When you gaze upon the glorious, shimmering coat of the Somali, you may find it hard to believe that Abyssinian breeders were once horrified to find longhaired kittens among their litters. Fortunately, some saw the potential for this beautiful cat, and the Somali was born.
Our Abyssinian
Ancestors
Top
The Somali is a longhaired descendant of the
Abyssinian. How the longhaired gene came into the Abyssinian
population no one knows for sure. It is believed by some that the
long coat was a spontaneous natural mutation. Though more recent
studies indicate that the Somali could have originated in England
during the aftermath of World Wars I and II when Abyssinians had
dwindled to near extinction. Breeders were forced to mix other cats,
possibly carrying a longhaired gene, into their Abyssinian breeding
programmes.
Research has shown that a number of UK-bred Abyssinians were carriers of a longhair gene and its likely that in history, there have been many longhaired Abyssinians whose coat length was simply overlooked.
Aby Beginnings: The first known Abyssinian was called ‘Zula’ and arrived in the UK from East Africa in 1868. The earliest Abyssinian registrations occurred later in 1896; listed in the National Cat Club stud book were ‘Sedgemere Bottle’, born in 1892, and ‘Sedgemere Peaty’, born in 1894, both usuals. Many of these early Abys were of unknown parentage. By 1929 the standard of points were agreed upon and there were sufficient cats to form the Abyssinian Cat Club with the help of Major Sydney Wooduwiss.
World War II:
Disaster struck for Abyssinians during World
War II when England was severely damaged by Hitler's war machine. Nazi
bombs and rockets destroyed large sections of London and other major
cities. Those bombs also served to nearly make extinct the dog and cat
fancy in Great Britain. Many of England's finest show animals were
killed or escaped during the fury of bombing raids to wander the streets
and fend for themselves. It is estimated that in post war England
perhaps no more than a dozen Abyssinians were left to carry on. In order
to rebuild the fancy after the war the governing body had no choice but
to relax the requirements for registering foundation stock. Many
purebred, homeless cats were taken in by strangers. If it looked like an
Aby, a Persian or a Siamese, it was re-registered with a new identity
and without a pedigree.
Mrs Mew:
During the London blitz Mrs. Janet Robertson
found what she believed to be a hybrid Aby who was already pregnant by
an unknown London Tomcat. She named the cat
‘Mrs. Mew’. This foundling cat, gave birth to one agouti
kitten and one black kitten. The agouti kitten was registered as an
Abyssinian called
‘Roverdale Purr-kins’ and the black kitten remained unregistered.
Mrs Robertson used
‘Purrkins’ to start her Roverdale cattery.
The sire of
Roverdale Purr-kins will never be known. The true identity of
Mrs. Mew
will forever be lost in time and her pedigree, if she ever had one, will
remain a mystery.
Raby Chuffa:
The ancestry of many American and Canadian Somalis can be traced back to
a single Abyssinian called
‘Raby Chuffa of Selene’;
a carrier of the longhair gene bred by Lady Barnard. ‘Raby
Chuffa’
was born on April 5th 1952 and exported from England to the USA in 1953.
His owner was a Mrs. Schuler-Taft. Raby Chuffa's pedigree has been
traced back to find that he was the Great Grandson of
‘Roverdale Purrkins’
and therefore a descendant of
‘Mrs. Mew’,
this is probably where his longhair gene was introduced.
The earliest reported existence of a Somali in the USA came in 1955 when
a long haired Aby was seen in the household pet section of a cat show in
Buffalo, N.Y. The sire of this cat was believed to be none other than
‘Raby Chuffa of Selene’.
Around the World:
It
wasn't until the 1960s that American breeders began seriously trying to
turn these unwanted longhaired Abyssinians into a recognised breed of
their own. At the same time, breeders in Canada, Europe, Australia, and
New Zealand also began working with the new breed. In 1963, at a show in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a longhaired Aby was put in the Aby class as a
practical joke by breeder Mary Mailing. CCA Judge
Ken McGill
took out the cat for judging and was surprised to see the longhaired Aby
in his hands. The exhibitors had a good laugh, but Ken was so taken with
the beautiful cat that he asked Mary for one to breed. With this cat,
Ken founded the oldest Somali line in Canada at his Dunedin cattery.
The
first Somali was shown as an AOV Abyssinian In America at a Long Island
cat show in 1965. In the same year the first Somali appeared at a show
in Australia; a litter of three sorrel Abyssinians were shown at the
Federal Cat Club Championship Show. One of these kittens ‘Rosie’ was
reported as having a longish coat, plumed tail and a face framed in a
Persian type ruff. Rosie grew into a beautiful long-haired Abyssinian.
In time two more longhaired kittens turned up in two separate litters
from the same sire and dam as ‘Rosie’.
Evelyn Mague:
Evelyn Mague
was a leading American breeder of Abyssinians and lived in New Jersey
where she owned the Lynn-Lee cattery and an Aby Stud named
‘Lynn-Lee's Lord Dublin’.
