CATXDOG

The Nebelung cat is a long-haired cat breed, bred to resemble the Russian Blue with a long coat. They have a long, fine boned but graceful body. Their legs are long. Their long and fluffy tail distinguishes the breed from the Russian Blue. They have broad shoulders and a head with flat planes. The hair is blue and tipped with silver. Hair is semilong on the body and long on the plumy tail. The eyes are green. A Nebelung is highly intelligent but gentle

and shy, and also loving and attentive to their owners and family members, but may be shy with strangers, especially young children. A kitten may take time to adjust to a new home; if allowed to make its own advances, it should become a devoted companion. Many Nebelungs are lap sitters, loving to be petted. Often they follow their owners from room to room. If allowed, they enjoy sleeping on their owner's bed.

ORIGIN: The Nebelung is experimental breed created in 1980s by Cora Cobb, with the two foundation cats being Elsa, a black domestic shorthaired cat, and an unnamed blue domestic shorthair. The first mating of these two cats produced five black or blue shorthaired kittens as well as Siegfried (born 1984) who was blue with medium long hair. The second mating produced five black or blue shorthaired kittens, as well as a black longhair female and Brunhilde (born 1985), a blue longhaired female. Cobb decided to mate Siegfried and Brunhilde, and their first litter was born in 1986. The offspring of Siegfried and Brunhilde were eventually out-crossed to natural Russian Blues in order to replicate the Russian Blue type. Although the Nebelung is sometimes called a longhaired Russian Blue, it is actually a separate breed, as the Russian Blue does not produce longhaired offspring. The Nebelung will produce both longhair and shorthair offspring in the same litter. Their name Nebelung is a German word meaning 'creature of the mist'. Although Russian blue does not produce long haired offspring, some claim that a small number of 'natural' long-haired Russian Blues have been discovered in Russia and there are a number of breeders interested in developing the breed in their theoretical homeland.