About the American Bobtail

American Bobtails are loving and incredibly intelligent cats possessing a distinctive wild appearance. They are extremely interactive cats that bond with their human family with great devotion. They can both entertain through their antics at one moment and provide their owners a warm, soft shoulder to cry on in times of distress. American Bobtails are known for their love of games and can play fetch or hide and seek for hours on end. They will often initiate games with their owners, and they demonstrate their hunting instincts in the home by catching in mid-air flying insects that make the fatal mistake of entering their territory. They also love to stalk their toys and carry them in their mouths, as if they were a freshly caught rodent. Basically a quiet cat, the American Bobtail is known to trill, chirp, and click when delighted. They are easily leash trained and love to go for walks with their people. An easy going breed, they get along well with most dogs and welcome newcomers, whether they are two-legged or four-legged.

The American Bobtail was developed by natural selection to survive feral environments. They are medium to large cats with substantial rectangular bodies. The tail is short, expressive, and flexible and may be straight, slightly curved, slightly kinked, or have bumps along its length. No one length is preferred, and no two tails are the same. The natural bobtail is clearly visible above the back when the cat is alert, and it should not extend beyond the hind hock. The combination of this distinctive tail with other physical characteristics results in a cat with a marked resemblance to the bobtailed wildcat. The head is a broad modified wedge with an observable whisker break above a well defined, broad, medium-length muzzle. Whisker pads are fleshy, and the chin is strong. The eye shape combined with the brow gives the breed its natural hunting gaze and expression of intelligence and alertness. The American Bobtail is a moderately long and substantial cat with a rectangular stance; the chest is full and broad with slightly higher hips and prominent shoulder blades. With legs of substantial boning, they possess a muscular and athletic appearance and are a deceptively heavy cat.

This is a slow maturing breed, taking two to three years to reach its adult size. Females are generally proportionately smaller than males. The American Bobtail comes in all colors and patterns, with preference given to colors and patterns that enhance the natural wild appearance of the breed. They come in two coat lengths: a dense shorthair coat and a medium longhair coat. The occasional bath and light brushing is all that is needed to keep the American Bobtail coat in tiptop form.

The American Bobtail developed initially through natural selection. The foundation stock for this breed were feral domestic cats possessing a natural bobtail. Experienced breeders, using found domestic bobtails from all over the United States, worked together to produce the gorgeous American Bobtails we have today. One of the more intriguing phenomena of the breed is the striking resemblance of cats with no known common heritage, from thousands of miles apart, have born to one another. By selectively breeding the like type cats, breeders have helped Mother Nature to develop the American Bobtail into the big, hearty, wild-looking bobtail cat seen today. No recognized breed of pedigreed cat has been used in the development of the American Bobtail. American Bobtails are a very strong and healthy breed, experiencing no known genetic predisposition to health problems.

When choosing your American Bobtail kitten, you should look for a reputable breeder, who will undoubtedly have a series of questions for you designed to make sure that you and the American Bobtail are compatible. Do not be surprised if there is a wait of some sort. These wonderful family members are worth it! Usually breeders make kittens available between twelve and sixteen weeks of age, when they have had sufficient time with their mother and littermates to be well socialized and old enough to have been fully vaccinated. Keeping your American Bobtail indoors, neutering or spaying, and providing acceptable surfaces (e.g. scratching posts) for the natural behavior of scratching are essential elements for maintaining a healthy, long, and joyful life. For more information, please contact the Breed Council Secretary for this breed.