Standard & Groups Colour (EMS) Norwegian Forest Cat
Source : Web Site FIFe
| Characteristic | Detail | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Size | large | |
| Head | Shape | triangular, where all sides are equally long; with good height when seen in profile; forehead slightly rounded; long, straight profile without break in line (no stop) |  |
| Chin | firm | ||
| Ears | Shape | large, with good width at the base; pointed tips; with lynx-like tufts and long hair out of the ears |  |
| Placement | high and open, so that the outer lines of the ears follow the line of the head down to the chin | ||
| Eyes | Shape | large and oval, well-opened, set slightly oblique |  |
| Expression | alert expression | ||
| Colour | all colours permitted, regardless of coat colour | ||
| Body | Structure | long, strongly built; solid bone structure | |
| Legs | Strong, high on legs, hind legs higher than the front legs | ||
| Paws | large, round, in proportion to the legs |  |
|
| Tail | Long and bushy, should reach at least to the shoulder blades, but preferably to the neck |  |
|
| Coat | Structure | semi-long. The woolly undercoat is covered by a smooth, water repellant upper coat which consists of long, coarse and glossy hair covering the back and sides. |  |
| A fully coated cat has a shirtfront, a full frill and knickerbockers | |||
| Colour | all colours are permitted, including all colours with white; except pointed patterns and chocolate and lilac, cinnamon and fawn. Any amount of white is allowed, i.e. a white blaze, white locket, white chest, white on the belly, white on the paws, etc. | ||
| Remarks | Coat is evaluated only on texture and quality | ||
| Very slow maturing of this breed should be taken into account | |||
| Mature males may have broader heads than females | |||
| Length of coat and density of undercoat vary with the seasons | |||
| Kittens can take up to six months of age to develop guard hairs | |||
| Faults | General | too small and finely built cats | |
| Head | round or square head; profile with a break (stop) | ||
| Ears | small ears, set too widely apart, set too close together | ||
| Legs | short legs, thin legs | ||
| Tail | short tail | ||
| Coat | dry coat; knotted, with lumps | ||
| Possible points | Criterion | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Head | general shape, nose, profile, jaw and teeth, chin |
| 10 | Ears | shape, size and placement |
| 5 | Eyes | shape, expression |
| 25 | Body | shape, size, bone structure, legs, shape of paws |
| 10 | Tail | length and shape |
| 25 | Coat | quality and texture, length |
| 5 | Condition |
| Category II | NFO | Norwegian Forest Cat Standard |
|---|---|---|
| General | Size | Large |
| Head | Shape | triangular, where all sides are equally long; with good height when seen in profile; forehead slightly rounded; with long, straight profile without break in line (no stop) |
| Chin | firm | |
| Ears | Shape | large, with good width at the base; pointed tips; with lynx-like tufts and long hair out of the ears |
| Placement | high and open, so that the outer lines of the ears follow the line of the head down to the chin | |
| Eyes | Shape | large and oval, well opened, set slightly oblique |
| Expression | alert expression | |
| Colour | all colours permitted, regardless of coat colour | |
| Body | Structure | long, strongly built; solid bone structure |
| Legs | strong, high on legs; hind legs higher than the front legs | |
| Paws | large, round, in proportion to the legs | |
| Tail | long and bushy; should reach at least to the shoulder blades, but preferably to the neck | |
| Coat | Structure | semi-long. The woolly undercoat is covered by a water repellent uppercoat which consists of long, coarse and glossy guardhairs covering the back and the sides a fully coated cat has a shirtfront, a full frill and knickerbockers |
