JERA
Bombay Cat Cattery
How does Bombay look like?

The appearance of the Bombay cat and any other breed is first and foremost defined in the breed standards of various felinological associations.

The first association to register and recognize the Bombay as a breed was American CFA, this occurred in 1976. Today the Bombay as a breed
as a separate breed is recognized by nearly all of the world's leading associations. Three largest of which are: CFA, TICA and WCF. Let's compare the standards for the Bombay Breed in these three systems and try to answer so often asked question: so what should it look like, a real representative of the Bombay breed?

You can read a detailed description of the standards for Bombay on your own at the following links (in English):
Link to TICA's standart
Link to CFA's standart
Link to WCF's standart

A comparison of the standards of the three associations:



Head

CFA


The head should be pleasantly rounded with no visible pointedness. The face should be full with considerable distance between the eyes, flowing smoothly into a broad, well-developed and moderately rounded muzzle, which is complemented by the rounded contours of the head. The profile should show a moderate "stop"; however, it should not present a "pug" appearance. The moderate "stop" should not be regarded as a "break", but should be a slight depression on the bridge of the nose between the eyes, providing a change of direction from a rounded head to a medium rounded muzzle. The end of the nose is slightly rounded downward, which completes the roundness of the head.

TICA


The head is of medium size, round, without flat planes. The muzzle should be full, with considerable distance between the eyes. The chin is heavy, rounded. The muzzle is rounded, short, well developed. The profile should have a good view of the "stop". The nose is slightly rounded at the bottom. The neck is well developed, short to medium size.

WCF


The head is round, short and wide. The contours of the head must be without any visible pointedness. The profile is clearly curved. The chin and lower jaw are strong.


Eyes

CFA


Wide apart, rounded shape. Eye color from gold to copper, the deeper the color of the eyes, the better.

TICA


Large, round, wide-set, in line with the base of the ears. The color varies from copper to gold.

WCF


Large, round, widely planted. Eye colors from golden to dark orange, the latter color is preferred.


Ears

CFA


The ears should be of medium size, placed on a rounded skull, slightly inclined forward, wide at the base and with slightly rounded tips.

TICA


Medium-sized, broadly erect but not falling apart, slightly slanted forward. The tips are slightly rounded.

WCF


The ears are medium-sized and slightly inclined forward. They are wide at the base with slightly rounded tips and widely set.


Body

CFA


Average size, musculature well developed, more compact than slender. Boys are more large.

TICA


Body of medium size, compact. The thorax is round, strong. The paws are well-proportioned and strong. The tail is of medium length with a rounded tip. Good musculature, strong bones. Quite heavy weight for his size.

WCF


The body is of medium size and muscular. Neither rough, nor elongated and very heavy. Paws of medium length, rounded. Tail of medium length, straight, ends with rounded tip.


Coat

CFA


The coat is short, has a texture similar to silk, and is close to the body. Adult cats have a black coat color from the base to the tip of the hair, kittens have a darker coat and become smoother with age. Nose skin and paw pads: black.

TICA


The length of the wool is short. The texture is similar to silk, the coat is close to the body. The color is black from the root of the hair, the coat is shiny. Slacks are allowed for kittens and for young animals under 2 years of age.

WCF


The coat is very short, has a silky texture, it fits close to the body and has a black, shiny color from the root to the tip of the hair.


Disadvantages and disqualifying features

CFA


Disadvantages: Body is either "cubby" type or too elongated.
Disqualifications: curved tail, white markings or spots, irregular number of toes, nasal skin or paw pads not black, improper bite, green eyes, excessive "stop" that interferes with normal breathing.

TICA


Disadvantages: thin bones, too long, thin tail, flat forehead, thick or not close enough to the body, white marks or spots, green eyes, nose or paw pads not black, extreme "stop", too bulging eyes or protruding chin.
Incorrect bite.

WCF


Too bulging eyes.
Now, when you have carefully read the detailed descriptions of Bombay's standards in different felinological associations, you can notice that they are similar in many ways.
Indeed, the Bombay cat is characterized by rounded features of the muzzle, medium-sized ears, large and round eyes of bright color, strong musculature and a shiny black coat close to the body.
However, the breed standard is a formal description of a Bombay cat's appearance, below we will tell you more about how such standards are applied by breeders in practice:

Head: All standards mention the so-called "stop". "Stop" is the sharp transition of the line from the nose to the forehead when looking at a Bombay cat in profile. There are several concepts: "break" is a fairly smooth transition, more characteristic of Burmese cats, and "stop" is a sharper transition, which is characteristic of Bombay cats. Some time ago breeders wanted a fairly sharp "stop", which gave Bombay cat faces a more flat or flattened appearance. Recently, however, many breeders have changed their tactics, since the presence of a sharp "stop" quite often leads to a change in bite and protrusion of the lower jaw forward (overbite), which negatively affects the quality of life in the mature
years of the animal and at the same time is a disqualifying trait in many phenological systems.

Eyes: Bombei are famous for their bright, large and expressive eyes. However, eye color is not immediately apparent, small Bombay's are born with blue or even blue eyes, and as they age, usually by 2-3 months of age, their eyes take on the color peculiar to Bombay's: from golden to amber. The depth of color of the eyes is important, it is difficult to describe in words how to determine how deep the color of a Bombay's eyes is, but everything becomes clear after only one look into the eyes of a real Bombay cat.

Ears: The Bombay cat should indeed have small, medium sized ears, they should blend in with the whole head image of the animal and be rounded at the tips.

Body: it is repeatedly mentioned in the breed standards that the Bombay cat has a well-developed musculature. Due to its curiosity, activity, and small size this breed moves a lot (even in rather mature age), so developed musculature is certainly one of the characteristic features of a good representative of the Bombay breed. It is contraindicated for the Bombay cat obesity, or even some obesity, this also applies to neutered animals.

Coat: The fit of the coat to the body is achieved in Bombay cats due to the absence of undercoat, that's why, looking at the movements of the Bombay cat, you can so clearly notice how developed its muscles are due to the play of light on the shiny, black fur. The absence of undercoat also accounts for the small amount of hair that the Bombay cat leaves behind. However, it is worth to remember that because of this characteristic Bombay cats especially do not like to be overcooled, so you should pay attention to maintain the correct temperature in the room where the Bombay cat lives. In practice, Bombay kittens are immediately born with a black coat, no smokiness, no graying or spotting and, importantly, no undercoat. With age, the texture of the coat may change, but the basic color - black - will not change or change (except for extremely rare cases of genetic mutation, which we do not consider). The skin on the noses and pads of small kittens and adult animals is exclusively black,
Quite often, there are cases when part of the mouth cavity palate is also colored black.

Now, when you have got acquainted with the official descriptions of Bombay cat appearance standards and with more detailed description from our practical experience, we hope that appearance of Bombay cat became more understandable and recognized for you!