Solid
- Black, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Cinnamon, Fawn, Red, Cream, Black tortie, Blue tortie, Chocolate tortie, Lilac tortie, Cinnamon tortie, Fawn tortie, White
69 breeders are on record here.
Large, round, cobby cat with dense plush coat and characteristic chubby cheeks. Known for its calm, easy-going temperament and teddy bear appearance.
One of the oldest English cat breeds, descended from cats brought by Romans. Nearly extinct after WWII but rebuilt using Persian crosses. The British Blue is the most famous color variety.
Generally described as affectionate, easy going, gentle, loyal, patient, calm e independent.
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, not opinion: FIFe breed standard; The Cat API; Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, via PubMed. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
The British Shorthair 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.
Short, dense, not lying flat and with a good undercoat.
Texture should be crisp to touch.
Shortened from FIFe standard BSH — 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 01.07.2026. Text read on 31 ago 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 | Corin | Pointed | With white |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cinnamon | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Fawn | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Red | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cream | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Not accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Black tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cinnamon tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Fawn tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| White | Accepted | Not 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 golden varieties for the British Longhair and Shorthair are fully recognised only for black and blue. FIFe has recognised golden shaded/shell and golden tabby in chocolate, lilac, red, cream, the tortie colours, cinnamon and fawn, and van, harlequin and bicolour golden tabby, provisionally since 01.10.2025. They are not in the grid above.
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 British Shorthair 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)Found in more than about one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened, or described as common in the sources.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the British Shorthair in general; any individual animal can differ.
British Shorthair is named by UC Davis VGL as one of the breeds with a high frequency of the blood type B allele. A type B queen mated to a type A or AB tom risks producing kittens that develop neonatal isoerythrolysis (a fatal or life-threatening haemolytic reaction) after nursing colostrum containing anti-A antibodies. A 2022 screen found type B blood in 20.3% of 395 British Shorthair-type cats, about one in five, and a 1999 UK study found it in 58.7% of 121 British Shorthairs.
What to ask for
AB blood typing test (UC Davis VGL and other labs). Both breeding partners should be blood-typed before pairing so an at-risk mating can be avoided or managed (e.g. foster-nursing kittens for the first 24-48 hours).
British Shorthair is named by UC Davis VGL as one of the breeds with a high frequency of the blood type B allele. A type B queen mated to a type A or AB tom risks producing kittens that develop neonatal isoerythrolysis (a fatal or life-threatening haemolytic reaction) after nursing colostrum containing anti-A antibodies. A 2022 screen found type B blood in 20.3% of 395 British Shorthair-type cats, about one in five, and a 1999 UK study found it in 58.7% of 121 British Shorthairs.
What to ask for
AB blood typing test (UC Davis VGL and other labs). Both breeding partners should be blood-typed before pairing so an at-risk mating can be avoided or managed (e.g. foster-nursing kittens for the first 24-48 hours).
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.
A peer-reviewed cohort study screening 329 British Shorthairs presented for routine HCM screening in Denmark found a clinically significant prevalence of the disease in the breed, independent of the two known commercial feline HCM mutations. No breed-specific causal mutation has been identified in British Shorthair.
What to ask for
No DNA test exists for British Shorthair HCM. The two commercial feline HCM DNA tests (MYBPC3 A31P, validated for Maine Coon; MYBPC3 R820W, validated for Ragdoll/Ragamuffin) are breed-specific and are not validated in British Shorthair. Screening is by echocardiogram performed by a cardiologist, repeated periodically through breeding life.
A peer-reviewed cohort study screening 329 British Shorthairs presented for routine HCM screening in Denmark found a clinically significant prevalence of the disease in the breed, independent of the two known commercial feline HCM mutations. No breed-specific causal mutation has been identified in British Shorthair.
What to ask for
No DNA test exists for British Shorthair HCM. The two commercial feline HCM DNA tests (MYBPC3 A31P, validated for Maine Coon; MYBPC3 R820W, validated for Ragdoll/Ragamuffin) are breed-specific and are not validated in British Shorthair. Screening is by echocardiogram performed by a cardiologist, repeated periodically through breeding life.
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 immune disease of young kittens. From about six weeks old, affected kittens develop rapidly enlarging lymph nodes throughout the body, an enlarged spleen and anaemia, and kittens in several litters died of it. It is recessive, caused by a FASLG mutation, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. It was discovered in closely related, inbred British Shorthair kittens, and the only population figures that find it come from New Zealand: in three catteries there, 8 of 32 cats tested carried it (one affected kitten with two copies and seven carriers), including two catteries that had never had a case. A 2022 international screen of over 11,000 cats found none of 390 British cats carrying it (347 shorthairs and 43 longhairs), so it appears to be confined to particular lines rather than spread through the breed.
What to ask for
Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (FASLG, British Shorthair type) DNA test result, on both parents
An inherited immune disease of young kittens. From about six weeks old, affected kittens develop rapidly enlarging lymph nodes throughout the body, an enlarged spleen and anaemia, and kittens in several litters died of it. It is recessive, caused by a FASLG mutation, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. It was discovered in closely related, inbred British Shorthair kittens, and the only population figures that find it come from New Zealand: in three catteries there, 8 of 32 cats tested carried it (one affected kitten with two copies and seven carriers), including two catteries that had never had a case. A 2022 international screen of over 11,000 cats found none of 390 British cats carrying it (347 shorthairs and 43 longhairs), so it appears to be confined to particular lines rather than spread through the breed.
What to ask for
Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (FASLG, British Shorthair type) DNA test result, on both parents
Median age at death 10,9 years
Middle half of deaths between 2,9 and 14,7 years, from 194 recorded deaths. 18,6% of them were before age two.
Read this with care. Well above the 7,5% seen in non-pedigree cats, which pulls the median down. That can mean higher mortality in young cats, or simply that the breed has become popular recently so most of its cats are still young — these records cannot tell the two apart.
Computed from United Kingdom veterinary records covering 7936 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).