| Colour | all colours are permitted, including all colours with white; except pointed patterns and chocolate, lilac, cinnamon and fawn any amount of white is allowed, i.e. a white blaze, white locket, white chest, white on the belly, white on the paws, etc. | |
| Remarks | General | very slow maturing of this breed should be taken into account |
| Head | mature males may have broader heads than females | |
| Coat | coat is evaluated only on texture and quality length of coat and density of undercoat vary with the seasons kittens can take up to 6 months of age to develop guard hairs | |
| Faults | General | too small and finely built cats |
| Head | round or square head profile with a break (stop) | |
| Ears | small ears set too widely apart set too close together | |
| Legs | short legs thin legs | |
| Tail | short tail | |
| Coat | dry coat knotted with lumps too silky |
| Scale of Points | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 100 | |
| Head | general shape, forehead, nose, profile, jaw and teeth, chin | 20 |
| Ears | shape, size and placement | 10 |
| Eyes | shape, expression | 5 |
| Body | shape, size, bone structure legs, shape of paws | 25 |
| Tail | length and shape | 10 |
| Coat | quality and texturelength | 25 |
| Condition | 5 | |
| Recognized Colour VarietiesPoints | |
|---|---|
| Remarks | Norwegian Forest Cat is judged in one of the following colour variety groups, i.e. in each colour variety group a certificate can be awarded |
| amber and Light amber are only recognized for black and blue within the existing colour varieties of the Norwegian Forest Cat | |
| Colour | EMS Code |
| Group I | |
| Black/Blue | NFO n/a |
| Amber/Light amber | NFO nt/at |
| Group II | |
| Black/Blue with white | NFO n/a 01/02/03/09 |
| Amber/Light amber | NFO nt/at 01/02/03/09 |
| Group III | |
| Black/Blue agouti | NFO n/a 22/23/24/25 |
| Amber/Light amber agouti | NFO nt/at 22/23/24/25 |
| Black/Blue golden | NFO n/a y 11/12/22/23/24/25 |
| Group IV | |
| Black/Blue agouti with white | NFO n/a 01/02/03/09 21/22/23/24/25 |
| Amber/Light amber agouti with white | NFO nt/at 01/02/03/09 21/22/23/24/25 |
| Black/Blue golden with white | NFO n/a y 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 |
| Group V | |
| Red/Cream/Tortie solid/agouti | NFO d/e/f/g |
| NFO d/e/f/g 22/23/24/25 | |
| Amber/Light ambr tortie solid/agouti | NFO ft/gt |
| NFO ft/gt 22/23/24/25 | |
| Red/Cream/Tortie golden | NFO d/e/f/g y 11/12/22/23/24/25 |
| Group VI | |
| Red/Cream/Tortie solid/agouti with white | NFO d/e/f/g 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO d/e/f/g 01/02/03/09 21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Amber/Light amber tortie solid/agouti with white | NFO ft/gt 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO ft/gt 01/02/03/09 21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Red/Cream/Tortie golden with white | NFO d/e/f/g y 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 |
| Group VII | |
| Black/Blue/Red/Cream smoke/silver | NFO n/a/d/e s |
| NFO n/a/d/e s 11/12/22/23/24/25 | |
| Amber/Light amber smoke/silver | NFO nt/at s |
| NFO nt/at s 11/12/22/23/24/25 | |
| Tortie smoke | NFO f/g s |
| Tortie silver | NFO f/g s 11/12/22/23/24/25 |
| Amber/Light amber tortie smoke/silver | NFO ft/gt s |
| NFO ft/gt s 11/12/22/23/24/25 | |
| Group VIII | |
| Black/Blue/Red/Cream smoke/silver with white | NFO n/a/d/e s 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO n/a/d/e s 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Amber/Light amber smoke/silver with white | NFO nt/at s 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO nt/at s 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Tortie smoke/silver with white | NFO f/g s 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO f/g s 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Amber/Light amber tortie smoke/silver with white | NFO ft/gt s 01/02/03/09 |
| NFO ft/gt s 01/02/03/09 11/12/21/22/23/24/25 | |
| Group IX | |
| White | NFO w |
