British Shorthair vs British Longhair: How to Choose

The first thing to get straight is that a British Longhair is not a different breed crossed with something fluffy. It is a British Shorthair carrying two copies of the recessive long-hair gene. Same body, same head, same bone, same temperament; a different coat length.

That gene has been in the breed's gene pool since the early twentieth century, when Persians were used to rebuild British Shorthair numbers after the world wars. Two shorthaired parents can each quietly carry one copy and produce a longhaired kitten, which is why longhairs turn up in shorthair litters. TICA recognises the British Longhair as its own breed for registration and show purposes, but genetically it's the same cat.

This matters when you're shopping: if a breeder describes a British Longhair as a rare crossbreed or a 'British Persian mix', they either don't know their own breed or are hoping you don't.

A British Shorthair's coat is short, dense and stands away from the body: the famous plush texture. Practically it needs a brush once a week, more during a seasonal shed, and that's genuinely it. It does not mat.

A British Longhair has a semi-long coat with a silky texture and a full ruff and tail plume. A well-bred one needs a comb through it two or three times a week, with more attention behind the ears, in the armpits and around the trousers where friction causes matting. Skip it for a month and you'll be paying a groomer to shave out mats, which is miserable for the cat.

The honest version: if you know you won't groom, buy the shorthair. Nobody has ever regretted buying a British Shorthair because of the coat, and plenty of people have bought a longhair on looks and found the reality tedious.

Both are placid, quiet, slow to startle and companionable without being demanding. Both follow you around the house and settle near you rather than on you. Both dislike being picked up and carried, which surprises new owners more than anything else about the breed.

Breeders will sometimes tell you longhairs are 'softer' or more affectionate. There's no evidence for it. Individual variation within a litter is far larger than any difference between the coat types, which is why we ask what you actually want from a cat and then point you at specific kittens rather than at a coat length.

British Longhairs generally cost more than shorthairs from the same program. In our case a few hundred to around a thousand dollars more, depending on color. That isn't a premium on fluffiness. It reflects that fewer longhaired kittens are produced (the gene is recessive, so it needs both parents to carry it), and that coat quality is harder to get right: the difference between a silky longhair coat and a cottony one that mats constantly is heritable and takes years of selection to fix.

When you compare prices between breeders, compare what's behind them. A cheap longhair from an unregistered seller with no cardiac screening on the parents is not a bargain, it's a deferred cost.

Choose the British Shorthair if you want the lowest-maintenance possible version of a very easy cat, if anyone in the house is on the fence about grooming, or if you're drawn to the classic plush teddy-bear look.

Choose the British Longhair if you love the look of a Persian but don't want the flat face that comes with breathing and tear-duct problems, and you're honestly willing to comb a cat a couple of times a week for the next decade and a half.

If you're in or near Houston, the easiest way to decide is to hold both. We breed shorthairs and longhairs from the same lines, so you can meet them side by side in the same room and let your hands make the decision.