The Snowshoe cat is considered to be one of the rarest cat breeds in the world and not just in the United States. It was originally known as the “Silver Lace”. It appeared for the first time in the United States and this was in the 1960s. Producing Snowshoes started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Dorothy Hinds-Daugherty when three kittens were born with white feet. The Siamese breeder, Dorothy Hinds-Daugherty, started her breeding program after that to produce larger numbers of Snowshoes by crossing bi-color American Shorthair cats with seal point Siamese cats. The process of producing more Snowshoes has existed for over 50 years; however these cats are still rare and not easy to be produced because the process of reproducing the right coat markings and patterns is difficult since it is associated with recessive genes that are not easy to be controlled. Do you still want to discover more about the rare Snowshoe cat and its unique characteristics? Here is what you want.
♦ What are the physical characteristics of the Snowshoe cat?
Snowshoes are given this name because of their white feet. They have medium or medium-large ears and the tips are little bit round. The shape of the head differs from one cat to another as there are Snowshoe cats that have triangular heads while there are others that have round heads which is the traditional shape that most of the cats have. Snowshoes have medium or short hair with white patterns on different parts of the body such as the paws, stomach, face and chest without undercoat. They have blue eyes and the face, ears, tail and legs are dark in their color. The Snowshoe’s coat does no need much grooming since it is smooth.
♦ The Snowshoes start their lives with the white color
It is one of the most interesting facts that you can know about Snowshoes. When the kittens are born, they come to be completely white which is really amazing, but unfortunately this color changes gradually and the markings start to appear on their bodies when they become 1-3 weeks old. The patterns that appear on their bodies vary from one cat to another making each cat unique.
♦ What about the Snowshoes’ personality?
They come in a diversity of colors and not just one color and they are known to be affectionate, too vocal, mellow, intelligent, can quickly learn, like water, can swim and do not like to be left alone for a long time. They are loyal and love their owners, friendly to humans even children, social and can live with others pets making it difficult for the Snowshoes to accept the idea of being left alone. Leaving them for a long time requires bringing another cat companion for your Snowshoe to stay entertained.
Those intelligent Snowshoes can quickly learn what you want and they can even understand tricks and learn games like fetch. They can easily learn how to open diverse types of doors and the running water is entertaining for them. They like high places and are not easy to be agitated. Snowshoe cats are like most of the cats when they try expressing their complaints or feelings as they do this vocally but you will not find this very loud like Siamese.
The Grumpy Cat is believed to be a Snowshoe cat.