Russian Blue

Is a Russian Blue right for you?

The Russian Blue is an elegant breed known for its silver-tipped blue-grey coat and emerald green eyes. Calm, quiet, and reserved. If you want an orderly home without crowds, this breed is for you; if you want a lively home with constant visitors, it is not.

The most distinctive feature of this breed is its attachment to routine. It becomes stressed when meal times, the litter tray position, or the household layout change.

Before you adopt

Warning: any blue-grey cat may be sold as a "Russian Blue". A genuine Russian Blue has distinguishing features: a silver-tipped double coat, emerald green eyes, a straight profile, and a slightly upturned mouth line. Kittens are born with yellow eyes that turn green over months.

Ask the breeder about cardiac screening and about bladder stone history in the line.

Russian Blues and their crosses appear in shelters; adopting an adult means the temperament is already known.

Temperament

The Russian Blue is calm, gentle, and reserved. It bonds strongly with its owner but does so without display: it stays in the same room, sits beside you, and watches you.

It is shy with strangers. Hiding when guests arrive is normal; this is the breed's style rather than fear. Trying to force contact increases the stress.

It is quiet, among the least vocal of cat breeds.

It is intelligent and enjoys play; individuals that play fetch and learn tricks are common. It keeps playing into adulthood.

It is attached to routine. It knows meal times and will remind you; changes in the household layout unsettle it.

It is fastidious about cleanliness and may refuse to use a dirty litter tray.

Health issues and lifespan

Average lifespan is 10 to 16 years. As a natural breed its genetic burden is low, and it is considered one of the most robust cat breeds.

• Obesity: The most common problem in this breed. A combination of calm temperament, good appetite, and low activity. Excess weight leads to diabetes and joint problems.
• Bladder stones and urinary problems: Reported. Frequent trips to the litter tray with little urine, blood in the urine, and toileting outside the tray are the signs. In male cats a urinary blockage is an emergency.
• Dental and gum disease: A general risk in cats.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM): The most common heart disease in cats; although no particular predisposition is reported in this breed, periodic checks are useful.
• Stress-related problems: Changes in routine, moving house, or a new animal can trigger urinary problems and toileting outside the tray in this breed.

Note on allergies: it is widely said that the Russian Blue produces less Fel d 1 protein. That claim rests on individual experience and lacks strong scientific evidence; anyone with an allergy should spend a long time with the cat before adopting to test it.

Feeding

An adult Russian Blue (3-5.5 kg) needs the energy equivalent of 50-70 g of dry food per day. Portion control is central to health in this breed.

• Kitten (2-12 months): Kitten food, three to four measured meals a day.
• Adult: High protein, low carbohydrate. Wet food is helpful for urinary health.
• Senior (9+ years): Annual monitoring of kidney values.

Do not free-feed. This breed does not refuse food and gains weight without you noticing. Give measured portions, twice a day.

Use a fountain-type water bowl and multiple water points to encourage drinking.

Grooming and coat

A short but very dense double coat. Its texture is distinctive; the coat stands out from the body.

• Brushing once or twice a week is enough; increase during seasonal changes.
• It sheds little, but because the coat is dense, unbrushed hair is swallowed.
• Bathing is not needed.
• Nails every two to three weeks.
• Teeth several times a week.
• Monthly ear checks.
• Litter tray hygiene: this breed is fastidious; daily cleaning prevents toileting outside the tray.

Living space and enrichment

1. A quiet corner. This breed needs a high, safe retreat of its own to withdraw to when guests arrive.
2. Routine. Meal times and household layout should be kept constant. If change is needed, make it gradually.
3. Play twice a day. If a calm temperament turns into inactivity, obesity follows. Wand toys and fetch.
4. Food puzzles. For both movement and weight control.
5. Vertical space. A cat tree and observation points; this breed likes to watch.
6. A clean litter tray. One tray per cat plus one; daily cleaning.
7. Indoors. This breed should strictly live as an indoor cat.

History

The Russian Blue's origins are traced to the port city of Arkhangelsk in north-western Russia, and the breed was long known as the "Archangel Cat". Its dense double coat is a product of the northern climate.

It is accepted that British sailors brought it to Britain in the 19th century. It was exhibited at the Crystal Palace cat show in 1875 under the name "Archangel Cat". For a long time it competed in the same category as the British Shorthair and only gained separate breed status in 1912.

The Second World War nearly wiped the breed out. After the war British and Scandinavian breeders rescued it by crossing the remaining individuals with Siamese and British Blue cats. That rescue caused temporary changes in the breed's type, and work to return to the original type was carried out over the following decades.

Today the breed standard accepts only the colour blue, and the combination of a silver-tipped coat with emerald green eyes is the breed's signature. A long-haired variant known as the Nibelung is also recognised.