SOMALI
Standard of Excellence
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
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The overall impression of the ideal Somali would be a colourful cat with a distinctly ticked coat, medium in size and regal in appearance. The Somali is lithe hard and muscular, showing eager activity, and a lively interest in all surroundings, well balanced temperamentally and physically, with all elements of the cat in proportion.
| Head
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A modified, slightly rounded wedge without flat planes; brow, cheek and profile
lines all showing a gentle contour. A slight rise from the bridge of the nose to
the forehead, which should be of good size, with width between the ears and
flowing into the arched neck without a break.
| | Muzzle
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A firm chin not sharply pointed or square, should be neither receding nor
protruding. Allowance should be made for jowls in adult males.
| | Ears
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Alert, comparatively large and moderately pointed, broad and cupped at the
base and set wide apart. Hair on the ears, short and close lying and preferably
tufted.
| | Eyes
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Almond shaped (neither round nor oriental), large brilliant and expressive.
Eyes accentuated by dark lid skin, encircled by light-coloured area.
Colour - Amber, Hazel or Green.
| | Body
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Medium long, lithe and graceful, but showing well developed muscular strength
without coarseness. Somali conformation strikes a medium between the
extremes of the cobby and the svelte, lengthy type. Proportion and general
balance more to be desired than mere size.
| | Legs & Feet
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Proportionately slim, medium-fine boned. The Somali stands well off the
ground, giving the impression of being on tiptoe. Paws small, oval and
compact.
| | Tail
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A full brush, broad at the base, fairly long and tapering, and well furnished.
| | Coat
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The texture is very soft to the touch, extremely fine and double coated with at
least two or three bands of ticking on each hair. The coat is of medium
length, except over the shoulders, where a shorter length is permitted.
Preference is given to those cats with well developed ruff and breeches giving
a full coated appearance to the cat. The Somali is extremely slow to show
mature ticking, and allowance should be made for kittens and young cats
under 2 years of age. It should be noted that ticking is not so apparent in
Somali length coats in comparison with ticking in Abyssinians.
The underside of the body, chest and innersides of the legs uniformly coloured with the ground colour, harmonizing with the upper parts of the body, without any ticking, bars, necklaces or markings on stomach or belly. Darker shading along the spine line. White or off-white only above the lips, beside the nostrils and down the chin permitted as long as it does not extend to the chest. The tips of the ears are in the same colour as the ticking. The back of the hind feet is dark, hairtufts between the toes are in the same colour as the ticking. The colour of the tail is an extension of the darker shading along the spine and ends in a solid dark tip, coloured with the colour of the ticking, without any rings.
- Hair tips to be darkest, with the undercoat clear to the roots.
| | Necklace
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If present, must be broken.
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