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The 10 Most Beautiful Cat Breeds

Turkish Angora
Distinguished by a full neck ruff, silky coat, long full tail and tufted ears, the longhaired Turkish Angora is “elegant and graceful with a fascinating history,” says Miller.

The longhaired cats from both Persia and Armenia (Eastern Turkey) came to 16th century Europe. An illustration of the breed appeared in Buffon’s Histoure Naturell in 1756, looking much as it does today, and the breed came to the U.S. in the late 1700s. Initially, Persians and Angoras were bred together. In the 1900s, the Turkish government established a breeding program at the Ankara Zoo to preserve the pure white Angoras. Americans bought cats directly from the zoo in the 1960s, and the breed’s popularity grew in this country.

Russian Blue
That pale blue, silvertipped double coat, plush as a teddy bear’s, gives the Russian Blue its elegance and style, according to MIller. “This is a graceful cat with a slender body—fineboned but muscular,” she says.

Brilliant emerald green eyes accent the Russian Blue’s smooth, wedgeshaped head. Originally from northern Russia, the breed nearly became extinct in England after World War II. But in the late 1960s, American breeders imported cats from Scandinavia and began a 30year effort that succeeded in recapturing the Russian Blue’s original appearance. Now Blues possess an unmistakable beauty, enhanced by the breed’s intelligence and playfulness.


Persian
“This breed is the epitome of ethereal beauty,” says MIller. “A white Persian with brilliant, clear copper eyes, a sweet expression and a full, flowing coat, without a spot of yellowing is particularly magnificent.”

Prized in 1800s England for their stocky builds and long coats, Persians were pampered pets, refined over time by breeders to the breed we know today. Modern Persian cats have a defined shapely body with massive shoulders, heavy bone structure and short legs. A certain ‘fancy’ cat food brand stars a shimmery white Persian in its ads, but the CFA’s Best Cat of 2014 was a calico Persian.


Siamese
The most recognized feline beauty—even noncat people can spot a Siamese!—the highly vocal, satincoated Siamese is what Miller calls “the essence of balance and refinement.” With sleek, tubular builds, large pointy ears and a true triangular head, Siamese ‘color points’ were the cats of royalty in ancient Siam (now Thailand), working as palace guards.

In 1871 the earliest Seal Point Siamese appeared at England’s first National Crystal Palace Show, where a journalist commented on this “unnatural, nightmare kind of cat.” But the cat caused a sensation among show goers, accustomed to British Shorthairs.


Ocicat
Animal prints, anyone? This gentle spotted gem looks like a jungle cat but is, as Miller explains, “an example of a breed established through a hybrid mixture.”

The Ocicat came about as a surprise in 1964 when an individual bred a Siamese to an Abyssinian hoping for a ticked tabbypointed result. The kitten, Tonga, was born with a bold golden spotted pattern, and after 23 years and the addition of a few American Shorthairs to add silver colors, the fully developed Ocicat achieved CFA Championship status in 1987. A graceful, muscled athlete with an arched neck, the true Ocicat has dark thumbprint spots “scattered over a lighter color coat with the suggestion of a classic tabby, rather than ‘mackerel’, pattern,” Miller says.


Cornish Rex
With its “marcel waved” coat, and slender, leggy build, the Cornish Rex may resemble a ballet dancer—all straight posture and arches. But its fragile elegance masks a muscular body. “The Cornish Rex is considered to be the raciest beauty of all the cat breeds,” says Miller, “and it always seems to be in motion.”

Bombay
Like the Ocicat, the Bombay resembles a jungle cat, a breed that resulted from the vision of one individual in 1958 who wanted a cat that looked like a miniature black panther.


Maine Coon
Size, structure and that gorgeous fluffy coat of the Maine Coon never fail to “draw a gasping sound of awe from an audience at a show,” says Miller. ”The males are especially gorgeous, large cats—some over 20 pounds—with a rectangular body form and a huge full tail.”

Abyssinian
One of the oldest breeds, the stunning Abyssinian wears a silky, textured coat, huge expressive eyes and lovely coloring accented by ‘ticking,’ not stripes or tabby markings.

“The Ruddy Abyssinian is my favorite, with rich, orange brown color and black ticking, a combination that gives the coat an iridescent radiance unmatched in any other cat,” says Miller, who adds that Aby colors recognized by the CFA are rich shades of red, fawn and blue.


Birman
A silky cat with snowy mitts and mesmerizing blue eyes, the Birman wears a shimmering medium length coat that doesn’t mat. “A wonderful detail is that white gloving which also appears on the hind paws, extending in a Vshape up the back of the hock,” says Miller.