Highlander Cat Breed Description

Active: The Highlander cat is a highly energetic, playful, affectionate cat. They will keep you entertained all day long and play with you as long as you want but they are also wonderful, sweet companions. Because of their need for activity and play they make a great family pet.

Size: Highlander cats are generally large cats, ranging in size from 12 - 22 pounds.

Characteristics: The Highlander cat is a big, powerful, muscular cat. One of their most distinctive features are their ears. Their ears are wide and tall and the top 1/3 of their ears has a loose curl. Also, the ears sit as much on top of their head as they sit on the side of their head. These unique ears sit atop a long head, with a boxy muzzle and sloping forehead. Their medium to large eyes look like a stretched out oval and they use them to burrow their way right into your heart with their sweet gaze. Their large, muscular body is reminiscent of a wild cat. The Highlander has long hind legs that are flexible and it is those legs, coupled with large feet that may or may not be polydactyl that give them their agility and prowess for play. One other distinct characteristic of the Highlander cat is their short tail that is thick and may have kinks or curls that give each cat its own special look and ability to communicate its excitement and joy with each wag. The Highlander's thick, resilient coat can be spotted patterns, lynx points and solid points.

Temperament: While the Highlander is a big cat they are far from ferocious. They are an incredibly fun and affectionate breed of cat - the perfect companion and the best entertainment all rolled into one. They will purr their way right into your heart because they can be very affectionate and gentle. But, while they are sweet they are also very playful. They are the "jester" of the cat world, loving to entertain with their playful and silly antics. They love to use their powerful, muscular body to play chase and are more than happy to keep their human friends engaged and entertained with their latest zany games. They are a very social cat and will happily interact with new people, children and other animals. While they are quite social, they are actually a relatively quiet cat, choosing to communicate their fun personality and affection in other ways.

Care: Because of the Highlander's coat thickness, it is a relatively low maintenance breed of cat that is pretty easy to groom. If your Highlander has a long coat the coat will need to be routinely brushed. Ears should be cleaned once per week.

Coat: The Highlander's coat can be either long or short and it tends to be rather thick.

Origin: The Highlander cat breed does not have a long or extensive history and the breed is continuing to be developed today. While this type of cat has been around since the 1990's, a true effort to create a cat with the specific features that Highlander cats have, such as their "powerful big cat" look, began in 2004. TICA accepted the Highlander cat breed as a unique breed for registration in 2005 and the Highlander was then recognized in the Preliminary New Breed class in 2008 which meant that they could begin to compete. The history of the breed is a bit murky but we know that no wild cats were used for breeding, only domestic cats (Desert Lynx and Jungle Curl) with the specific features that Highlander breeders were hoping to achieve within the new breed such as a stocky build and large size.