1930s-Dr. Clyde E. Keeler and Virginia Cobb produced the first Himalayan--Newtons Debutante.

1940s-1950s-Breeders such as Marguerita Goforth promoted the Himalayan breed.

1957-CFA recognized the Himalayan breed.

1964-CFA incorporated CPCs into the Persian breed standard.

The CFA Show Standard calls for a round head, short nose with break, large round blue eyes, small ears set far apart and a heavy boned, cobby body.

What is a Himalayan? A HIMALAYAN is a blue eyed Persian cat with Siamese color points.

How did Himalayans evolve? In 1930 Dr. Clyde Keeler of Harvard Medical School teamed with Virginia Cobb of Newton Cattery to merge the two most popular breeds of cats-Persian and Siamese. Their first generation offspring produced color point carriers, solid-colored Persians carrying the color point gene. First they bred a Siamese female to a black Persian male, producing Bozo, a black male kitten with a wavy coat. Next they bred a Siamese male to a black Persian female and got a black female named Bitzie. They then crossed Bozo and Bitzie, which resulted in a long-haired black female Babbit. Babbit was then bred to Bozo and that cross introduced the first HIMALAYAN, Newtons Debutante.

Why the name Himalayan? The name HIMALAYAN was selected for the new breed because the color evolution of the Himalayan cat coincided with the color pattern found on rabbits and goats living in the Himalayan Mountains in Asia. In other words, they have light bodies and dark extremities, although they are born with almost white coats and develop their color points over several weeks. The darker colored ears, nose, paws and tail is attributed to the cooler body temperature in their extremities.

The breed increases in popularity! Breeders such as Marguerita Goforth of San Diego, CA, Brian Sterling-Webb in England, the Borretts of Chestermere Cattery in Canada and Boris Teron and Larry Keely of Nevah-Tep Cattery worked diligently to promote the new breed. In fact, Chestermere Kinuba of Nevah-Tep, blue point male, was the first Himalayans to earn Grand Champion status in four cat associations. He granded in CFA in 1966.

CFA recognizes Himalayan cats. The Himalayan was recognized by the Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc. (CFA) for breed status in 1957. The colors included seal, blue, chocolate and lilac points. Since that date, CFA has added flame, tortie, blue-cream, cream, lynx with its several variations and OPCC (Other Pointed Colors Class). In 1964 CFA also incorporated the solid colored Himalayans into the Persian Division and called them Color Point Persians (CPC) and accepted Color Point Carriers (Hybrids) in the show ring.

What's not to love? Impressed by the heritage and tradition of the Himalayan breed, we fell in love with the look which included the stocky heavily boned body, tiny ears, big round blue eyes, and long flowing coat of the Persian mixed with the point color of the Siamese and set out to breed Himalayans.

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