The Russian White.

The Russian White was developed by the Australian breeder Mavis Jones. Her first white cat was a white shorthaired cat that was imported from Russia by an employee from the Thai Consulate. Mrs. Jones swapped this white cat for a pedigreed Russian Blue.

Sharaya
picture: cattery Hugs 'n Kisses

There had been rumours about a white cat living in Russia in the wild with the same phenotype as the Russian Blue. Those stories gave Mrs Jones the idea to develop the Russian White as a new breed. Because of the strict rules for experimenting with new breeds, Mrs. Jones asked for the help of a genetics expert from the University of Sidney. Together with this dr. F.W. Nicholas she developed a breeding program. After a breeding program of five years the Russian White was recognised as a new breed and in 1976 the first Russian White cats where showed in Australia. The white colour of this cat dominates all other colours. Other colours such as black and blue genetically exist in the cat, but are dominated by the gene for the White colour and will not show. Only when the cat has a litter it shows because of black and blue kittens that can be present in these litters. The White Russian is mostly very popular in Australia. In some other country this breed is still not recognised and therefore not allowed on shows. The Russian White has to look exactly like the Russian Blue, except for the colour of its fur. This fur should be a brilliant white without a yellow look on it or spots of a different colour. The colour of the nose leather and paw pads should be pink instead of blue.

The Russian Black was founded by coincidence. In the third generation of Russian Whites from Mrs. Jones, suddenly a black kitten appeared in one of the litters. At first it was thought of as a one time thing, but there appeared more of these kittens in later litters. After that, the Black Russian was developed much in the same way as the Russian White was. The Russian Black has never gained much popularity in the Netherlands. Like with the Russian White, the Russian Black can only differ in colour from the Russian Blue. Its fur has to be jet black with black nose leather and paw pads.