| with blue eyes | |
| with orange eyes | |
| odd eyed | |
| with green eyes | |
The FIFe's Easy Mind System (EMS) simplifies and replaces the combination of letters and numbers used to identify cats. In that system, identification codes were not always uniform across breeds. In the EMS they are. A black cat, for example, is always identified by the small letter "n" no matter what its breed. A pointed cat, regardless of breed, is always identified by a "33" in its code. The first part of the EMS code, written in capital (uppercase)
Recognized Breeds
Category I
- EXO = Exotic
- PER = Persian
Category II
- ACL = American Curl longhair
- ACS = American Curl shorthair
- MCO = Maine Coon
- NFO = Norwegian Forest
- RAG = Ragdoll
- SBI = Birman ("SBI" because breed name is actually Sacred Birman)
- SIB = Siberian
- TUA = Turkish Angora
- TUV = Turkish Van
Category III
- ABY = Abyssinian
- BEN = Bengal
- BML = Burmilla
- BRI = British
- BUR = Burmese
- CHA = Chartreux
- CRX = Cornish Rex
- CYM = Cymric
- DRX = Devon Rex
- EUR = European
- GRX = German Rex
- JBT = Japanese Bobtail
- KBL = Kurilean Bobtail longhair
- KBS = Kurilean Bobtail shorthair
- KOR = Korat
- MAN = Manx
- MAU = Egyptian Mau
- OCI = Ocicat
- RUS = Russian
- SNO = Snowshoe
- SOK = Sokoke
- SOM = Somali
- SPH = Sphynx
Category IV
- BAL = Balinese
- OLH = Oriental longhair
- OSH = Oriental shorthair
- SIA = Siamese
- SYL = Seychellois longhair
- SYS = Seychellois shorthair
Recognized Colours
The second part of the EMS code, which identifies a cat's colour, is always written in small (lower case) letters.
- a = blue
- b = chocolate
- c = lilac
- d = red
- e = cream
- f = black tortie
- g = blue tortie
- h = chocolate tortie
- j = lilac tortie
- m = caramel or apricot - for registration purposes only. The "m", when added to EMS-codes for diluted colour varieties indicates that the cat has been registered by another registriation body as caramel (blue, lilac, fawn + "m") or apricot (cream, blue-tortie, lilac-tortie or fawn-tortie + "m").
- n = black ("n" comes from the French noir, meaning black) seal (in Himalayan-patterned cats, Burmese, Burmillas and Tonkinese) ruddy (in Abyssinians and Somalis).
- o = cinnamon (sorrel in Abyssinians)
- p = fawn
- q = cinnamon (sorrel) tortoiseshell
- r = fawn tortoiseshell
- s = silver
- w = white
- x = any unrecognized colour
- y = golden
- nt = amber - applicable only to the NorwegianForest Cat
- at = light amber - applicable only to the NorwegianForest Cat
Recognized Patterns
The second part of the EMS code, which identifies a cat's colour, is always written in small (lower case) letters.
- 01 = van
- 02 = harlequin
- 03 = bicolour
- 04 = mitted - applicable only to the Ragdoll
- 05 = snowshoe - applicable only to the Snowshoe
- 09 = unspecified amount of white
- 11 = shaded
- 12 = shell
- 21 = unspecified tabby pattern
- 22 = blotched tabby
- 23 = mackerel tabby
- 24 = spotted tabby
- 25 = ticked tabby
- 31 = Burmese shading pattern
- 32 = Tonkinese shading pattern
- 33 = Himalayan pointed pattern
Coding Tabbies
Coding the various tabby patterns can present a problem, especially in the pointed breeds or the Van or Harlequin varieties where only small areas of the body display the pattern. Cats such as these are identified by the code "21" which indicates that the cat is tabby without specifying th pattern.
In other breeds or varieties where the pattern can be seen, a number that corresponds to a specific pattern usually designates them. A British black blotched tabby would be written "BRI n 22." The British silver spotted tabby is "BRI ns 24." Ticked tabbies are confined to the Abyssinian/Somali and the Oriental Shorthair at present. The Abyssinians/Somalis are all ticked tabbies, so it is not necessary to add "25" after the colour code; but the orientals, which have different colours of ticking, must be identified by a pattern code. A chocolate ticked tabby Oriental would be written "OSH b 25."
