Siberian Cats at Answers.com

At big site Answers.com there is a page about Siberian Cats.
The Siberian is a recognized breed of cat, with most cat organizations accepting Siberians of any color (including color points) for competition. This includes recognition in the major cat registries such as TICA and Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), as well as acceptance in the CFA Championship class beginning on February 6th, 2006.

Siberian Cats Are Nothing to Sneeze at

Even though they have beautiful fur, Siberian cats are not only great for allergy suffers, but will give your dog a run for its money

Do you feel that cats can't compete with dogs? Think again. In 2003, Rachel Tucker of Baker City, OR, entered her two hundred strong Siberian cat sled team in the Atta Boy 300 sled dog race as a publicity stunt. Much to the amazement and embarrassment of the Husky competitors, Tucker's cats ran the three hundred mile course in just over twenty-two hours, not only winning the race, but beating out the nearest dog team by about an hour. No one thought she had a prayer, except for Tucker of course. "I told the puppy lovers to watch out, that these cats were for real, but they thought I was joking," said Tucker. Centuries ago, Siberian cats were initially bred as watch cats and used in Russian monasteries.

Siberians are beautiful breed large cats that are a natural product of Russia, typically found in Leningrad and St. Petersburg. They did not have it easy, either. Not only did they have to endure the harsh Russian climate, but for a number of years it was against the law for Russians to own and feed pets. These cats had to run the streets surviving 'underground' and eventually finding refuge in the local monasteries. They weren't introduced into the United States until the 1990s.

Siberians are semi-longhaired cats with thick undercoats and come in all color patterns, usually taking up to five years to mature. As illustrated above, they have powerful muscles and are great leapers, with hind legs, when extended, slightly longer than the front ones. Their paws are large and powerful as well. But in spite of all this strength, they are extremely agile, and have the sweetest facial expressions. They are very vocal and can be heard giving off a soft chirping sound. Siberian cats have quite a regal bearing.

But one of the most fascinating things about Siberians is that people who are typically allergic to cats, who experience sneezing, wheezing, hives, and watery eyes as well as other symptoms, have absolutely no allergic reaction to a Siberian. For a shaggy cat, that is quite an astounding fact. People who in the past have even been hospitalized because of an allergic reaction to cats can comfortably cuddle with a Siberian and suffer not a single sniffle.

Siberians have wonderfully affectionate natures and are quick to give a kitty massage or bath to their owner when they're feeling sad or down. They also have been said to have dog-like qualities, especially when it comes to protective behavior. For all of their power and protectiveness, Siberian cats are absolutely wonderful around children. So if you happen to have children with allergies or asthma, but you would love to give them a pet, a Siberian Cat is just the ticket.

Via The Feline Cart

Siberians are 7th most popular cat breeds

According to that article Siberians are the 7th most popular breed:

7. Siberian Cat

Siberian cats are known for their proportioned bodies and their furs. Some even claim
that their furs are hypoallergenic, although this is still subject to be confirmed.

These cats are intelligent, loyal and very affectionate. They are almost dog-like in their personality.

Yes, I can confirm - I am like that. :)
Purrr...

Sibaris

Sibaris is a website of Moscow based cattery. Owners are Arina Kozyr and Alexander Kolesnikov who are PhDs in molecular biology.

We are doing our best to apply our knowledge in biology and genetics to the Siberian breed development. Our main task in breeding is to establish stable lines of Siberian cats with “wild-type” colors and outstanding breed characteristics.

Visit their photo gallery to see their nice cats.

Google Doesn't Like Cats

Sshhhhh!!
Hate it hate it hate it!
I've just found that my nice, warm and cozy place on web got removed from this Big Brother's Index. And you know what? That's all because Google's own Blogspot buggy templates. SShhhh!!!

Thanks these nice people from Tip of the Day saying in Your Blogger Blog Won’t Be Indexed If It Is Not Listed:

If you have Blogger blog you might want to check if it is actually being indexed. If you specify in blog settings that it shouldn’t be listed on your Blogger profile, the following code is added to your meta tags:

< meta name="”ROBOTS”" content="”NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW”" >

I just removed the following line to get rid of it:

< b:include data="’blog’" name="’all-head-content’/" >

But I don’t advice anyone do the same, cause it removed all header information - including RSS links and so on.

I just did the same. Hopefully will get back to index soon.

A “Siberian Exile” for Siberians: Will They Ever Be Back?

Discussion that is currently taking place all over, including pages of this magazine (Droug, A.K), about the future of Siberian breed has elicited important antagonisms existing within society of the lovers of famous Russian indigenous cat. Apart from these opposite views, most disturbing is the fact that many members of this society don’t have clear vision of how the breed would have been developed. Why it is so important?

No emergency brakes allowed in planes. Likewise, biological evolution does not permit “bus stops” to land down and relax with impunity. An evolutionary “stop” frequently results in steep and hardly surmountable regression. This is true for natural evolution and is even more true for the artificial one.

Lack of understanding of some basic biological principles other than applied genetics of fur coloration can play bad joke with a breeder. It is especially true in the case of young breeds that require significant work for stabilization of the cat type. Being captured in this maze, a number of breeders as well as cat judges flooded Russian Internet resources and printed media, with their opinions regarding Siberian breed, which often lack any felinological content, yet full of emotions and finger-poking. The energy and stubbornness of these persons would be better used in some other, more focused and peaceful purposes.

In fact, it’s hard, to get rid of a thought that in the fire of emotions none of these persons remember about cats. In this article it would be better to put this entire discussion apart and to concentrate on the first and foremost issue of the breeder, the cats themselves.

Source By Alex Kolesnikov, PhD in molecular genetics

New section on this site

There is a number of sites devoted to Siberian Cats. Today I'd like to start a new section here - website reviews. Not all of the reviews will be cat sites, but I'll try to stick to the topic. Hope that you will like my reviews. All we cats and cat lovers should keep together. If you have or know site about Siberian or Neva Maquarade Cats - just leave a comment to this post, and I'll try to write about your site.