It will take a lively interest in its surroundings and is intelligent, active and agile. Being very sweet natured and affectionate, it makes an ideal family pet. However, as it is one of the more recent breeds on the cat scene it is relatively rare.
Grooming
Virtually no grooming is necessary. A gentle brushing with a soft brush once or twice a week will remove loose hairs. Plenty of hand stroking will help to keep the coat in good condition. It is essential to shampoo. This can be done just before a show; the hair springs quickly back into place.
Origin and history
The American Wirehair is a natural mutation that occurred in an otherwise normal Domestic Shorthair litter. The first to be recorded was at Verona, New York, in 1966, although it has also been recorded that kittens with identical coats were seen on London bomb sites after the Second World War. This strain now seems to have died out and may therefore have been sterile. Kittens from the American matings have now been exported to Canada and Germany.
Breeding
Wirehairs mated to normal-coated shorthaired cats will produce 50 percent wirehaired kittens. The gene is not linked to colour and all coat patterns are possible.
Kittens
Wirehair kittens are born with tight curly coats. They are healthy, playful and robust. An average litter contains four or five kittens.
SHOW SUMMARY
The overall impression of the American Wirehair is of a medium-sized cat, rounded and woolly rather like a lamb.
Coat. The distinctive feature of this cat is its unique coat, which is of medium length and tightly curled. All the hairs are crimped, even in the ears, and hooked at their ends. In some places, particularly on the head, the hair forms into ringlets rather than waves. The whiskers are crimped or wavy and untidy. The unique coat is formed by a change in the structure of the guard hairs (those of the top coat), which are normally smooth and tapering but have become crimped along the shaft, hooked at their ends and thinner than normal guard hairs. This gives rise to a woolly coat, which is thick, coarse, resilient and springy to the touch. The hair on the chin, chest and stomach is slightly less coarse.
Body. Medium to large. well-muscled, with shoulders the same width as haunches.
Back level. Legs medium long; paws oval and compact.
Tail. Moderately full, tapering to a rounded tip.
Head. Round, with prominent cheekbones, well-developed muzzle and chin and a slight whisker break. Nose is concave in profile. Ears medium in size, set wide apart with rounded tips.
Eyes. Large, round, bright and clear, set well apart, at an angle.
AMERICAN WIREHAIR COLOURS
All colours and coat patterns are permissible and possible, and include solid white, black, blue, red and cream; chinchilla, shaded silver, shell cameo, cameo tabby, shaded cameo, black smoke, blue smoke, cameo smoke; tortoiseshell, calico, dilute calico, blue-cream; bicolour; classic and mackerel tabby patterns in silver, brown, red, blue and cream; and any other colour or pattern, or combination of colours and patterns with white, with the exception of the Himalayan pattern or chocolate and lilac (lavender). Eye colour appropriate to coat.
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