Cats With White
Cats with white on them present interesting cases. A black-and-white bicolour is "n 03," for example; but a Turkish van, because it always shows the van pattern, needn't be identified by the code for that pattern, "01." We simply write "TUV" for the breed, followed by the colour code and the eye-colour code because this is a breed that may have more than one eye colour. (The code for unspecified white, "09," is confined to those breeds where it is allowed, i.e. Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats, the rex varieties and Manx.)
One special case among Siamese is the all-white cat previously known as the Foreign White. The code for this cat is "SIA w 67."
Recognized Eye Colours
The next element of the EMS code is a numerical designation for eye colour, which must be used with breeds that are judged in separate classes according to eye colour. In white Persians and British, for example, there are blue-eyed, orange-eyed and odd-eyed white colour classes. The blue eye colour that results from the Himalayan gene in Siamese cats is also different from that of other blue-eyed white cats. Therefore, Himalayan blue eyes are given a different code. The orange or yellow eye colour of most Persian and British cats is also different from the yellow eye colour of Burmese. Thus, yellow eyes in Persian and British cats are given a different code.
- 61 = blue eyed
- 62 = orange eyed
- 63 = odd eyed
- 64 = green
- 65 = Burmese eye colour
- 66 = Tonkinese eye colour
- 67 = Siamese eye colour
The code for eye colour can be omitted when a breed, the Burmese, for example, is limited to one eye colour. The same applies with Siamese and with some Persians and British, for example, the blacks, blues, creams, reds, etc., which all must have orange eyes according to the standard. It is, however, necessary to write the eye-colour code with the white cats -- Persians and British and some other breeds, as we have explained. So a blue-eyed white Persian is written: "PER w 61"; an orange-eyed white British would be "BRI w 62"; and an odd-eyed white Maine Coon would be "MCO w 63."
Eye colour must also be encoded for silver tabby Persians because they are now judged in two classes according to their eye colour, green or orange. Thus, a silver tabby Persian with orange eyes is "PER ns 22 62." The EMS code for a green-eyed silver tabby Persian would be written "PER ns 22 64." (In these notations the breed code, "PER," is followed by "n" for black, "s" for silver, "22" for a blotched tabby pattern and, finally, "62" for eye colour).
Breed Specific Codes
These codes have been developed for breeds that have particular charatersistics.
Tail Codes
- Codes that apply to only the Manx and its longhaired counterpart, the Cymric to indicate the amount of tail.
- 51 = rumpy - no tail
- 52 = rumpy riser - a tiny rise in the bone at the end of the spine
- 53 = stumpy - a rudimentary tail not longer than 3-4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 inches)
- 54 = longie - a regular or near regular tail (these cats are used for breeding but may not be shown)
Ear Codes
- Codes that designate the ear type on two breeds. The first one being the American Curl in both short and long haired versions which although having a "curled ear" may produce straight eared offspring. The other breed, as yet unrecognised by FIFe, is the Scottish Fold - again in both short and long haired versions - which may produce straight eared offspring although it has a folded ear itself.
- 71 = straight ears
- 72 = curled ears
- 73 = folded ears
Conclusion
With this information you should be able to work out your cat's EMS code without looking at its pedigree.
First, locate the three-letter code for your breed. When you write it down, remember that breed codes are always capitalized.
Second, find your cat's colour in the colour codes, which are always indicated by lowercase letters. Leaving a space after the three-letter breed code, write the colour code. If your cat is a silver, it will always have an "s" after its main colour code. For example, a black silver is "ns", a blue silver is "as".
Next, if it is a patterned cat, find the code that corresponds to its pattern. All patterned cats except smokes must be identified by a pattern code. Persians, British and Burmillas can be shell or shaded. A chinchilla is a shell, which means that only the tips of the hairs have colour on them. The code for shell is "12." Thus, a Persian chinchilla would be identified by the code "PER ns 12." (Note that there is a space between the colour and the pattern codes, too.) A shaded silver Persian, whose tipping goes farther down the shaft of each hair, is written "PER ns 11."
The EMS, which is not a genetically based system, is intended to be both easy and logical. With a little practice any cat breeder should be able to speak EMS as fluently as his or her native tongue.
