-DISCOVER EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM-

The neva masquerade is a cat that attracts attention. Being the variant point of the Siberian cat, the breed awakens the interest for its apparent primitive arcia: the long and dense fur on the neck, the hair states on the ears, the muscular body and the opulent tail confers this small feline the Looks like wildcat in miniature. Therefore, there is no surprise that both the Siberian and the neva masquerade are descendants of forest cats.

This natural breed is distinguished from the Siberian cat only in its coloration. The Neva masquerade is medium in size and can weigh up to 9 kg. Therefore, it takes time to develop and barely reaches adulthood at about 3 years. Its semi-long coat consists of a waterproof and robust upper layer and a dense lower mantle. The dense neck around the head and neck is especially showy. In the summer these cats lose the lower layer of hair that stays warm throughout the winter winter. Therefore, during the summer season its fur is shorter and lighter. The tufts of hair between the fingers and the ears and the dense tail also remain intact during the hot months. The neva masquerade cats, like the Siberians, have a round head, with a curved forehead, large eyes and medium and wide ears. The color of the eyes should be uniform and match that of the coat. Specimens with light blue eyes are very popular in this breed.

The coloration of the neva masquerade is what makes them so special, since they belong to the cats point. This makes them the only breed of forest cats in which point coloration is allowed. This means that the "cold" limbs of the cat's body (the ears, tip of the tail, legs and face) are the base color of the animal, while the rest of the body has a lighter shade. The cause of this exceptional coloration is a mutation that alters the correct functioning of the tyrosinase enzyme, which deteriorates the production of the basic melanin pigment. As a result, what is known as partial albinism appears. In the neva masquerade, a well-defined contrast between the points and the light color of the rest of the body is sought. The eyes must have an intense blue color.

Within the coloration point there is also a great variation of colors. In the neva masquerade breed all the base colors of Siberian cats are accepted as point coloration, including the tabby tabby. The monochrome specimens can show the so-called "phantom marks". For some time they have been trying to get new varieties of color through crosses between Somali cats and burmese cats. In this case, the favorite colors are cinnamon and chocolate, as well as their fawn and lilac dilutions. However, crosses of this type present a drawback: they are not accepted by the breed standard among forest cats such as the Siberian. Despite their interesting coloration, often the resulting new colors are not allowed by all breeders' associations. To this must be added the possible introduction of hereditary diseases in the resistant gene pool of the Siberians. Therefore, we do not crossbreed with other varieties and stick to traditional colors.

ORIGIN

The origin of the Siberian cat and its variant Neva Masquerade is in Russia, in the regions near the Neva river (which crosses Saint Petersburg) from which it gets its name

The Siberian cat only began to breed systematically from the 80s. Since 1990, has also become very popular among lovers of cats in the United States. Given the similarity between the Siberians and the neva masquerade, these animals also share the story.

Long-haired breeds have always formed a large part of the population of apparently wild domestic cats of Russia and Siberia. The circles of researchers have debated for a long time about the reason for this. While some scientists start with an independent mutation, others take for granted the crossing with long-haired cats from the East. The denomination Sibirskaja koschka (Siberian cat) was used to describe these muscular domestic pussycat and with a dense and soft fur. These differ in the physical and in the texture of the coat of the African wild cats, which were considered the ancestors of all the domestic mustachioed. For this reason, it was long assumed that wild Caucasian cats were close relatives of Siberians and, therefore, did not descend from African wild cats. However, a group of researchers from the University of Oxford has recently discovered that domestic cats from all continents descend from the wild cat

Longhaired cats were a rarity in Europe until the 19th century, so it is not surprising that the Russian variety attracted the attention of traders and travelers and that it will be exported to Europe. The Siberian cats were already described in 1864 in an edition of the Brems Tierleben and then appeared sporadically in European publications. Russia's long-haired cats were also part of the first cat show at the Crystal Palace in London in 1871. However, at first the breed fell into oblivion after this first exhibition. One reason is that longhaired cats were a rarity, so they crossed each other. Consequently, the Siberian disappeared into the genetic pool of the Persians and the like. The political situation in Soviet Russia also contributed to the disappearance of this country from the history of breeding cats at that time.

The 80s marked a new beginning. In 1985 an experimental breed was established in the German Democratic Republic with long-haired domestic cats imported from Russia, which were exhibited the following year. Since 1987, the then so-called "Siberian Forest Cat" was officially recognized. In that same year the first pair of Siberian cats arrived in Germany. After the first litter registered in 1989 the race began to win more and more admirers, even on the other side of the ocean. Approximately during the same period the systematic breeding of the Siberian in Russia began, and in 1990 the first specimens were exported to the USA. UU However, the high costs of Russia's importation relatively restricted the population of Russian long-haired cats in the USA. UU

In the present, Siberian cats are raised all over the world. The name changed from Siberian forest cat to Siberian cat in 1991, mostly to better differentiate it from the Norwegian forest. The breed was officially recognized by the World Cat Federation in 1992 and in 1998 by the FIFe.