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Adults
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General aspect : |
A good show specimen has good physical condition, firm musculature and alert state. For their aspect, they remembers to the old effigies of the Egyptian cat.
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Head: |
Of soft lines, with wedge form, neither very long or shortened and massive. The muzzle blunts regarding the head. The forehead is big and the fairly long and direct nose, without bridge.
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Eyes: |
Big and rounded in their opening, very separate one to each other.
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Ears: |
Long, with the wide base and the ends rather pointed. The inner skin is thin and covered with little hair.
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Body: |
Very elegant, of thin and long bones, firm and muscular. Their ideal weight is between the 4,5 and 6 Kg in the case of males, and between 3 and 4,5 Kg for the females.
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Extremities: |
Long paws, of thin and muscular bones. The claws are small and lightly rounded, with five fingers before and four behind.
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Tail: |
Straight line, flat and quite long but proportional to the body. The base is fairly wide and tapering to a point.
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Coat: |
Short, dense, fine and plush. Double coat, inner and outer, which stands out from de body due to its density and gives him a characteristic plush aspect. The tact is very silky and soft, sometimes compared with that of a seal or beaver.
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Coat colour: |
Brilliant blue, preferably in clear tonalities. The blue colour in the base of the hair contrasts with the silver reflection of the tips. They should be free from tabby markings. Nose colour: slate blue. Paw pads: lavender pink. Eye colour: Brilliant green, preferably of emerald tonality.
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Disqualifications: |
Abnormal or kinked tail. With lockets of white hair. Incorrect number of fingers. All other coat colour than blue. Long coat. Any other eyes colour than green.
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Crossbreedings: |
No crossbreeds allowed.
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Other variants (not officially recognized): |
There is a long and white coated Russian blue known as Nibelung, which can be found in USA, Belgium and Holland. The Nibelung standard is the same than Russian Blue but for the long coat and they are only recognized as a new breed by TICA (1987). This organization is also the only one that recognizes another variety of Russian blue with a white or black coat.
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Kittens and young specimens
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| The Russian blue kittens remember to the story of the ugly duck, since when newborn their aspect hardly remembers to that of their progenitors and, in general, they don't highlight for their beauty. In fact this breed is developed slowly, because it is difficult to value their "excellences" when babies. It is even relatively frequent to meet with the surprise that an initially mediocre kitten becomes a magnificent specimen when arriving to adult age. |
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At birth, they have the face like a teddy bear, round and with the ears very separated one from the other. The eyes are of a dark blue colour that, gradually, changes to a dirty ochre until, between the 2 and 10 months (it is up to each kitten), a ring of green colour appears around the pupils. Anyway, the final colour of the eyes is not defined entirely after a 12 months of age or so. |
| The coat that covers them in these first stages of life is of a dark grey colour, without any silver reflection and very often with ghost or tabby marks, overalls rings in the tail and striped on the kitten back. These marks can persist until the 10 or 12 months of age, especially, the tail rings. |
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