Even though I am an all-American breed, I wasn’t always called the American Shorthair. My breed used to be called the Domestic Shorthair up until 1966, when we were re-named “American,” which the humans thought was more patriotic. Today, Domestic Shorthairs exist, but they are not purebred like me. Many humans confuse the two of us because we can look very similar, but we American Shorthairs are pedigreed cats and Domestic Shorthairs are not. To keep us up to the breed standard, American Shorthair breeding programs were created to distinguish us from other non-pedigreed shorthaired cats.

We American Shorthairs are older than the United States of America itself! My early ancestors were European working cats who were excellent hunters and took care of rodent problems on ships, keeping their humans free from the diseases that those animals could carry. We came to North America on the Mayflower and landed in Plymouth, MA in 1620 with the early colonists from Europe. Some humans think we may have even been on earlier ships with colonists who landed in Jamestown, VA in 1607, with the Spanish who landed in Florida, or even the Vikings who landed in Newfoundland! Once my ancestors reached the New World, they worked as mousers in Colonial America and were prized for their hardiness and hard work. As settlement of America expanded, we went along with our human pioneers – after all, there were always vermin for us to catch back then! We were always popular in America, and in 1895 we were exhibited at America’s first major cat show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Back then we were still called the Domestic Shorthair (and would be until the 1960s), but our popularity across the nation made us one of the first five breeds recognized by the Cat Fanciers’ Association in 1906. At around this time, Americans started to fancy more exotic imported cat breeds like Persians and Angoras, but the American Shorthair lovers were devoted to us and began a selective breeding program to keep us going strong. Still, American tastes caused some breeders in the late 1950s to crossbreed us with Persians. When we were officially named the American Shorthair in 1965, the breed standard excluded these hybrids. That year, a silver tabby American Shorthair named Shawnee Trademark won CFA’s Best Cat, solidifying our place among the world’s top breeds. Today, we are the #6 most popular cat breed!