American Wirehairs 1

American Wirehairs : 

1 American Wirehairs Not just an American Shorthair On a Bad Hair Day

Adam--1966 : 

2 Adam--1966 Council Rock Farm Adam of Hi-Fi First Wirehair Mutation Photo courtesy Dr. Rosamonde Peltz Dam was a longhair named Fluffy Sire was a shorthair farmboy Adam was a red/white wired coat Sister Amy was a straight coat

First Wires accepted : 

3 First Wires accepted Chiquepin’s Circuit Breaker Heatherwood’s Short Circut Chiquepin’s Happy Hooker Heatherwood’s Black Smoke Cats owned by Anne Bickman---Karen Votava was the owner of Circuit Breaker

To Present : 

4 To Present We have shortened the overall look of the face. We have broadened the ear set, head and muzzle. We have broadened the body as these are working cats. We have not, as yet, overcome completely, the higher cheekbone, as there are so few cats to work with.

Slide 5: 

5 Our Native working shorthairs This group includes both our American Shorthairs and American Wirehairs, The difference being the coat factor on the wires. Unlike the AS, which actually has 2 coat lengths (recessive is forever), the AW has 3 coat lengths—those being wired, nonwired, or straight coated, and longhair, which may or may not be wired—again, recessive if forever. Proper coat length for either AS or AW is medium.

The wirehair gene is an incomplete dominatewith variable expression. There appears to beno recessive gene for the wire, but rather if you do not see it, you will not get it.Breeding either two straight coated “wirehairs”together, will not give you a wired coat, nor willbreeding a straight coated wire to an American Shorthair.This, therefore, limits the available wire coated cats to be either shown or bred, since not all kittens in the litter will wire. Wired coat to wired coat tends to lessen the number of kittens in the litter, and often they are not as healthy as when using our American counterpart.When selecting the straight coated cats for breeding andshowing, one must be careful to select for the proper skull formation to avoid the slightly higher cheekbone. : 

6 The wirehair gene is an incomplete dominatewith variable expression. There appears to beno recessive gene for the wire, but rather if you do not see it, you will not get it.Breeding either two straight coated “wirehairs”together, will not give you a wired coat, nor willbreeding a straight coated wire to an American Shorthair.This, therefore, limits the available wire coated cats to be either shown or bred, since not all kittens in the litter will wire. Wired coat to wired coat tends to lessen the number of kittens in the litter, and often they are not as healthy as when using our American counterpart.When selecting the straight coated cats for breeding andshowing, one must be careful to select for the proper skull formation to avoid the slightly higher cheekbone.

Slide 7: 

7 Head…………………………….40 Body…………………………….35 Coat/Color/pattern…………15 Bal/Condition………………..10 Points

We are looking for a medium-short,squared muzzle. : 

8 We are looking for a medium-short,squared muzzle. Correct muzzle Weak chin Overshot jaw Undershot jaw

Ear Set : 

9 Ear Set Correct Incorrect

Over All Structure : 

10 Over All Structure Americans are medium to large cats, with males being for the most part, larger than females. They are a “medium” breed, sturdy, muscular, rectangular (slightly longer than tall), feet facing forward (not cowhocked) Full, rounded head, with a pleasing expression, wide set ears which are rounded, a slight rounded eye aperture, good eye color. The coat on the shorthair should be short and even, with a resilient texture to protect it from the elements. The wirehair coat is a medium length coat, which is springy and ideally all hairs are crimped or twisted.

Penalize or Withhold of awards : 

11 Penalize or Withhold of awards Eye Color Not green in silvers or gold in brown and blues Ears Pointed or too high on head (rabbit ears) Neck Too short and thick or too long and slender Tail Not too thin and whip like nor too thick and short. Should not be carried over the back as in a squirrel tail. Withhold White buttons or lockets in solids

Slide 12: 

12 Whites and high whites, tend to have the best coat texture.

Slide 13: 

13 Wire to ASH produced an entire litter of wired kittens Though this is rarely the case, you can see the wiring On these week old kittens

Slide 14: 

14 Longhair wirehair (gold eyes, non hearing)