Abyssinian - Everything you need to know about the cat breed

Brief info on your cat's breed Abyssinian

Weight: Males 3 - 5 kg, females 2.5 - 4 kg
Wither height: 25 - 30 cm
Energy level: Energetic
Lifespan: 12 - 15 years
Social need: Great
Colours: Plain and has four basic colours - venal (warm brown), sorrel (cinnamon), fawn (beige) and blue. The colours chocolate and purple also occur in the breed.
Health problems: Generally healthy but can suffer from serious diseases such as the genetic eye disease Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) and the blood disease Pyruskinase deficiency (PK deficiency). The breed also has an increased risk of suffering from diabetes.

Personality of an Abyssinian

Abyssinians are an active, playful and sociable cat breed. It always wants to join in and hang out, cuddle and play with everyone - animals as well as people - and thrives best with a cat friend as company. An Abyssinian needs to be activated, stimulated and challenged to feel good and be happy. It is an intelligent cat breed with a great need for movement and who likes to hunt. Abyssinians work both as indoor and outdoor cats, as long as they are given the opportunity to move around. The breed's intelligence also makes it teachable, for example it is easy to learn to walk on a leash.

Looks and fur care of an Abyssinian

An Abyssinian is medium-sized, slim, muscular and looks a bit like a mini-puma. Distinctive for the cat breed is that it has large, marked eyes, tufts on the ears and a ticked coat. That the coat of an Abyssinian is "ticked" means that each hair has two or more bands of color. It has a base color and then color bands in lighter and darker colors, giving it a very unique look. The coat is short, fine and soft and hardly consists of any undercoat. This also makes it easy to care for and regular brushing once a week is enough to keep the fur well maintained.

Health problems in an Abyssinian

Abyssinians are a generally healthy cat breed. It is important to keep in mind, however, that it happens that it suffers from the hereditary eye disease Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), which means retinal degeneration that leads to the cat eventually becoming blind. Abyssinians can also be deficient in an enzyme needed for red blood cells to function normally. This is called Pyruskinase deficiency (PK deficiency) and involves periods of severe anemia which can lead to death in the worst case. But, at the same time, this can be prevented by DNA testing before breeding is carried out. This cat breed is also more prone to diabetes than other breeds.

Oral health

Did you know you need to brush your cat's teeth? Brushing your cat's teeth daily is the best thing you can do to prevent your cat from getting periodontitis, learn more about it here. The dental disease FORL is common among cats and often occurs in connection with periodontitis. Brushing the cat's teeth can be a challenge, but with treats and a lot of patience, the cat will eventually get used to it. Learn more about how to brush your cat's teeth here. Learn more about cat dental care here.

Poisoning

There are a lot of things that are poisonous to cats that you may not have thought of before. An example of this is plants, learn more about which plants are poisonous to your cat here. Further examples of what is poisonous to cats are chocolate and mouse and rat poison. It's important to store things that are dangerous to cats in a place they can't get to.