#hypertype

What cat breeds have popular hypertypes (not in the breed standard).

So far I know of Persian (peke), Oriental/Siamese (that weird "dobby" wide and low ear thing), Maine coons, Ragdoll (chinese), and Bambino (with that bullycat thing).

Anymore that you know of?

Has the cornish rex got a hypertype? The old version looks nothing like today. But maybe it's just like that. It's looks so weird now.

Seriously, there are so many changes to modern cat breeds (just flipping through "old" books). It's hard to keep track of what's official and what's a hypertype (and not show worthy). Especially with social media being flooded with "trendy" hypertype cats.

Cornish Rex question answered here.

For those just tuning in and wondering what the any of this means:

Bambino Bullycat

“Chinese-type” Ragdoll

Hypertype Maine Coon

Hypertype OSH and Siamese

“Peke” Persians are a little more complicated because although they’re technically not to standard they’re becoming increasingly more popular and awarded in the show circuit. I recommend checking out House of Puffskeins for more information on the subject.

As for other breeds…

Sphynx in general - and derivatives - I’ve seen hypertype for primarily in the form of “extreme wrinkle,” I’ve also seen breeders select for brachycephalic facial structure.

Left is from Cupcake Cattery and right is from Cattery ValKiriya.

Devon Rex are also getting bred for brachycephalic head type and abnormally small muzzles, which I suppose isn’t too much of a surprise given the wide overlap between Sphynx and Devon Rex breeders.

Left is from Magic Elite*UA and right is from Devon’s Paradise.

The British/Scottish breeds display a mild degree of brachycephaly as standard but seem to be increasingly bred to extremes with higher grades of brachycephaly, such as this cat from British Shorthair Cattery who is probably one of the worst I’ve seen.

Is there a good comparison out there of what the differences are?

I’m not as familiar with the different “type” of Ragdoll, unfortunately. It was @floatingdandelions who first alerted me to the falsified pedigree issue so they might be better equipped to discuss the ordeal.

From my understanding the “Chinese-type” Ragdoll we’re beginning to see are beginning to display almost Persian-like features - shorter muzzles, bigger eyes, rounder head with low-set ears, etc.

Here’s a 5 month old from Naga Ragdoll with this “new” type.

And here’s an even more extreme one from Miya Ragdoll, also pictured at 5 months.

Here are a couple of ~5 months old cats from Ranchin’ Ragz with mroe typical structure.

And here is a nice looking Junior Champion out of Chatterie des Souffleurs compared to an extreme-style cat from a cattery in Shanghai.

There definitely seems to he a focus on a more “doll-like” appearance with the extreme/new-type Ragdolls and heavier photo-editing to heighten those features seems common.

I read a book that showed very "normal" looking cats with rexed fur as cornish rex. But when i look online, I see very exaggerated cats with big upright ears and massive eyes.

I was wondering if that just is the standard now or if that's cornish rex hypertypes.

The book was 2003, so I wouldn't be surprised if they changed that much today.

Here are some clippings from the 1971 edition of the British magazine Cats that ran from 1969 - 1972, shared by Sarah Hartwell of Messybeast fame.

And then here are some clippings from the 1988 and 1989 editions of CATS Annual, also shared by Sarah Hartwell.

Although the modern Cornish Rex pushes the type a litte further I feel like the core structure is still present even this far back and these cats could still do fairly well in shows even today.

Here is the CFA Cornish Rex Breed Presentation which goes into their standard with some visual examples.

Left is Triple Tiara Ace (black smoke neuter) the 2014-15 CFA Grand Premier and right is Fort Knox Taystee of Beaconwood (black smoke female) the 2015-16 CFA Grand Champion.

Left is A*Venera Rising Dream a WCF Best Cat from Russia and right is QiuShi a WCF Best Cat from China in the junior division both from 2025.

So there’s still some natural variation in how type-y a cat is which things like sex, alter status, age, environment and line seem to influence but are all still appreciated and fall within the breed standard.