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!