Solid
- Black, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Red, Cream, Black tortie, Blue tortie, Chocolate tortie, Lilac tortie, White
26 breeders are on record here.
Medium to large, cobby cat with distinctive flat face, long luxurious coat, and calm demeanor. One of the oldest and most popular breeds.
One of the oldest known breeds, originating in Persia (Iran). Popular with royalty since 1600s when brought to Europe. Modern flat-faced type developed primarily in the 20th century.
Generally described as affectionate, loyal, sedate, quiet, sweet, gentle and calm.
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.
The Persian gave rise to the Exotic Shorthair, a short-coated version bred from Persian lines, so the two share almost identical body structures, temperaments, and health profiles, including the same flat-faced (brachycephalic) breathing concerns and polycystic kidney disease. The fundamental difference is fur texture and grooming; the health risks below apply to both.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: The Cat API; UC Davis VGL — Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD1); FIFe breed standard. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
The Persian standard is published by the FIFe (Fédération Internationale Féline), the international federation of pedigree-cat clubs, and it is what show judges apply. This section sums up what it says about coat and colour. It does not assess any one animal: use it to know what to ask the breeder.
Long and dense, fine and silky texture (not woolly).
A full frill covers the shoulders and the chest.
Shortened from FIFe standard PER — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source. FIFe lists this standard’s last modification as 2024. Text read on 31 Aug 2026.
A tick means FIFe recognises that colour in at least one variety with that pattern. It does not mean every combination is recognised.
| Colour | Solid | Tabby | Smoke | Silver | Golden | Pointed | With white |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Red | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cream | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Black tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| White | Accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted |
Read from the table at the end of the FIFe standard. Smoke, silver, golden and corin are FIFe’s own names; the exact EMS codes and the eye colours are in the standard.
The colour varieties FIFe recognises for this breed are listed, with their EMS codes, in the table at the end of its standard. FIFe describes each colour group in the General Part of its standards.
The colours and patterns the standard admits, and what it prefers, discourages or disqualifies in each. An accepted colour says nothing about health. Quotations from the FIFe are in English, as the standard publishes them; the headings are ours.
Known hereditary risks for the Persian 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.
4 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Documented in this breed, but no source says how many of its dogs carry or have them. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign they are rare.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Persian in general; any individual animal can differ.
In the flattest-faced show lines, narrowed nostrils, a long soft palate and cramped nasal passages restrict airflow, causing noisy breathing, exercise intolerance and recurrent respiratory infections; tear-duct malformation causing constant eye discharge is a related consequence of the same skull shape. Severity tracks directly with how extreme the face is — traditional 'doll-face' Persians are far less affected than modern extreme show type.
What to ask for
No DNA test — this is a conformational, not a single-gene, condition. Ask to see and hear both parents in person or on video, breathing at rest and after mild exertion; for a very flat-faced line, a vet's functional airway assessment is the relevant document.
In the flattest-faced show lines, narrowed nostrils, a long soft palate and cramped nasal passages restrict airflow, causing noisy breathing, exercise intolerance and recurrent respiratory infections; tear-duct malformation causing constant eye discharge is a related consequence of the same skull shape. Severity tracks directly with how extreme the face is — traditional 'doll-face' Persians are far less affected than modern extreme show type.
What to ask for
No DNA test — this is a conformational, not a single-gene, condition. Ask to see and hear both parents in person or on video, breathing at rest and after mild exertion; for a very flat-faced line, a vet's functional airway assessment is the relevant document.
Found in roughly one in a hundred to one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened.
A recessive mutation in AIPL1 causes a very early blindness: the first signs, weak pupil reactions to light, appear at two to three weeks old, and the retina is almost completely destroyed by 16 weeks. A screen of samples sent for other tests found 22 carriers among 707 Persians, about one in thirty-two.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PRA-pd DNA test on both parents.
A dominant mutation causes fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys that enlarge with age and can cause renal failure, often not obvious until middle age. This is the original and most prevalent PKD finding in cats, historically affecting an estimated third or more of Persians worldwide before widespread testing. Testing has brought it down: in a Japanese screen of kittens born in 2019–2022, 159 of 3,596 Persians carried it, about one in twenty-three, falling from about one in fifteen to about one in twenty-four over those years, and a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in none of 118 Persians.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PKD1 DNA test on both parents.
A recessive mutation in AIPL1 causes a very early blindness: the first signs, weak pupil reactions to light, appear at two to three weeks old, and the retina is almost completely destroyed by 16 weeks. A screen of samples sent for other tests found 22 carriers among 707 Persians, about one in thirty-two.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PRA-pd DNA test on both parents.
Described in this breed, but found in few or no dogs in recent screening, or only ever in one dog or one family. They are here so a test result makes sense if a breeder mentions one.
An inherited disorder of the storage granules inside cells. Affected kittens have a paler, washed-out coat (a black smoke cat looks blue smoke) and pale yellow-green eyes, are sensitive to bright light, and develop cataracts early: four of five affected cats examined had them by three months old. They also bleed for longer than normal, so surgery or an injury carries a bleeding risk; in one study a small standard cut inside the mouth bled for about 14 minutes in affected cats against about 2 in normal cats. Unlike the human disease, no extra susceptibility to infection was seen. It is recessive, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. It has only ever been described in a single line of Persian cats (three affected among 27 cats, reported in 1977), which was then kept as a research colony; the mutation, a duplication in the LYST gene, was identified in 2020 from that colony's cells. No screen of today's Persians has looked for it.
What to ask for
Chediak-Higashi syndrome (LYST duplication) DNA test result, on both parents, where a laboratory offers it
An inherited disorder of the storage granules inside cells. Affected kittens have a paler, washed-out coat (a black smoke cat looks blue smoke) and pale yellow-green eyes, are sensitive to bright light, and develop cataracts early: four of five affected cats examined had them by three months old. They also bleed for longer than normal, so surgery or an injury carries a bleeding risk; in one study a small standard cut inside the mouth bled for about 14 minutes in affected cats against about 2 in normal cats. Unlike the human disease, no extra susceptibility to infection was seen. It is recessive, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. It has only ever been described in a single line of Persian cats (three affected among 27 cats, reported in 1977), which was then kept as a research colony; the mutation, a duplication in the LYST gene, was identified in 2020 from that colony's cells. No screen of today's Persians has looked for it.
What to ask for
Chediak-Higashi syndrome (LYST duplication) DNA test result, on both parents, where a laboratory offers it
Median age at death 12.5 years
Middle half of deaths between 6.1 and 15.4 years, from 80 recorded deaths. 12.5% of them were before age two.
Computed from United Kingdom veterinary records covering 7,936 deaths. This is an age at death, not a life expectancy: half the cats of this breed in the records died younger.
Dataset: O'Neill, D. & Teng, K.T. (2024), Figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25006802, CC BY 4.0. Teng, K.T., Brodbelt, D.C., Church, D.B. & O'Neill, D.G. (2024) Life tables of annual life expectancy and risk factors for mortality in cats in the United Kingdom. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 26(5).
A dominant mutation causes fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys that enlarge with age and can cause renal failure, often not obvious until middle age. This is the original and most prevalent PKD finding in cats, historically affecting an estimated third or more of Persians worldwide before widespread testing. Testing has brought it down: in a Japanese screen of kittens born in 2019–2022, 159 of 3,596 Persians carried it, about one in twenty-three, falling from about one in fifteen to about one in twenty-four over those years, and a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in none of 118 Persians.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PKD1 DNA test on both parents.