Nebelung

Evoking visions of creatures rising from the mists, the Nebelung is a longhaired cat with a foreign body, wide-set green eyes and a silky blue coat frosted with silver draping the body. The name Nebelung is derived from the German word for mist or fog, Nebel, and a medieval Germanic saga the Nibelungenlied and is intended to represent the cat's distinctive silky blue coat. This relatively new and rare breed is intended to resemble an ideal vision of early nineteenth century longhairs that may have had their origins in Russia.

History

Cora Cobb (Nebelheim) developed the Nebelung breed and attained its recognition in TICA. The first registered Nebelungs were Siegfried, born in 1984, and named for the murdered dragon slayer in the epic Germanic poem, and Brunhilde, born in 1985, and named for the Icelandic queen in the same poem. Siegfried's mother was a black domestic shorthair named Elsa belonging to Cora's son, Karl, and Siegfried's father was a longhair resembling a black Angora. Siegfried was the only blue longhair kitten-a beautiful, large kitten with long legs, long tail and a medium length coat. Five months later a second litter was born with another longhaired blue but this time it was a female that Cora named Brunhilde. Her coat was longer and lighter than Siegfried's. These two cats were the foundation of the new breed. Siegfried and Bruhilde had their first litter in 1986 and shortly afterwards, in 1987, with the help of Dr. Solveig Pflueger, Cora applied to TICA for New Breed status (NBC).

The Russian Blue was designated as an outcross for the new breed and it continued to allow the addition of foundation cats as an important way of developing the gene pool. The new breed needed a unique standard and one was developed based on an interpretation of early 19th century cats imported to England. The late 1980s saw the beginnings of the cat fancy in Eastern Europe and a redevelopment of the Russian Blue created an influx of foundation cats to that breed. Some of these new foundation Russian Blues carried the longhair gene and provided a valuable new source of bloodlines to help develop the Nebelung breed. TICA recognized the Nebelung for championship competition in 1997.

Personality

Devoted to their owners and family members, the highly intelligent Nebelungs can be shy with strangers and young children. Kittens need time to adjust to their new home and should be allowed to make their own advances to their new family. As the new family member settles in, the playful Nebelung will becoming a loving companion cuddling into a lat for petting and often following its owners from room to room to remain in their company. They are active, affectionate, good-natured cats that prefer the company of their own family to that of visiting strangers.

Traits

A medium-sized cat, the Nebelung is a sturdy, well-muscled cat with a long body draped with a silky medium-length blue coat shimmering with silver at the tips. Nebelungs resemble the type of longhaired cats imported from Russia in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries. The tail is long with a full thick plume gracefully balancing the long body. The ears are large in proportion to the head and continue the elegant lines of the head. They have wide-set eyes that impart a look of intelligence to the face and range in color from yellowish green to green.

The coat is medium in length but dense so regular combing is a must to prevent tangles and mats. The silver tips to the ends of the hair give the cat's silky-soft coat a luminous, misty aura that adds to its allure and the mystery associated with a mythical creature rising from the mists.

Health Issues Common to Nebelung

All pedigreed cats have some sort of health problem, just as all people have the potential to inherit a particular disease. Any breeder who claims that her breed has no health or genetic problems is either lying or is not knowledgeable about the breed. Run, don't walk, from any breeder who does not offer a health guarantee on kittens, who tells you that the breed is 100 percent healthy and has no known problems, or who tells you that her kittens are isolated from the main part of the household for health reasons.

Nebelungs are generally healthy and do not appear to have major genetic problems, but they are a young breed so this could change. It's always wise to purchase a cat from a breeder who offers a written health guarantee.

Pet Insurance for Nebelung

Pet insurance for purebred cats costs more than for mixed breed cats. This is because a purebred cat is more likely than a mixed breed cat to make claims for hereditary conditions that are expensive to treat.

Embrace cat insurance plans offer full coverage for all breed-specific conditions (excluding those that are pre-existing) to which purebred cats are susceptible. The best time to get pet insurance for your cat is when he's a healthy kitten. You can't predict what will happen in the future, and pet insurance is the one thing you can't get when you need it the most.