Overweight
A Nebelung loves its food, and a slim cat can quickly get too heavy. Extra weight raises the chance of diabetes, stiff joints and heart trouble.
How it is found: No test. Weigh it now and then, give measured portions and play every day.
Nebelung
A blue semi-longhaired cat with a silver sheen like mist: elegant, devoted to its family and shy with strangers.
The Nebelung looks like a Russian Blue in a long, soft coat. Its coat is blue-grey, and the tips of the hairs are silver. That makes it look as if a layer of mist lies over it. Its name comes from the German word Nebel, mist. It is sweet and loyal to its own people, but needs time with strangers.
- Origin
- Denver, United States
- Weight
- 4.5–6 kg male3.5–5 kg female
- Size
- Medium
- Lifespan
- 13–16 years
Character
- Devoted to its family
- Shy with strangers
- Loves a calm home
- Clever and playful
Affectionate
Warm and devoted to its own people, often picking one favourite.
Lap cat
Cuddles when it chooses to. It often does not like being picked up.
Playful
Playful, and sometimes happy to fetch.
Energetic
Plays in short bursts and is calm the rest of the day.
Talkative
Quiet, with a soft little voice.
Learns tricks
Clever and happy to learn tricks.
With strangers
Shy with visitors. Give it time and let it come to you.
With children
Usually fine with calm, gentle children. A lot of noise makes it tense.
With dogs
Often gets along with a calm dog that leaves it alone.
With other cats
Usually gets on well with other cats.
Home alone
Does not like long days alone.
Indoor cat
A good indoor cat, as long as it has space, toys and company.
Photos
Story or true?
The Nebelung is a cross with a Russian Blue.
The first Nebelungs came from ordinary house cats, among them a black shorthair. A Russian Blue may join in later, to make the group of cats bigger and healthier.
A Nebelung is just a long-haired Russian Blue.
They look very alike and are related. The gene for long hair sometimes hides in Russian Blues. Still, the Nebelung is a breed of its own with its own standard, and Russian Blue breeders keep that gene out.
A Nebelung is grey.
Officially it is blue: an even medium blue right down to the skin. The silver tips of the hairs give it that misty, grey-looking sheen.
History
In 1984 Cora Cobb in Denver got a long-haired blue kitten, Siegfried. His mother was her black shorthair, his father a blue tom that looked like a Russian Blue. A year later came his sister Brunhilde. With help from a geneticist Cobb wrote a standard and started a new breed. In the 1990s long-haired kittens also turned out to come from Russian Blues in Russia, and those lines joined in. Then the breed came to Europe.
- 1984
Siegfried is born in Denver: a long-haired blue kitten in a litter of shorthairs.
- 1985
His sister Brunhilde is born, with a lighter, longer coat.
- 1986
Siegfried and Brunhilde have their first litter. Cobb decides to build a breed.
- 1987
The American registry TICA accepts the Nebelung as a new breed.
- 1989
A Nebelung appears at a TICA show in Paris, its first time in Europe.
- 1993
A Dutch breeder brings a Russian Blue, Timofeus, from Russia. He turns out to have semi-long hair.
- 1997
TICA recognises the Nebelung fully: it may compete for championship titles.
- 2000s
More and more Nebelungs are bred in western Europe, with cats from Russia and America.
- 2011
Britain's GCCF is shown Nebelungs at a special exhibition at a Russian Blue show.
- 2024
Only four Nebelungs are registered in Britain. The breed is still very rare.
Looks
Long, elegant and firm, with long slim legs. Neither fine-boned nor cobby. Its coat is only fully grown at about two years old.
- Head
- A soft wedge with high cheekbones, clear whisker pads and a firm chin. The profile looks almost straight.
- Ears
- Large and pointed, set well apart. Tufts of hair on the tips are a plus.
- Eyes
- Fairly large and almond-shaped. Kittens have yellow eyes; they slowly turn vivid green, which takes until about two years.
- Body
- Medium to large, long and firm, with long slim legs.
- Tail
- Long, reaching the shoulder blades, and thickly furred like a plume.
- Coat
- Semi-long, soft and silky, with a fine undercoat. Each hair is blue with a silver tip, which gives the misty sheen. Males get a ruff and the hind legs grow 'breeches'.
- At shows
- Britain's GCCF wants silver hair tips and vivid green eyes in adult cats. TICA likes the silver tips but does not require them, and accepts yellow-green eyes while they are still changing.
Colours
The codes in brackets
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
Blue(a)
All colours and patterns (1)
Blue
- Blue (a)
Not a Nebelung colour
- Black (n)
- White (w)
- Chocolate (b)
- Red (d)
- Blue tabby (a 21)
- Blue and white (a 03)
A Nebelung is always solid blue, in every registry. Black and white exist only in the shorthaired Russians. White spots are a fault. Kittens can show faint stripes, but these fade as they grow.
Did you know?
- Opera names
Siegfried and Brunhilde were named from an old German saga, also told in Wagner's operas. The name Nebelung comes from the same saga and from Nebel, mist.
- 2 years
That is how long it can take for a Nebelung's yellow kitten eyes to turn fully vivid green.
- From Moscow
In the 1990s Russian Blues in Russia sometimes had long-haired kittens. So the gene for long hair was already in the breed.
- 270
That is about how many Nebelungs there were in the whole world in 1997, the founder guessed at the time.
- 4 cats
In 2024 only four Nebelungs were registered in Britain.
Health
There is no good research on it. Breed guides say anything from 11 to 18 years; about 13 to 16 is a fair guess, and some live longer. No inherited disease is known in the breed.
Bladder stones
Some Nebelungs get small stones in the bladder or kidneys. The cat then pees often, with difficulty or with blood. A stone blocking the urethra is an emergency. How often it happens is not known.
How it is found: No DNA test. Drinking enough helps, and the vet can check the urine.
Ask the breeder for
- Whether both parents have been checked by a vet
- How old the cats in the line grew
- Whether bladder stones or kidney problems have occurred in the line
Care
Grooming
Comb it once or twice a week with a wide-toothed steel comb. During the spring and autumn moult, ideally every day. Its silky coat does not tangle easily.
Exercise
Play with it every day and give it toys, cat furniture and room to explore, especially if it lives indoors.
Food
Good meat-based food in measured portions: it loves to eat and easily gets too heavy. Make sure it drinks enough.
A calm home
It loves routine. A lot of noise, bustle and change unsettle it. Give it plenty of time to settle into a new home.
Allergies
A Nebelung is not hypoallergenic. Like every cat it makes the allergen that makes people sneeze, and its long coat holds on to hair and dander.
Allowed where you live?
Checked on 21 October 2026
- NetherlandsAllowed
- BelgiumAllowed
- LuxembourgAllowed
Recognised by registries
- WCFWorldwide, mostly GermanyRecognised
- TICAWorldwide, mostly AmericaAccepted as a new breed in 19871997
- GCCFGreat BritainPreliminary recognition; first shown in 2011Recognised
Breed clubs
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