Moggy

 ( Cats ) 

Such a pseudo-breed is used for registry as well as Animal shelter/rescue classification purposes. While not bred as , some domestic short-haired cats are actually Pedigreed cat (have a recorded genealogy) and are entered into that have non-purebred "Household Pet" divisions. Show rules vary; the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) permits "any eye colour, all coat colours and patterns, any coat length or texture, and any length of tail" (basically, any cat). Others may be more restrictive; an example from the World Cat Federation: "All classic colours are permitted. Any amount of white is permitted. The colours chocolate and cinnamon, as well as their dilution (lilac and fawn) are not recognized in any combinations (bicolour, tricolour, tabby). The Point coloration is also not recognized."

Domestic short-haired cats are characterised by a wide range of colouring, and typically "revert to type" after a few generations, which means they express their coats as a natural Tabby cat. This can be any colour or combination of colours. They also exhibit a wide range of physical characteristics; domestic short-haired cats in different countries tend to look different in body shape and size, as they developed from differing . DSH cats in Asia tend to have a build similar to a Thai cat or Tonkinese, while European and American varieties have a thicker, heavier build.

In the cat fancy, and among and animal control agencies, domestic long-haired cats may be classified with organisation-specific terminology (often capitalised), such as "Domestic Longhair" (DLH); "House Cat, Longhair" (HCL); or "Semi-Longhair Household Pet". Such a pseudo-breed is used for registry and Animal shelter/rescue classification purposes, and breeds such as the Persian cat. While not bred as , some mixed-breed cats are actually Pedigreed cat and entered into that have non-purebred "Household Pet" divisions. Show rules vary; the Fédération Internationale Féline permits "any eye colour, all coat colours and patterns, any coat length or texture, and any length of tail" (basically any healthy cat). Others may be more restrictive; an example from the World Cat Federation: "The colours chocolate and cinnamon, as well as their dilution (lilac and fawn) are not recognized in any combinations ...and the pointed pattern is also not recognized".

Domestic long-haireds come in all genetically possible cat colours including tabby, tortoiseshell, bicolour cat, and Smoke cat. Domestic long-haireds can have fur that is up to six inches long. They can also have a mane similar to a Maine Coon's, as well as toe tufts and ear tufts. Some long-haired cats are not able to maintain their own coat, which must be frequently groomed by a human or may be prone to matting. Because of their wide gene pool, domestic long-haireds are not predisposed to any genetically inherited problems.

File:A domestic longhair cat.jpg|A domestic long-haired tabby and white bicolour cat File:Tuxedo longhair cat - Spanky.jpg|This domestic long-haired cat appears to be of partial Persian ancestry, with a relatively flat nose and fine hair. File:Semi-Longhaired-Ginger-Black-White-Torbie.jpg|Semi Longhaired Ginger, Black and White Torbie

How the variant developed is still a matter of speculation. The long coat may have been the result of a Recessive gene. When a long-haired cat is mated to one with a short coat, only short-haired kittens can result; however, their offspring, when mated, can produce a proportion of long-coated kittens. Successive litters of early European long-haired cats produced more and more long-coated offspring, which were more likely to survive in the cooler European climates. By the year 1521, around the time they were first documented in Italy, the variety had become fixed after only a few generations.

In the late 18th century, Peter Simon Pallas advanced the hypothesis that the manul (also known as Pallas's cat) might be the ancestor of the long-haired domestic cat. He had anecdotal evidence that established, even though the male offspring would be sterile hybrids, the female offspring could again reproduce with domestic cats and pass on a small proportion of the manul's genes. In 1907, zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock refuted this claim, citing his work on the skull differences between the manul and the Angoras or Persians of his time. This early hypothesis overlooked the potential for crossbreeding within the family Felidae. For example, the Savannah cat is a crossbreed between a domestic short-haired cat and a wild serval—both of which have different skulls and evolutionary lineage. Furthermore, hybrid females in the related genus Panthera, such as and , have successfully mated, producing and .

The first modern, formal breeds of long-haired cats were the Persian cat and the Angora cat (named after Ankara, Turkey) and were said to have come from those two areas.