The Sofa - The Silver Gene

The Silver Gene in Somali and Abysinian Cats
This is what I so far know about the history:

The Story:
The silver gene comes from the crossing of Abyssinian/Somali with Silver Tabby Europ'es and Chinchilla Persians about 20-35 years ago. The silver aby/somali cats now being breed got 10 generations of pure silver Somali/Abyssinian cats behind them. And there is a lot more generations back to where a Europ'e/Chinchilla was introduced.
The Colors:

Black silver is related to the black tipping in the ruddy Somali/Aby.
Sorel silver is related to the red tipping of the red Somali/Aby.
I have never seen a blue silver Somali.
The same goes for the fawn silver Somali.
All of the above colors are recognized in Denmark both in the silver version and non silver version.

In Sweden they are breeding lillac and chocolate abyssinians by cross breeding with Burmese cats. And maybe will see these colors in a silver version? In England they are experimenting with tortie and female dominated red. Non of these colors are yet recognized.

The most common silver color is black silver. A black silver Somali is a very beautiful cat that looks a bit like a snowleopard/lynx. At a recent cat show here in Denmark where Wain Harding (Bastis) acted as a cat judge he was facinated by Halixanta's Frigola a black silver female aby. So maybe one day the americans will also have the pleasure of watching this beautiful variety.
The red silver somali is becoming nore and more commen here in Denmark. These cats are just as striking as the black silver in their color contrast and general look.

My Oppinion:
All the silver cats I have seen are beautiful cats that all meets the standards for Somalis (Please notice that the european and american standards are not perfectly similare.) Though I sometimes have doubts about my own red silver Somali *grin*. At a recent international cat show in Denmark I had the pleasure of having the opportunity of watching several red silver Somalis. They all had very clear red silver ticking and were all very attractive cats. I am sure that soon will the red/black silver Somali win more popularity all over the world.

Denmarks first DM silver somali:

Dushara Shaded Indis
The cat that got our owner into wanting a silver somali:

Dushara If Only.

If you want a silver somali/aby of your own you can contact one of the danish somali/aby clubs listed on the Somali Links Page.

Since I am not a breeder and therefor not totaly comfortable in how breeding is done there might be some mistakes in this text. I would therefor appreciate any corrections.
Or maybe you know a silver somali/aby? I would love to show it's picture on this page.
I wrote this with the help from Teresa Guldager and Alice Emborg's book Politikens Kattebog (only available in dansih)

Karen Bjerre Frederiksen
simoom@oocities.com
Copyright © 1997-1999 Karen Bjerre Frederiksen
Most recent revision 10th of January 1999