HISTORY OF THE NORWEGIAN FOREST CAT

The Norwegian Forest Cat (NFO) is a natural breed, its origins have not been established accurately but one thing is true, is a creation of the Mother Nature. The NFO has been with us among centuries, like a small and beautiful version of the lynx, being part of the Norway's fauna. There are many stories in the Norwegian folklore about the NFO, these cats were the pets of the Vikings and they were used to keep their boats clean from rats during their long trips.

Norway is a land of rough mountains, calm lakes and wild forests. Winters are long, rough and dark. The summers are fresh and brief. From this hard and difficult land emerge the Norse Skogkatt that literally means the Norwegian cat of the forest.

Pan's Truls, the first standard of the NFO was based on this cat.

The original cats with all the unique characteristics to the breed existed 500 years ago, although some say that the antiquity of the breed could go back to 1,200 years. There are many references in Nordic mythology that only can describe the Skogkatt. These myths were developed by the folklore and the songs of the great feats that were counted around centuries 7, 8 and 9. This cat had long and robust legs, was intelligent and brave, equipped with a double semi-long coat; the superior layer was shining and impermeable and the inner layer was smooth and cottony. This system of layers maintained it warm even when temperatures go below zero. Their hooves were great and hairy with strong claws that used to fish and to climb trees. The NFO as we know it today has been developed by natural selection, because only the most resistant cats with the impermeable layer more thickness, the longest legs, etc. could survive in the rough climate of Norway.

According to the scientists it seems that the origin of the cats of long hair is in Turkey, Iran and the south of Russia; old Persia. Formerly this zone was the unique one with cats of long hair; it is probable that the ancestors of the Skogkatt are these cats brought in century IX by the vikings when returning to Scandinavia to maintain their boats free of rats and noxious animals during the trip. Once they would be mixed there with cats of short hair and at some moment of these matings the semi long hair became permanent. The relation between the Maine Coon, the Siberian, the Turkish Angora and the Norwegian can be a case of parallel evolution under similar conditions of life but it does not discard that they may have the same origin.

The forest cat has been since then with us, generally living outdoors looking for shelter wherever they could find it and having good relationships with the humans. At winter times of food shortage, they knew how to be worth cleaning the houses and farms, which caused great integration with the humans.

Already in the XXth century, this magnificent cat had become a peculiarity and ran the risk of being extinguished due to the crossings with domestic cats. In the middle of the 30´s Norwegians began to formulate plans to assure the future of the Skogkatt and some of them even appear in feline exhibitions, is towards 1938 when the NFO began to be considering like a breed. With the arrival of 2ª World War all the activities and events were suppressed temporarily and the NFO returned to be forgotten. It was not until 1970 when the Norwegians realized of the risk of losing one of his national treasures and initiated a special program of breed to protect the NFO. After a hard work in Norway, the Norwegian Forest Cat finally was recognized by FIFe like a breed in 1976 and accepted pedigree in the feline competitions.
In the beginning, due to the natural character of this breed and to assure a good genetic pool, the introduction of wild cats in the breed was allowed but in 1990 this practice was forbidden.

At the moment Norwegian Forest Cats are living in wild state in the Scandinavian Peninsula.....and in the Abantos mount.