Brazilian Shorthair breed guide

The Brazilian Shorthair is the first cat breed from Brazil to receive international recognition.

The Brazilian Shorthair is possible to be an indoor as well as an outdoor cat, and is keen on human contact and very playful as a kitten. As they get older, they sober up a little, though they stay fairly active.

The Brazilian Shorthair is a medium-sized cat of great agility. The breed can be distinguished from the American Shorthair by its sleek and elegant appearance. Yet, cats of the breed are not as thin as the Siamese. The coat is short and close to the skin and comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns. The space between the eyes should be equal to the size of one eye. Brazilian Shorthairs have dramatically expressive eyes. They are longer than they are tall, and males have bigger heads than females.

The Brazilian Shorthair Cat had its beginning when the engineer Paulo Samuel Ruschi, a cat breeder and founder of the first Cat Federation in Brazil and the first Cat Club in Rio de Janeiro, had the idea to transform certain cats found in the streets of Brazil into a purebred cat. He focused on the Iberian Peninsula cats, brought to Brazil by the Portuguese in their ships around 1500 A.D. From North to South of Brazil, commissions were created by Dr. Paulo Ruschi to study this animal in all of the country's parks and streets. After long years of experimental breeding program led by traditional breeders, the Brazilian Shorthair was finally approved by the World Cat Federation, with headquarters in Germany, as a Pure Breed cat. Nowadays, the Brazilian Shorthair cat can participate in contests all over the world.