No breeder is on record here yet. Portugal’s FIFe member club does not list this breed in its breeder directory at all, so an absence here says nothing about whether anyone breeds it in Portugal.
Medium to large muscular cat with curled ears and often a bobbed tail. Unique wild appearance with gentle personality.
Developed starting in 2004 by crossing Desert Lynx and Jungle Curl cats. Originally called Highland Lynx. TICA recognized breed with distinctive curled ears and often bobtail.
Typically 4.5-9.1 kg and 30-41 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.
Generally described as affectionate, gentle, social, playful, confident and loving.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. The Cat API; UC Davis VGL — PRA rdAc (Abyssinian), breed list includes Highlander. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
TICA lists the Highlander in these divisions. They are the registry's own groupings — usually hair length — not a list of colours: no registry we hold publishes one. Ask a breeder what colours their line produces.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Highlander in general; any individual animal can differ.
Known hereditary risks for the Highlander breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
3 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)A recessive CEP290 mutation causes late-onset, progressive blindness, usually starting around seven months of age and reaching blindness by three to five years. First characterised in the Abyssinian and Somali; UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory's test page states the variant has also been detected directly in the Highlander.
What to ask for
PRA-rdAc (CEP290) DNA test on both parents
A separate, Bengal-derived recessive mutation causes photoreceptor loss from around seven weeks of age, leading to substantially compromised vision by about two years old. UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory lists Highlander directly among the breeds this test applies to, alongside Bengal, Savannah and Toyger.
What to ask for
PRA-b (Bengal-type progressive retinal atrophy) DNA test on both parents
A specific mutation in the cardiac gene MYBPC3 (R820W), first identified in the Ragdoll, thickens the heart muscle; cats with two copies are at high risk of severe disease and early cardiac death, usually between one and two years old. UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory states this variant has also been detected in the Highlander (as well as the American Bobtail Longhair and Munchkin).
What to ask for
Ragdoll-type HCM (MYBPC3 R820W) DNA test on both parents
This is where Highlander owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
No Highlander breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.
