Somali breed guide

Active, curious and bold, Somalis are happiest in interactive play with another pet or a human, though plenty of toys keep them amused for hours. Their well-balanced temperament has a sweet side: head butts, kneading and sometimes rearranging your hairstyle.

They follow their people from room to room, often matching moods, purring and kneading at your feet while you work and exploding with energy when you get active.

A closed cupboard door is a challenge and Somalis are bright enough to learn to unlatch it. They tend to be fascinated with water and may turn on a faucet to watch it drip.

They communicate well with humans but not always vocally, since body language makes it clear when they want attention, play or food.

Despite the longer coat, grooming is not a challenge because the coat resists tangles and matting. Weekly combing removes dead hair and controls shedding.

Bathing is for show cats, with one exception: an oily coat that clumps at the base of the tail and up the spine would benefit from a bath.

Genetic testing lets Somali breeders remove carriers of inherited diseases that once caused anemia and blindness, as it does for Abyssinian breeders. Other heritable issues cannot be screened by genetic testing, so CFA suggests asking about renal amyloidosis in the lines.

Nobody documented how the recessive longhair gene entered the Abyssinian gene pool, though barely a dozen Abyssinians may have survived World War II and litters of that period often included cats of unknown parentage. Breeders placed longhair kittens as pets and many would not admit producing them, until a stubborn few began working with them.

In the mid-1960s Evelyn Mague produced George, one of the first documented longhair Abyssinians and named the developing breed Somali after Somalia, which borders Abyssinia. CFA began registering Somalis in 1976 and gave them championship status in 1979.