The British Longhair in breed portrait

The British Longhair breed is one of the younger cat breeds that have not been bred as an independent breed for very long. The British Longhair (BLH) was created by crossing British Shorthairs with Persian cats. As many British Shorthair cats carry the gene mutation for longhair, it is quite possible that two shorthair British cats will also give birth to longhair British cats. These kittens were the starting animals and the beginning of the breeding of the British Longhair cat. Nowadays, the inheritance pattern can be clearly recognised so that British Longhair and British Shorthair kittens can be selectively bred. The mating of British Shorthair and British Longhair cats is also permitted today.

The British Longhair has a similar build to its relative, the British Shorthair: its body is muscular, stocky and strong, its shoulders and back are broad. This cat breed has a long, firm coat with a plush undercoat, which is available in almost 300 colour variations. The most important coat colours include

• Colourpoint: light body coat with dark-coloured points such as on the face, ears or legs
  
• Tabby: different coloured stripes in the coat
• Tortie: a coat colouring of red and black areas
• White in combination with a second colour

The British Longhair cat is particularly impressive with its cosy and gentle nature. The cat breed is generally considered to be friendly, curious, affectionate and open-hearted and usually shows us humans a lot of love and affection. The British Longhair usually forms a close bond with its owners very quickly. At the same time, the British Longhair is intelligent, playful and curious.

The British Longhair's urge to move around is not too great - which is why this pedigree cat is suitable for keeping indoors. When living indoors, however, the friendly British Longhair needs a lot of attention in return and wants to be kept busy regularly with games and cuddles.
It can be reserved towards strangers at first, but is friendly and affectionate when approached. As it has an atypically high stress tolerance, the British Longhair cat is well tolerated by other cats, children and, with appropriate socialisation, also dogs.

A healthily bred British Longhair has a fairly high life expectancy of 12 to 15 years. Due to their proud body size, British Longhair cats can often develop joint problems as a result of the strain. You should therefore keep a close eye on your cat's diet and weight.

In some cases, these typical breed diseases can occur:

• Kidney diseases
• Heart disease - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)

With this heart disease, cats show problems such as panting after playing, bluish discoloured mucous membranes, rapid heartbeat, accelerated breathing rate, loss of appetite and a weak condition.

Due to the length of their coat and the increased undercoat, British Longhairs require intensive grooming. It is advisable to keep on top of this from an early age and brush their coat around two to three times a week, as tangles and matting can quickly form in the coat of these long-haired cats. During the shedding period, you should brush your cat more often as it loses a lot of hair during this time. It is advisable to use tine combs with fixed and rotating tines for grooming. Felting knives also help very well with tangles.

"I became aware of the British Longhair cat breed by chance: I had always liked British Shorthair cats, but I had never heard of the Longhair variety before. However, after looking at a few pictures on the Internet, I knew that this was the breed I liked. So my first British Longhair cat soon moved in.

Meine beiden British Langhaar kuscheln sich immer mit zu mir aufs Sofa und kommen abends auch mit ins Bett und weichen dann nicht mehr von der Seite. Sie zeigen ihre Liebe durch lautes Schnurren, reiben ihr Köpfchen am Menschen und suchen Aufmerksamkeit.

However, British Longhairs can also sleep well on their own. They love various cosy baskets, scratching posts or the carpet. We like to play with cat toys made of felt, with strings, fishing rods, small felt balls or even small bouncy feathers, which the cats like to use for fetching.