The Kuril Islands are a disputed territory between Russia and Japan. They were Japanese until the end of World War II and were annexed by Russia after the Treaty of Yalta. It was precisely on these islands that the origins of the Kurilian Bobtail cat, a virtually unknown short-tailed cat descended from the Japanese Bobtail and the Siberian cat.
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Origin of the Kurilian Bobtail
The Kurilian Bobtail is a feline breed whose territorial origins are a matter of dispute between Russians and Japanese. What is the reason? These cats come from the Kuril archipelago, more than fifty islands floating on the border between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Situated between the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, these 56 islands were under Japanese sovereignty from 1875 until the end of World War II. The Treaty of Saint Petersburg certified that Japan ceded its rights to Sakhalin Island in exchange for the Kuril Islands, but in 1945 Russia acquired this archipelago in the peace agreements (Treaty of Yalta) and set the border right there with the island of Hokkaido. For this reason, Japan maintains an open claim to four of the Kuril Islands closest to its territory.
What is a Kurilian Bobtail cat like?
Controversies aside, it seems that this is where the Kurilian Bobtail naturally emerged, the cat whose short (less than 12 centimeters) pompom-shaped tail is made up of between 2 and 10 vertebrae.
From the Kuril Islands, the cats moved to the island of Sakhalin, and from there they arrived in Russia in the mid-20th century at the hands of scientists, who were able to verify that from a genetic point of view, the Kurilian Bobtail descends from the Japanese Bobtail cat and from crossing with other congeners of Siberian origin, which explains why the presence of these cats has been recorded in the chronicles since at least the 18th century.
During all this time, the Kuril cats gradually lost their wild character to become domestic animals, although they have retained their qualities as good fish hunters and their ability to withstand the low temperatures common in their habitat without problems.
How tall and how much does a Kurilian Bobtail weigh?
The Kurilian Bobtail remains a virtual unknown outside Russia two hundred years later. In the United States, it is estimated that there are fewer than a hundred specimens of this medium-sized feline breed (males can reach 35 centimetres in height and weigh up to 7 kilos) whose two variants are differentiated by the length of their fur.
Character and how to care for a Kurilian Bobtail cat
The Kurilian Bobtail is a cat with soft, silky fur and, like all other felines, is active, intelligent, affectionate, and playful. Being an island animal, it is not afraid of contact with water.
They require little veterinary care, except to consider that their diet must be rich in animal proteins since their DNA still retains a good part of their ancestral wildness. Brushing is also important to prevent hairballs from obstructing intestinal transit.