The Angora Cats

Information on The Angora Cats.

The Angora Cats

Most costly and most beautiful are the aristocrats of the tribe the long-haired cats of whom there are three distinct varieties, differing in form, color, and quality of coat, as well as in disposition and temper. They are the Angora, the Russian, and the Persian.

The first-named is brought from Angora, in western Asia, the region which glso furnishes the remarkable goat of the same name. In its native land, as indeed everywhere, this beautiful beast is a cherished darling of fortune, beloved in the family circle, and held at an enormous value. This is particularly the case indeed he is altogether beyond price if he happens to be snowy white with blue eyes, and is blessed with perfect hearing, which, strange to say, a cat of the short-haired variety bearing this combination of coloring sometimes lacks.

The Angora cat, of whatever color, has a small, daintily shaped head, with a nose not too long, and eyes of a hue in harmony with his fur. His shapely ears are nearly buried in his thick fur, and end in a tassel at the tip, while his neck and head are almost as heavily maned as those of a lion. The fine long hair, which is the distinguishing feature of the species, is silky, with a slightly woolly quality, and every additional inch of length adds many dollars to his price. His tail is long and graceful, with hairs longest at the base, and gradually decreasing in length towards the tip, which curls a little upward. This cat is found in several colors. Next in value to the pure white is the solid black, with deep yellow eyes. Third in rating come the soft slate and blue shades, and a light fawn, also with yellow eyes. Other hues are red and gray, both light and dark, and a rich smoke-color.

The Angora cat of any variety is rare in this country, and correspondingly choice and costly. He is a personage of well-bred manners and quiet ways ; his temper is good, and he is docile and affectionate. In a word, he exhibits the virtues and graces natural to the cat family, having never been soured by abuse or neglect, or made irritable by starvation. A cat whose value is set among the thousands is sufficiently precious to insure good treatment.

One unfortunate passion he has, which he delights to gratify, utterly oblivious of the price set upon him by his human protectors. It is a love of roaming, of solitary excursions, both in the country, where he explores the woods and fields and indulges his taste for hunting, and in the city, where it becomes necessary to watch him like a runaway child. So clever is the cat in accomplishing his ends, and so quick-witted to seize an opportunity, and so lithe and supple his body, that he will slip out beside a servant opening the door, or push a window a little farther open, and make his escape in silence and unobserved. Of course no fence will confine him an instant. With all his attractions, this famous Eastern beauty is not so intelligent and mentally alert as some of his short-haired brothers of the West, but the life of luxury to which he is destined demands not so much mental as physical gifts ; in his case, certainly, "beauty is its own excuse for being."

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