Neva Masquerade
Neva Masquerade is a color variation of the Siberian cat. This cat is distinguished by characteristic Siamese markings and blue eye color. Nevy meets with many colors and patterns of markings, but they are always unique and rare cats. Siberian cats with markings are the result of a large breeding program conducted since 1960 in the cattery of the Russian Cat Lovers Club (TARC) from St. Petersburg. By selecting kittens in litters of Siberian cats, we managed to gather the right number of cats with markings to start breeding a howa breed.
The name for the breed was given by the Neva River flowing through St. Petersburg, a city once famous for its great masquerade balls. Neva Masquerade is considered a Siberian cat by most breeding federations and only some of them recognized her as a separate breed.
The history of the breed is derived from the seventeenth-century Siamese cats, which were kept at Russian courts and after passing the fashion for these cats, the Siameses went wild and passed their genes on to wandering domestic cats - including Siberian cats. Despite proper selection and selection of pairs, several American kennels signaled litters of Siberian kittens, including kittens with markings.
Among the kittens from the first Siberian cats imported to the USA in 1990 there were also cats with markings. A later standard for this breed, however, excluded these beautiful blue-eyed cats. This is a great injustice!
Neva Masquerade cats were interested in breeders from the USA and after a long correspondence with the president of "The Aboriginal Russian Cat Club" (TARC) associated with TICA led to sending to America in February 1997 several cats of this new breed.
The first kittens in the USA were born in Willowbrook's Cattery kennel in February 1998. All eight kittens from this litter have grown up to be healthy and prosperous cats and have already been presented at cat shows organized by TICA and CFF as NBC's or AOV's. Uliana of Comrade cat with blue markings has won many awards and distinctions at CFF's shows. Further development of this breed of cats depends, however, on the import of further cats from Russia, which will refresh the gene pool. Olga and Aleksey from the TARC club deserved a lot, who search in Russian kennels and send more cats of this beautiful breed to the USA.
After violent objections of breeders of typical Siberian cats, opposed to the recognition of "Neva" as a new color variation of the Siberian cat, lovers of "Nev" registered their cats as a new breed of Neva Masquerade. So far it has been recognized by Feline Federation Europe from Great Britain and in several other federations registration is in progress (WCF, TICA). Russian breeders are very proud of their Nevsky Masquerades, considering them a great breeding success. The most important thing in this new breed is that it was created without crossing with other breeds, only by selecting kittens from many kennels.
Using the international EMS code to describe the cat, the Russians propose the following entry SIB (03 21) 33 61, whereby SIB (Siberian) propose to replace with the abbreviation NEM.
The gene responsible for this color of cats is transmitted by few Siberians and only pure chance caused that both parents gave it to two babies who were born, because the father of kittens carrying this gene is imported from Russia and the mother received it from her father - import from German. They are the first kittens of this breed born in Poland
Information downloaded from the website - www.koty.tasdj.pl/
