Siberian breed, while still rather new, has already attracted a lot of attention worldwide. It represents a cat that is able to adapt to and live in tough Siberian climate.

Siberian cats have semi-long hair, glossy waterproof fur, stiff base hair and and a thick undercoat. Their fur is seasonal: typically in winter they wear a marvelous coat with a bushy mane, tail and knickerboxers. Some Siberians have tufts of hair on tips of their ears, just like lynxes.

Head is broad, with a softly rounded forehead, massive, well developed cheekbones, slightly slanting back chin, in profile creating a curve from the upper line of the nose.

Eyes are large, slightly oval shaped, a bit oblique, set widely apart. Any colour is permitted. There is no relationship between eye- and coat colour. Clear eye colour is desirable. For Neva Masquerade the color is blue, the more intensive the better.

Ears are medium size, well open at the base, tips are rounded. Placed with good width between, tilting slightly forward.

Body is well boned and muscled, powerful neck, broad chest, body in proportion to create a rectangular appearance.

Generally speaking, character is rather used to explain a set of behavioral patters of a human rather than a cat. Behaviors of a cat are defined by instincts. When choosing a kitten one should rather use the “characters” or instincts of its parents for guidance. A newborn kitten will subconsiously perceive the world and react to it as genetically programmed.

Many are mislead by the thought of being able to bring up a kitten and educate it in a certain way. This also drives the willingness to adopt a kitten as early as possible. Behavior of a cat can be slightly corrected, but its character and instincts cannot be changed!

There is little connection between age and character: a cat can grow up in bad conditions and therefore pick up some asocial traits. A one-year-old cat can be extremely loving and kind, while a two-month kitten can be wild and contact-averse.

Each breed has its share of easilly scared, contact-averse, even aggressive animals. It is the responsibility of a breeder to shape the character of the breed by picking producers with desired qualities. Exterior still plays the main role in breeding, however standards allow for disqualification of animals displaying aggression.

As explained above, there is a wide variety of characters among Siberian cats. To generalize, a Siberian cat is human-oriented, but not in a clingy obsessive way; curious, thoughtful, sympathetic, open for contact. Should such an animal live with you for a long time, it will definitely adopt your habits and become a crucial part of your day-to-day life.

Nowadays one can find many quotes online, describing a Siberian cat as a large animal with females weighing around 6kg, males - up to 12kg. Could this really be true?

According to the FIFE system, Siberian cats are medium to large, females mostly smaller than males. Well boned and muscled, powerful neck, broad chest, body in proportion to create a rectangular appearance.

An interesting observation: weight of a Siberian cat is not explicitly mentioned in the standard. Weight is based on multiple factors: body (short or long), body shape (Siberians have a rectangular shape), bones and, quite importantly, appetite of an animal.

Show judges do not make decisions based on size and weight. Smaller and lighter cat can win over a large giant, should it better represent the standard, or plainly speaking, looks harmonious. A 12kg overweight animal will never win over a 5kg cat satisfying certain requirements of this breed.

Average weight is measured and recorded at specialized (monobreed) shows. Statistics show that reaching 12 kg is very rare among Siberians, similarly like crossing 10-11kg is rare for Maine Coons.

There is a wide color palette of Siberian cats. We differentiate two main color types: achromatic (color point or so-called Neva Masquerade) and traditional.

According to WCF and FIFE standarts, such colors as chocolate, lilac, cinnamon and fawn are not permitted in any combinations in either traditional or Neva Masquerade color variety. All other color varieties are permitted, any amount if white is allowed.

Cattery Viva la Vita*RU specializes on breeding golden cats: “cats, carrying the the sun energy”.