About Siberians

The Siberian breed originated in Russia, as the "landrace" variety of the domestic cat, found throughout the Russian wilderness and cities. This means that the Siberian has evolved largely by natural selection rather than selective breeding by humans. As a result, the Siberian is a very healthy breed with very few health issues, unlike many other pedigree cat breeds.

It is now believed that all domestic long-haired cats may have descended from the original Siberians. The Siberian has been formally recognised as a breed since the 1980s, and is now bred and loved by cat fanciers all over the world.

The breed comes in all traditional colours with many variations, with the exception of the colour point (colour point "Siberians" are a distinctly recognised breed, the Neva Masquerade). The Siberian is large to medium-large in size, and the males tend to be larger than the females.

The Siberian temperament is exceptional -- they are friendly, playful, and very loving. They make great indoor cats and will happily cuddle up on your lap. Some cats also love to play with water, and many will play "fetch" with you! Siberians are not a very vocal breed and go great with children and other pets. They do love to be entertained though, so they are often happiest with another cat or pet to play with.

Siberians are known for being one of the few hypoallergenic cat breeds -- for more information on this, please see our page "Are Siberians hypoallergenic?"