Cats and the Amercan West

Question
Hello. I did some research on cats in the American West, and found out that prospectors and cowboys kept American Shorthairs as pets. The Abysssianian and the British Shorthair were both established as breeds in the 1800's-did people in the American West kept them as pets also? Please let me know. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jason Goldman
JGoldman10@yahoo.com

Answer
Jason,

I would strongly suggest that what your research showed about American Shorthairs in the old west is really not the whole story. The normal American shorthaired feral cat, a.k.a. the domestic shorthair, later to be called the American Shorthair (1966), was not really a breed per se until the late 1890's 0r early 1900's, and primarily in the Northeast, where the American Cat Fancy started.  Although, these cats did eventually make their way to the western USA, I would strongly doubt that the cats the prospectors had were what we consider the American Shorthair breed today.

The first Abyssinians came over to the USA in the early 1900's and, for all intents and purposes vanished.  The Abyssinian cats did not really get a good foothold in the USA until the early 1930's, never to look back.  So, these would not have been present in the old west.

The British Shorthair is a relatively new arrival into the USA not coming until after the mid point of the 20th century.  Until the late 1970's or early 1980's most registering bodies in the USA only recognized blue.  It was then the other colors were recognized.  Even in England, they did not appear until 1895 and gained much more prominance at the shows by 1910.  Thus, I do not think the British would have been around for the old west.

Best regards... Norm.