Cream British Shorthairs (cream in color, that is) are not the rarest of the breed, but aren’t the most common either (that would be the standard blue or grey British Shorthair – a specimen of a creature). In this article we explore how cream British Shorthairs compare to their more common feline companions. We’ll cover this and more (such as where to buy these cute, fluffy guys below)!
Origins & History of Cream British Shorthair Cats
Cream British Shorthairs (and British Shorthairs in general) are actually descended from the cats of Ancient Rome (via Ancient Egypt). The cream colored British Shorthair kittens specifically originated much more recently – the 1800’s to be exact. They actually came from “inbreeding” of British Shorthairs with wild cats. They were originally shown off for the first time to the world at the World Fair of 1871.
Appearance of Cream British Shorthairs
Cream British shorthairs look very similar to golden British Shorthairs, but they are even lighter in color, almost an off-white color. They’re not as red as the red-colored shorthairs, and not as dark as the fawn colored ones. A variation of this style of British Shorthair is that it can have tabby-like markings, albeit slight and faint most of the time. Occasionally they can have freckles as well, but this is ever rarer.
The Cat Fancier’s Association depicts a pedigree cream British Shorthair as one that is rich in color, with lighter shading preferred. There should be no white anywhere, the paw pads should be pink, and eyes gold or copper in color. Heavy tabby markings disqualifies a cream-colored British Shorthair from being considered fully cream in style.
There are a couple of cream-colored variations as well of the more standard British Shorthair styles, one of which is the cream tabby, as well as the blue-cream.
Cream Tabby:
The cream tabby cats (tabby being defined as classic, mackerel, or spotted in nature) are very pale cream in color (including their lips and chins). The ground color is usually much lighter than any markings on the cat (which can be buff or cream in color). The paw pads and nose leather is pink every time. Gold or copper for the eyes.
Blue-Cream:
These kittens are blue and cream colored at the same time, softly mingled and never patched. Their paw pads are blue or pink in color. Eyes can be gold or copper (similar to the standard cream British Shorthair). Tabby markings should be blue in color, but the paws should have no broken color anywhere. There should be large patches of color and any white disqualifies the cat from being a true blue-cream.
Where to Find Cream British Shorthair Cats
The below catteries and breeders all focus in full or in part on cream shorthairs. These are great, reputable places to potentially pick up your next best friend.
- If you’re near San Antonio Texas, check out British Shorthair Cats of the Maou. This CFA-approved cattery is showing very reasonable prices for their big boys. They also have a variety of other British Shorthairs as well for sale. They do have a breeding pair though so more kittens will arrive over time!
- Denimar is another American-based breeder of cream-colored British Shorthairs.
- Sasskats cattery in California does appear to have at least one cream colored breeding adult British Shorthair. They mainly focus on silver gene variety shorthairs (silver shaded, silver points, silver lynx, lynx point, and chinchilla points).
Overall, cream British Shorthairs can be notoriously difficult to locate. My best advice is to pick a cattery or breeder you like and ask them if they expect to have any cream-colored kittens in the future. You never know what they might say!
Famous Cream British Shorthairs
As mentioned, although not the rarest color of British Shorthair, cream-colored shorthairs are somewhat hard to find, and pop culture is no exception. It is a long-time misconception that the Garfield cat is a cream-colored British Shorthair. The fact of the matter is, Garfield is simply too red and orange in coloration to be a creamy shorthair boy. We still think he could be though… what do you think?
Caring for Cream Colored British Shorthair Kittens
Caring for your cream-colored shorthair is not, as you can imagine, any different at all from any other British Shorthair. The main thing to look after is their weight, their diet (related), and their coat (fur). These are a few things you’ll want to make sure you do on a regular basis to keep your cream-colored kitten in the best shape possible:
Groom Her: Shorthairs have some of the densest, if not the densest fur coats of any cat breed alive. Thus… you can imagine what that means for making sure they don’t get knots, mattes, or similar in their fancy coats. If you don’t groom them on the regular (even if they don’t like it) they could develop fur mattes in a matter of just a week or two. Not only this, they can get very uncomfortable if their loose fur is not removed. Although our own British Shorthair, Kiwi, grooms herself every single day, they are in general much lower activity cats. As such, they do not benefit from the higher motion personalities of other cat breeds which tends to loosen up fur more regularly. Long story short… comb/groom your cream colored British Shorthair on the regular or pay for the consequences quickly!
Play with Her: As just mentioned above, the British Shorthairs a long time ago used to be hunters/chasers of their own food, but they’re now very much low activity lap and lounge cats. As such, they don’t get the same amount of exercise as other cats and really need to make up for it (or they’ll quickly pack on the pounds… and trust me… it is not easy to get the pounds to come off). We suggest playing with your cream-colored British Shorthair once a day, twice a day even if you can swing the time in your busy schedule. Not only will you give your cream kitten the playtime she needs to stay active enough to burn off those extra calories, you’ll be bonding with her and building trust up along the way. That’s what we call a win-win for you and your feline friend!
Annual Vet Visits: Annual visits are not only a good rule of thumb for your cream colored feline, but any cat in you might have in general. We suggest this as when your British Shorthair gets to be 3-5 years old, it’s very likely they’ll need some sort of dental work and/or teeth pulled. You have to watch out for other things as well like their annual rabies shot, as well as a different type of shot that’s required if your British Shorthair lives with other cats or is allowed outside. You might even think about cat pet insurance – this can save you big time in the event you need to do an X-ray or other types of in-office scan for your British Shorthair, again, this is likely if your cat is 3 years of age or older. Some of the best plans compared against each other are here.
Mixed Diet: A mixed diet is high up on our list of care items for your creamy feline friend as well because it can have a huge impact on your cat’s weight as well as her bladder (believe it or not). You want to make sure that your cream British Shorthair kitten is getting a mix of both dry food and wet food. What can happen if you don’t? Take our first hand experience for this question seriously – your cat can develop crystals in her urinary tract and/or bladder, as well as bladder stones.
Setup a Pet Camera: The one that we like the best has always been the Wyze Pet Camera. Why? If you’re on a trip for a day or more it gives you not only peace of mind that your British Shorthair is safe and sound, but also let’s you drop in and say hello with the built-in wifi-controlled microphone on the system. It’s been really great for us on long trips. Whenever we’re missing our couch friend, we just pop open the app on our phone and zoom in to find our Kiwi sleeping the days away on our couch until we are back to play with her!
And once you have your furry friend… visit the Shorthair Shop for some of our favorite products to give your favorite shorthair the life they deserve 😸
