Introduction

The Persian is a long-haired cat breed created by the English breeders at the end of the XIXth century, from matings between Middle East semi longhair cats and English shorthair cats.
The Exotic Shorthair was created at the end of the 1960s in the United States: it is the shorthair version of the Persian.
Persian and Exotic are quiet cats, amenable to handling.

Head:

the head is round and massive, with a broad dome shaped top of head. The face is round with a sweet expression and a well rounded boning. Cheeks are wide and strong, with full and prominent cheek bones. Viewed from the side, forehead, nose and chin are on the same vertical line.

Nose:

it is broad and very short, with sufficiently open nostrils so that breathing is not constrained. The deep, well marked break should sit between the eyes, ideally in the middle, never above the upper line of eyes, and never below the lower line.

Muzzle:

it should be round, broad and full, testifying of a perfect occlusion of jaws. Strong chin.

Eyes:

round, large and set far apart, the eyes have a sweet expression. The colour should be the most intense possible, conforming to coat colour.

Ears:

almost round, not unduly open at base, ears are small and set wide apart, fitting into contour of head. Inside well furnished in Persian.

Neck:

thick and massive, the neck is short, the head seems to be embedded in the shoulders.

Body:

cobby and massive, equally wide across rounded shoulders and hips. Back level. Broad chest, Well-rounded abdomen and ribs. The cat should be well-muscled without obvious fat.

Legs:

short, sturdy and strong, the legs are straight.

Feet:

round and massive.

Tail:

short, wide at base, ending in a rounded tip, in proportion to body length. well furnished in Persian.

Coat and texture:

Persian:

long all over the body, including shoulders, the fur is dense, fine and silky. An abundant undercoat gives the coat full volume. The well developed ruff runs down between the front legs and the abdomen.

Exotic shorthair:

dense and soft, the fur stands away from the body thanks to thickness of undercoat. Slightly longer than other shorthairs, it should not be long enough to lie on the body or flow.

Allowances

Seasonal variations are allowed.

Penalize

Head: flat forehead, pinch.
Ears: large, pointed or too close.
Body: narrow chest, long back, long or narrow neck.
Tail: too long.
Legs: too long or arched.
Feet: oval.
Eyes: small, slanted, not round enough, too close, bulging, too pale.
Exotic Shorthair: long coat, close lying, without undercoat.

Withhold all awards

Any asymmetry of face, bite deformity, off-center nose.
Nose too deep compared to forehead and chin.
Pinched nostrils.
Long or narrow head, long or Roman nose, thin muzzle.
Poor muscle tone.
White spots in cats other than particolor.
Poor grooming and/or coat condition.
General show penalties and withholdings.

Point Division

This division includes sepia, mink and colourpoint categories.

In this division, there should be a definite contrast between colour of points, that should be as homogenous as possible, and body colour, which is uniform.
Absence of ghost barrings is desirable, but they are allowed in tabby cats.
The impact of age and basic colour on the evolution of pattern should be taken into account: the points are often not totally developed in kittens, most of all in dilute colours, whereas darker shades on a mature cat’s body are normal.

Tipped Division

This division includes silver shaded, chinchilla (including cameo), golden shaded and golden shell.

In this division, coat should appear white in silver cats and gold in golden cats on flanks and tail. There should not be darker areas or spots, no tabby markings. Any cream shading in silver cats is a fault. The undercoat is pure white in the silver cats and gold in the golden cats, britches and legs too.
Tipping is regularly distributed on the body, a maximum of 1/8 of a hair length in chinchilla and golden shell cats and ¼ of a hair length in silver shaded and golden shaded cats.
In tipped cats, there will be fully coloured hairs, from root to tip, among white or golden hairs. The face shows a few light shadings of tipping under the eyes, on the ears and sometimes on the legs.
The eyes, the nose margin and the lips should be naturally made-up, outlined by a thin line in harmony with coat colour.

Withhold all awards

Even if it is neatly executed, shaving of the border of the nose and/or an eyeline to replace a missing make-up shall be penalized.

Smoke Division

Smoke Persian and Exotic Shorthair cats should have white furnishing in the ears. The silver base should be evenly distributed on all the body, including head, legs and tail. It should represent about ¼ to 1/3 of a hair length.

Allowance

Density of silver base should be stronger from December to April. On the contrary, from May to November, this particularity may diminish.

Tabby Division

There are four tabby recognized patterns in the Persian and Exotic Shorthair cats: ticked, spotted, mackerel and blotched patterns. Those patterns are the same as in all other breeds, with a good contrast: the basic colour shall contrast with the tabby markings.

Particolor Division

Any Persian or Exotic Shorthair with white is considered particolor, whatever the colour base: classic, tabby, smoke, tipped, point in the following categories:

Bicolour or tricolour pattern:

Any distribution showing around 25% to 50 % of white is considered bicolour or tricolour.
Ideally, the distribution of white should start from the nose with an inverted V, and continue down to the end of the legs and stomach, with a white band on the neck if possible.
Any distribution of white that is not exactly identical to that ideal description shall not be considered as a fault.

Withhold all awards

Cats with less than 20% of white.

Harlequin pattern:

Is considered as Harlequin any distribution showing between 50% to 80% of white.

Van pattern:

In van pattern, ideally, colour is only on top of head and tail.
Spots on head should be around the base of the ears, with white between the coloured areas, if possible.

Allowances

Two or three spots are allowed, if the total of colour does not exceed 20% of the surface of the cat, head and tail included. Beyond those three spots and/or 20% of colour, the pattern will be considered as harlequin.
White spot at the end of the tail.