Persian facts and facts about persians, from the Random Facts shelf.
20 facts on this shelf
After Persians arrived in the US in the early 1900s, the Maine Coon lost popularity so badly that it was nearly written off by the mid-1900s. Dedicated breed clubs revived it, and it's now the most popular pedigreed cat in the CFA rankings.
Persian cats are named after Persia, modern-day Iran. Longhaired cats from the region were brought to Europe in the 1600s, where breeders gradually shaped them into the modern Persian.
Queen Victoria owned blue Persian cats, and her royal approval helped make the breed fashionable in Victorian England.
The Persian's flat, brachycephalic face can cause breathing problems, runny eyes, and dental issues, and veterinarians have raised concerns about breeding for extremely flat faces.
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which causes fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys, was historically found in more than a third of Persians. DNA testing has helped breeders greatly reduce it.
A Persian's long, thick coat needs daily brushing to prevent painful mats, so owning one is basically a long-term grooming commitment.
The Persian was the most popular pedigreed cat in the CFA rankings for decades before other breeds, starting with the Exotic, finally knocked it off the top spot in the 2010s.
The James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld is famous for stroking a white Persian cat, which became a pop culture symbol of the evil mastermind.
A Himalayan is essentially a Persian with Siamese-style pointed coloring and blue eyes. In the CFA it's classified as a color division of the Persian rather than a separate breed.
Persians are calm, quiet, low-energy cats that prefer lounging on soft furniture to climbing curtains, which makes them a great fit for peaceful homes.
The Persian was one of the original breeds recognized by the Cat Fanciers' Association when it was founded in 1906.
The Exotic was created in the 1950s and 1960s by crossing Persians with American Shorthairs and other shorthaired breeds, which produced a cat with a Persian's face and a much shorter coat.
The Exotic is nicknamed "the lazy man's Persian" because it has the Persian's sweet, flat face and calm personality without the daily grooming its long coat would need.
In the mid-2010s, the Exotic ended the Persian's decades-long run as the most popular pedigreed cat in the CFA rankings, so the breed literally overtook its own parent breed.
Because Exotics carry a recessive longhair gene from their Persian ancestors, two Exotic parents can produce a longhaired kitten that looks essentially identical to a Persian.
Like Persians, Exotics have flat faces that can cause breathing problems and tear staining around the eyes, so regular face cleaning is part of their care.
Exotics are known as quiet, gentle, and easygoing cats, but they tend to be a little more playful than their Persian cousins thanks to their shorthair ancestry.
Exotics usually need only about a weekly combing to keep their coats in good shape, which is far less work than the daily brushing a Persian requires.
The Exotic began partly by accident, when American Shorthair breeders crossed their cats with Persians and ended up with stocky, plush-coated, flat-faced cats that became a breed of their own.
The British Shorthair population dropped sharply during WWII, and breeders afterward crossed them with Persians and other breeds to rebuild their numbers.