Norwegian Forest Cat History
"the viking cat"

​​​The Norwegian Forest Cat is one of Mother Nature’s finest achievements. Their silky soft flowing coats are almost waterproof and virtually tangle free, a great advantage to people who don’t have the time or patience for the extensive daily grooming associated with many other long-haired cats.

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Over thousands of years these large, extremely people-oriented cats evolved in the frozen forests of Norway and environments. To stay warm, they developed dense double coats; the underlining is crinkled in the manner of lambswool to form air pockets and the semi-waterproof outer guard hairs are surprisingly long and silky. Their inner ears sport long sweeping curls of hairs to deflect the wind and snow. Their tails are as bushy as a fox’s. A full, fluffy mane, several inches long in mature cats, forms a picture frame to highlight their large green, gold or blue eyes. Six-inch long whiskers are not uncommon. A bit of practical whimsey by Mother Nature are the jaunty lynx tips on each ear top and the built-in snowshoes they sport on all four feet - feathery clumps of fur sprouting from between their toes that allow them to run across snow without sinking in.

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Wegies, as they are affectionately known here, almost disappeared before a group of dedicated cat lovers in Norway banded together in the early 1970s to preserve a national treasure. The Skogkatt, as they call them. The rules of the Norske Rasekattklubbers Riksforbund, the Norwegian cat association, required a minimum of four registered generations to ensure the quality of the breed. Some independent cat clubs in Europe accepted any long-haired cat of unknown parentage and allowed the owner to register it; for this reason, members of the Norwegian Forest Cat Fanciers’ Association had only FIFE-approved breeding stock. This approval involved the careful assessment of several generations of cats when a previously unregistered cat was brought before the FIFE board for registration.

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A common misconception is that Forest Cats are Persians ‘gone wild’. Forest Cats were documented in Norse mythology some four thousand years ago, but Persians were not imported to Europe until the 20th century. Neither are they a ‘wild cat’ that has been tamed. Forest Cats always lived with or near people, according to generations of Scandanacians. Nor is there any absolute proof that they are related to the Maine Coon Cat, although these two breeds do appear similar to the uninitiated eye.

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The Maine Coon is a proportionally long-bodied, boxy-muzzled, semi-longhair with very large ears perched high atop a wedge-shaped head. The Maine Coon’s coat is all-weather with a silky texture; the slight undercoat provides body but the coat falls smoothly. Its back is level. The Forest Cat has a moderate length body, high haunches, long hair all over except across the top of the shoulders, a true double coat. They have a straight profile, with the finger extending along its top, and large ears set on the top ‘corners’ of an equilateral triangular face. Because the Forest Cat developed in a semi-Arctic part of the world, its ears, like those of other species from that type of environment, do not sit high or tall on the head; if they did, they would have been frozen. Wegie owners tell how their cats sleep with their heads propped up on something (a pillow, a shoe, etc.) so they don’t miss hearing something interesting or threatening.

Their unique chirping voices and calm dispositions make them avid conversationalists; it’s common for them to hold a full-length conversation. They are exceptional family companions as they are gentle and easy to handle. They love children and are not weary of strangers. Their calm disposition has contributed to their popularity in photo advertisements.Wegies win admiration and an enthusiastic following at every show they attend.

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Originally written April 1987 by Jane Barletta