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Spoon is 3 weeks old in the picture on the left. Even then she was in total control of her siblings. Spoon is the only white in the litter. The adult white is mommy, Odessa Lady Adelaide of Bluezars. In the picture on the right Spoon is 10 weeks old. Here you can see the dramatically different ear set between the Australian cats and the American Cats. Spoon finally made it to our home Feb. 10, 2000. The pictures below were of Spoon at her first TICA show on Feb. 19/20, 2000 in Austin, TX. |
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Mavis L. Jones of Australia began breeding whites in 1970 when she acquired Rose, a white domestic shorthair brought from Russia with an official of the Thai Embassy. She traded a registered Russian Blue for Rose. In accordance with R.A.S., the registering body in Australia, she was required to work closely with the geneticists at the University of Sydney. At that time it was strictly forbidden to do any experimentation with the Russian Blues. In 1971 Mrs. Jones registered her first generation of white Russians. In July 1975 they were granted full registration, eligible to compete for Championship status.
To quote Dr. F.W. Nicholas, Animal Genetics, Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Sydney, in a letter dated Jan. 22, 1976: "...about mating only blues to blues, and only whites to whites, and not accepting mixed litters, there is no sound genetical reason why you should have such rules. After four generations of backcrossing, the only important difference between whites and blues is in coat colour. The rest of the genetic background, and hence type and all other characteristics will be essentially the same. So, for example, a blue kitten from a registered blue stud out of a registered white dam has just as much right to be registered as would a blue kitten with only registered blue parents on each side of its pedigree."
In a letter from Mrs. Jones: "The ancestral coat pattern of all cats is tabby! Black cats are really tabby cats without the tabby inducing gene, and blue is a dilution of black. Therefore, the Blue Russian had to be preceded by the black, which originated from the tabby! Early in 1900, a prominent English breeder of that decade, Mrs. Carew-Cox, imported two Russian cats from Norway. They were blue-tabbies and were the forerunners of many of today's Russian Blues. One positive sign of a true Russian Blue or Archangel cat is the ghost tabby markings at birth, which gradually, but entirely dissappear in maturity. In maturity tabby markings are considered faults."
Standards for the whites are identical to the blues. the only exception being for coat color, which must be pure sparkling white, with no hint of discolouration.
Russian Whites in the United States
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Count was only 6 months old in this picture and his eyes weren't entirely deep green just yet. His eyes have since turned a beautiful green. Count is one of the orginal two whites born to Addie and Dimitri. He is now standing at stud and has several litters on the way.