Norwegian Forest Cat breed guide

Independent and self-sufficient by history, Norwegian Forest Cats are not clingy but go looking for company if left alone too long. They may be lap cats, though the decision to get on or off the lap is always theirs.

Friendly and adaptable, they get along with other cats, dogs and children.

Moderately active with random bursts of energy, they entertain themselves by running, hiding and ambushing toys like prey. They stay near you and sometimes help with what you are doing until they remember something more important.

Noises range from a soft purr to bird-like chirps when excited. A fondness for high places calls for tall scratching posts or cat trees or the kitchen cabinet may become a favorite spot.

The impressive double coat needs less maintenance than it suggests: regular combing with a stainless-steel comb handles tangles and the coat tangles less than other long-haired breeds, which helped the cats survive in the wild. Spring needs more attention as the winter coat gives way to a lighter one and some textures mat more easily.

The water-repellent coat takes a long time to get wet and longer to dry.

The breed nearly vanished as a distinct breed through interbreeding with shorthair strays, until the first breed club formed in Norway in the mid-1970s. Members began a program built on selected non-pedigreed cats certified by a panel of judges.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and glycogen storage disease have occurred in the breed and breeders now routinely test for them and work to remove carriers from the gene pool.

CFA says the breed is thought to have emerged from the forest some 4,000 years ago and moved into life as a farm cat and rodent-control specialist. Norse mythology made it the favorite of Freya, whose chariot two gigantic Skogkatts drew and Viking ships may have carried Forest Cats to North America in the late 900s.

The first breeding pair reached the United States in 1979 and the breed achieved CFA championship status in 1993.