In 1967 Charlotte Lohmeyer, Aby breeder and owner of the Lo-Mi-R
cattery, brought her queen
‘Lo-Mi-R Trill By’
to Evelyn’s stud. Among the litter produced from this mating was a
longhaired kitten. Since no breeder wanted to be thought to have
Abyssinian lines that were ‘tainted’, Charlotte gave him away quickly
and quietly without any paperwork. Both
‘Lord Dublin’
and
‘Trill By’
must have been carriers of the recessive longhair gene to have produced
a longhaired kitten.
Evelyn
Mague
was later
working as a volunteer
in a cat
rescue centre
near her home when
someone
brought in an adult male cat who had already been passed around five
homes. Evelyn immediately recognised him as the
longhaired Abyssinian from the
‘Lord Dublin’
x
‘Trill By’
litter that had been given away as a kitten.
She named the cat George, had him neutered and found him a good home.
Recalling the moment she first clapped eyes on him, Evelyn is quoted as
saying that George was “the most beautiful cat she had ever seen”.
Evelyn realised that if George had been produced then it must be
possible to produce more longhaired Abyssinians using the same sire and
dam. Luckily, having recently acquired
‘Lo-Mi-R Trill By’, Evelyn now owned both of Georges parents so she set about a
breeding program. Evelyn bred six first-generation Somalis, among them
‘Lynn-Lee’s Pollyanna’, the first cat to be shown as a Somali in the USA.
Naming the Breed:
A lot of Abyssinian breeders at the time wanted nothing to do with these
longhaired nonconformists and were against the use of the name
‘Longhaired Abyssinian’ so a proper name had to be chosen for the new
breed.
Evelyn Mague,
not wanting to ignore the new breed's origins, came up with the name
‘Somali’. This was not because the breed came from the African country
of Somalia but because the country borders Ethiopia, formerly called
Abyssinia, from which the Abyssinian was named.
Breed Development:
Many Aby breeders refused to admit that a Semi-longhaired cat could be
produced from their studs and queens. Feeling very alone in her efforts
Evelyn placed an advert in a cat magazine asking for longhaired
Abyssinians. Evelyn received a reply from a Canadian breeder called Don
Richings of the Don-Al cattery saying that he had longhaired Abys and
would like to work with her. His longhair lines went back to the Dunedin
cattery owned by
Ken McGill.
From that time on, Evelyn worked diligently for recognition and
development of the Somali breed. The early days were fraught with
problems and opposition but slowly more breeders became involved and the
captivating nature of the Somali ensured that those involved were
fervently committed to its success.
Recognition:
In 1972
Evelyn Mague
founded the Somali Cat Club of America
and began bringing Somali enthusiasts together, the club had members
from both Canada and the United States.
1973 saw the First Somali Champion in the World, NCFA
‘Mei-Len's Sunflower of Margus’. Then in 1975 the CFA's International
Somali Cat Club was founded. The first pair of Somalis were Exported to
Europe in 1977;
‘Foxtail Star Trek’
a usual male and
‘Junee's Noel’, a usual female went to a German breeder
called Jutta Broisch.
More and more Somalis began to turn up at shows across America. The CFA
show in Strongsville Ohio, 24-25 September 1977 saw the largest Class of
Somalis to date, 29 Adults and 6 Kittens.
In July 1978 a usual Somali male called ‘Candilu's Pharo’, owned and bred by Canda Beeler and Lucy Kwasiborski of Dallas, appeared on the cover of Cats Magazine. Later that year after a ten year campaign Somalis gained recognition as a true breed and were granted Championship status in America by the CFA.
Important Imports:
The First Somalis were imported into Britain in 1980 by a consortium of
Abyssinian breeders. They were
‘Foxtail's Belle Starr’,
a usual female carrying sorrel and
‘Ch Naphrani's Omar Khayyam’,
a sorrel male. Following that in 1981 two more Somalis were imported
into Britain by Drs Peter and Margaret Frayne; brother and sister
‘Black Iron Vagabond’
and
‘Black Iron Venus’,
both usuals carrying sorrel. These cats can still be seen on the
pedigrees of many British Somalis today.
‘Ch Naphrani's Omar Khayyam’
and ‘Foxtail’s
Belle Starr’ produced the first Somali litter born in the UK in 1981. The
litter consisted of four kittens called ‘Golden Dawn’, ‘Daiquiri
Grenadine’, ‘Alamagoozlum’ and ‘Harvey Wallbanger’. More Somali and
Abyssinian variant imports later followed from America and others from
France and Australia.
Acceptance:
In 1982 FIFe accepted the Somali breed. The work of the enthusiastic
breeders and supporters in the UK finally paid off in 1991 when Usual
and Sorrel Somalis were given championship status by the GCCF. It was
not until seven years later in 1998 that all other Somali Colours were
granted GCCF Championship Status.
With thanks to Walter Del Pellegrino for much of the information on this page. For even more about Somali History please visit his website.
