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About Dearhearts

The kittens and cats in the Fancy Feast commercials are Dearheart Chinchilla and Shaded Silver Persians.They have been used exclusively for at least the past 50 years (It is a known fact among breeders.).

In the USA Persian is the breed; Silver is the division; Chinchilla & Shaded are the specification of the color class; Dearheart is the line. Dearhearts are a line of Chinchilla & Shaded Silver Persian cat created by Jeanne Ramsdale and her husband Philip N. Ramsdale DVM. She used many different lines including Reene's, Silver Mesa, Silver Mist, Allington, Delphi, Gray-Ivy, Las Montanas and Silver Gables. These are important for looking at the pedigrees. I have traced our cats lineage back to 1902.

When a breeder wants to improve on an existing line for specific traits these new traits must be set. In creating lines you are diluting certain traits to get rid of them and setting certain traits to keep them. This takes several generations.

Jeanne Ramsdale was a judge and an authority in the Persian cat world back in the 50's -80's. They are one of the only lines to have the traditional Chinchilla & Shaded Silver Persian cat traits. To be a Dearheart there must be a pedigree to back it up since each breeder has it's own cattery name. The Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian must be bred carefully so the set-in traits are not lost. (L'Dearheart & Cherie-Finesse have done an excellent job) If this is done the traits are passed down true.

It can be seen when you look in Jeanne Ramsdale's book 'Persian cats and other longhairs'. The pictures of the cats in the book are taken in the 1950's yet you can see the exact traits passed down all of these years later. Our cats relatives are literally in the book.

Dearhearts look white in color but their hair shaft is tubular in shape and translucent, the shading is just on the ends and is silver to black in color. They have the trademark green eyes with black rims, looking like they’re wearing eyeliner. Their noses are brick red, lined with black and heart shaped. All these traits make them photo beautifully. (This is probably why Fancy Feast and others use them for film and photo ads.)

These Persians are shown in the "Original Longhair" in the WCF World Cat Federation. What is the difference between a chinchilla and a shaded silver? It has to do with the amount of tipping (15% WCF / 20% CFA) The chinchilla having a more clear sparkling white & the tipping very light over face, legs & back and the shaded tipped evenly over head, body, legs, back & sides, looking almost as if they walked through a chimney behind Santa. They have the 3 dimensional face (traditional) and a sleeker body type than the standard (peked face) persian. They typically have green eyes but they can be any shade of green to blue green. The Dearhearts must have the green or green variation eye color to be a Dearheart. They are an angora & persian mix so their hair is very different from the standard persian. They actually have long & short persian fur & long & short angora fur. Every cat has different variations of each.

They are the sweetest most loving, gentle cats. They are very touchy in the sense that they like to touch you with their paws.

What is the difference between a Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian and a "Dollface Persian" or "Teacup" Persian?

#1- Breed

The Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian is a CFA (Silver Persian) or WCF (Original Longhair) recognized & registered cat. A "dollfaced" persian or "teacup" persian (being bred smaller purposefully) is not a CFA or WCF recognized breed. The Silver Persian came from breeding traditional long haired angoras to persians. The long haired angora is extinct. The short haired angora exists but the long haired angora is gone.

#2- Cross Breed

Because the traditional persian head only exists through very few lines you must have CFA documented animals to prove this. For instance a person may have a papered Silver Persian and breed it to a papered long haired animal of another breed and have it "look like" a traditional Silver but it is not. Both parents must be listed as a Silver Persian on the CFA or WCF paperwork. The dollfaced persian breeder usually does not have paperwork from the CFA or only has it from one parent. Some will breed a papered silver to a white.