american.

Flickr/*yasuhiro Despite its name, the American shorthair is older than America itself. Records show that American shorthairs were brought over by early settlers, and there is even proof that there were American shorthairs on the Mayflower. Given their variety of coats -- there are more than eighty -- and the similarity in name with the non-purebred domestic shorthair, this breed is confused for mutts. However, they are more purebred than many other breeds. With their origins in Europe, American shorthairs were selected for their strength, agility, and ability to hunt mice and rats which was a major concern for most Europeans after 75 million died from the bubonic plague. American ...

Flickr/tanakawho The American Curl is typical in appearance except for one small thing: its ears curl backwards towards the middle of the cat's skull. Otherwise, the Curl is a medium-sized cat with walnut-shaped eyes that comes in both short and long hair, and runs the gamut of coat and eye colors. They're born with straight ears that slowly curl as they reach early kitten-hood at around 16 weeks. Some ears end up straight, and some can curl to the point of actually reaching the back of the skull. Not only is the American Curl a relatively new breed, it's so new that its history can actually be traced back to a single cat named Shulamith. She and her brother, Panda, found in 1981 by a ...