in Russia at the end of the 17th century, and Siberian cats, which at that time naturally occurred in Russia.
The Siberian neva masquerade began to be deliberately bred in the 1960s. For the next thirty years, he did not go beyond the borders of Russia. It wasn't until 1990 that these cats found their way to Western Europe. Their name comes from the Neva River that flows through St. Petersburg. Petersburg was famous for its huge and spectacular masquerade balls. The color of the nev is very characteristic. These cats look as if they are wearing a mask used at masquerade balls. The name Neva Masquerade was initiated in the 20th century. Like the Maine Coon and the Norwegian cat, the Neva Masquerade belongs to both natural breeds and forest cats.
The first Siberian cat came to Poland in 1989, even before the official recognition of the breed. It was a female named Bajra Rolas brought to Poland from Russia by Jolanta Sztykiel. Jolanta Sztykiel from Warsaw is the owner of Z BASNI*PL kennel. Her cat Bajra Rolas was the first Siberian breeding female in Poland. Cattery Z Basni*PL is the first cattery of Siberian cats in Poland. Currently, Siberian cats are quite popular in Poland and there are several good cattery of Siberian cats and neva masquerade. Polish breeders usually import Siberian cats from Russia.
Neva masquerade came to Poland even later, in the second half of the 1990s.
The first neva masquerade kittens in Poland were born in a cattery of naturally colored Siberian cats and were a huge surprise for their breeder.
At first glance, the classic Siberian and Neva Masquerade cats have fur in completely different colors, but in fact they are the same colors, only the given color in Siberian cats is distributed all over the body. In neva masquerade, this color is limited to the mask on the face, ears, paws and tail, and the light body is a mild form of albinism.
Neva masquerade is a Siberian colorpoint cat. This means she has blue eyes (the darker the better). The color of the fur is very specific: the body is lighter and the muzzle, ears, paws and tail are darker. This is due to the fact that the gene responsible for this color is sensitive to temperature. So the colder it is, the darker the fur becomes - the parts of the body most exposed to the cold become more stained. For the same reason, little nevs are white when they are born (they are evenly heated in the mother's tummy). Markings start to appear after about a week.
In nev all fur colors are allowed (also with the addition of white), except for cinnamon, fawn, chocolate and lilac. These colors can also be with the addition of silver or gold.
The same color varieties are darker at low temperatures and lighter at higher temperatures.
These cats can come in exactly the same colors as full-colored Siberians, however, due to the much lighter body color it is often difficult to identify the pattern of tabby cats, so it has been assumed that all tabby cats will be marked as unspecified tabby cats (21).
Siamese markings are described with the symbol 33, but in FIFe, due to coloration, Siberian cats have been divided into 2 sister breeds - Siberian (SIB) and Neva Masquerade (NEM). Due to the fact that all Nevas have meanings, the symbol 33 is omitted. Thus, a cat with NEM coat color n 21 in WCF will be listed as SIB n 21 33.
On the other hand, Neva Masquerade cats at exhibitions are divided into 2 groups:

I group: cats in all colors without white
II group: cats of all colors with white
 
The Siberian Neva Masquerade cat is considered one of the healthiest cat breeds.
This is conditioned by the features of its ancestor, which for a long time remained without human influence. Thanks to this, this breed is not burdened with hereditary diseases. However, this does not mean that kittens never get sick. Most often they suffer from colds, infectious diseases or polycystic disease you kidney. Other symptoms may include strabismus, nystagmus, squinting or eye twitching. However, none of these conditions are hereditary. As with all large breed cats, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can occur, which can cause sudden death. It is the most common cause of blockages that cause heart failure. Feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited disease of the heart muscle that results in thickening of the walls of the left ventricle. Unfortunately, there are no genetic tests to detect HCM disease in Siberians yet. HCM in Siberians can only be detected by echocardiography.
Federations associating cat breeders recommend that Siberian cats should be tested for the kidneys of pkd. This test can be done with genetic testing.
In the PawPeds database you can find many studied Siberian cats.
The first Siberian cat listed in the PawPeds database in terms of date of birth is Zibeline De La Siberia Ladoga F SIB 21 born 05/08 1992

You hear and read many times that neva is especially recommended for allergy sufferers. Despite their long hair, far fewer people react to contact with it by sneezing, coughing or shortness of breath. Indeed, allergic reactions to this breed of cat are much rarer, but it is not the amount or length of the coat that determines them, but the type of protein contained in the saliva.
Compared to other breeds, the neva masquerade has less Fel-D1 protein, contained in saliva, tears or sebum, which is responsible for hypersensitivity. However, these cats cannot generally be called hypoallergenic. Human allergic reactions vary from animal to animal, so each of us must individually test whether he reacts to a cat or not.
I brought my breeding cats to England from Poland. In England, Siberian cats have only been present for 20 years, to be precise, since 2002. They are not yet a very popular breed in the UK but that is starting to change. More and more Siberian cats are starting to appear at TICA shows. Mostly they are traditional Siberian cats, but breeders in England are also starting to be interested in Neva Masquerade.