When I tell that I have pedigree cats, I often get the question if it’s Persian cats I have, and if there are lots of work with their fur. I’m breeding Abyssinians, and the work with their fur, is not that worky. Indeed, I have a Persian too, but he’s only for company.

Popularity
Which breeds are the most popular, goes up and down.  The Persians have been very popular in many decades, and have become a synonym for a real pedigree cat. During the latest years, people have found out that there are many other breeds too, and at the moment, there are other breeds which  became much more popular than the Persian cat.

Why the Persian have lost their popularity, can be discussed:

• Have people got enough of them?
• Do we want something else than our “neighbour”?
• Don’t we have so much time for maintaining their fur?
• Inheritable diseases such as PKD, which have scared away buyers?
• Or is it their peked, flat faces which we do not like?

There can be many causes for that the curve of popularity have fallen, and the question is if we have to do something to make the Persian more popular, or wait till it get it’s renaissance?

A “new” breed.
When I was looking for information about the Persian & the Exotic on the net, I came over several sites made by people who are working for return of the Traditional Persian. Their argument is that it’s not the standard which has been changed, but the interpretation of the standard by the judges and the breeders. It seems like they have accepted that the peke-nosed Persian have come to stay, and if the Persian with nose and muzzle are coming back to the shows, it has to be accepted as an own breed.

Dollface
There are many Persian breeders out there, which have insisted on keeping the Persians with the traditional look. During the last years, more and more breeders have gone back to breed on the old type.
The Persian with nose have been in danger for being wiped out, so for strengthening the old breed, some breeders have used peke-nosed Persians in their work with the dollface as a target.

The future of the Persians
Even though there are many years since the modern Persian squeezed out the Doll face Persian from the shows, you can still find photos of the Doll Faces in books, calendars and other printed materials. When ordinary people hear the word Persian, they connect it with the Doll faced Persian. Many have a dream to have a Persian cat, but when they can’t find a cat which looks like the one in the cat book, they will instead go for a breed which looks like the one they are dreaming about.

If the Doll Faced Persians are going to be an own accepted breed, the editors of the catbooks must take in photos of the modern Persian too in their books.