Chantilly-Tiffany Cat Breed Description

Active: Chantilly-Tiffany cats are a moderately active cat breed. They know how to have a perfect balance in life that combines both relaxation and rest with activity and play. They love to curl up in a lap and allow you to stroke their beautiful coat but they also love to play and be silly.

Size: Chantilly-Tiffany cats are medium in size, typically weighing between 6 - 10 pounds.

Characteristics: The Chantilly-Tiffany is known for its deliciously gorgeous, fluffy chocolate-brown coat. Chantilly-Tiffany cats are so plush and fluffy that you will not be able to resist constantly stroking its gorgeous fur. While they are somewhat known for their chocolate color, as the breeding program expanded additional colors were allowed including black, blue, cinnamon, fawn and lilac and includes patterns such as agouti/ticked, mackerel and other tabby patterns. Their thick coat covers their whole body and their tail has a full plume. Their head is a modified wedge shape that is broad and slightly curved. They have medium-sized noses, medium well-spaced ears, high cheekbones and angular oval eyes that are an intense gold color.

Temperament: Chantilly-Tiffany cats are a wonderfully sweet cat that makes a great companion. They are highly affectionate and are very people-oriented. They love to follow their humans around from room to room quietly chatting with them. While they love to be around their favorite people they do not warm up quickly to strangers. They are a very playful cat and enjoy interacting with toys, challenging puzzles and get along well with children and other pets.

Care: Because they do not have an undercoat, Chantilly-Tiffany cats are one of the easiest semi-longhaired cats to groom and care for. They hardly shed and are not prone to matting so once per week combing or brushing will keep their beautiful coat looking and feeling silky. Other than that they just need the same care all cats need - routine nail trimming and ear cleaning to keep them looking and feeling their best.

Coat: The coat of the Chantilly-Tiffany cat breed is dense and soft and is semi-long with no undercoat.

Origin: The history of the Chantilly-Tiffany cat breed begins in 1967 in New York. Breeder Jennie Robinson purchased Thomas and Shirley, two semi-foreign longhaired chocolate brown cats that were likely siblings but not litter mates. Soon after, Shirley gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens, all with the same beautiful long chocolate brown coat which came as a surprise. The cats were registered with the ACA (American Cat Association) as Sable Foreign Longhairs but the name was very general and did not seem to suit the breed. Over the next 7 years Thomas and Shirley produced 60 more kittens. While they have many similarities to Burmese cats, and many assumed they were related, they are in fact not related.

Some of the kittens were sold to breeder Sigyn Lund and Ms. Lund went on to officially name the breed Tiffany cats after the glamorous Tiffany Theater. But, this led to some confusion because there was a breed in the United Kingdom named Tiffanie cats that had already been registered. Ms. Lund did not have much luck getting recognition and acceptance for the new breed and after she stopped showing the cats they became more and more rare and were commonly referred to as Burmese cats in spite of know genetic connection. In the 1970s, Canadian breeders were actively growing the breed and widening the gene pool and more variations were allowed into the breeding program. To avoid any confusion with the Tiffanie cat breed in England, Canadian breeders gave the breed the name Chantilly. While some still refer to the breed as Tiffany cats, many either call them Chantilly cats or Chantilly-Tiffany cats.