A slender, green-eyed cat with a silvery blue plush coat: quiet and shy with strangers, devoted to its own people.
The Russian Blue probably comes from the port of Arkhangelsk, in the north of Russia. In the nineteenth century it came to England by ship. It is slender and graceful, with vivid green eyes and a dense blue coat that shines like silver. It is shy with strangers, but follows its own people everywhere.
Loving and loyal to its own people, without being pushy.
Likes to be near you and follows you around, but is not always a lap cat.
Playful, enjoys fetch and stays that way well into old age.
Lively as a kitten, calmer later, but it still wants to play every day.
Usually a quiet cat, though some ask loudly for food.
Very clever: it learns tricks and works out for itself how to open doors and cupboards.
Very shy with strangers and often hides when visitors come.
Best with calm, older children who let it come to them.
Can live with a calm dog if it gets time to get used to it.
Usually fine with other cats, but also happy as the only cat.
Can manage a working day alone, but likes company and a fixed routine.
Suits a calm home well, as long as it can climb and has enough to do.
The Russian Blue was the cat of the Russian tsars.
A lovely story, but no old document shows it. America's CFA itself calls it folklore.
A Russian Blue brings good luck.
That is old folklore: Russian families kept a blue cat, or a picture of one, for luck. Charming, but unproven.
The Russian Blue is hypoallergenic.
No. Nobody has measured that it makes fewer allergens. No breed is reliably allergy-free, and cats of the same breed differ a lot.
As the story goes, blue shorthaired cats came to England on ships from Arkhangelsk in the 1860s. There they were first called 'Archangel Cats'. Real breeding began around 1900. After the Second World War the breed had almost vanished, and breeders saved it with British Blues and Siamese.
Blue cats are shown at the Crystal Palace in London as 'Archangel Cats'.
Constance Carew-Cox starts breeding blue cats from Arkhangelsk in England.
In Britain the Russians get their own show class, apart from all other blue cats.
After years as 'Foreign Blue', the breed is officially called 'Russian Blue' again in Britain.
After the Second World War the breed is nearly gone. Breeders save it with British Blues and blue point Siamese.
The European federation FIFe recognises the Russian Blue, and America's CFA accepts it for registration.
In Britain Frances MacLeod starts a line of white Russians, with a white cat said to come off a Russian ship.
The first CFA Grand Champion among Russian Blues: Maja Acre Igor II.
Britain's GCCF gives the Russian White and Russian Black championship status too.
Long, slender and graceful, with vivid green eyes. Its double coat is so dense that it stands up like plush, and the silver tips make it shine.
Pure white, with green eyes. Underneath the white is really a blue or black Russian. White breeding cats get a hearing test, because the gene for white is linked to deafness.
Recognition: Britain's GCCF accepts it as a champion since 2013, as do France's LOOF and registries in Australia and New Zealand. FIFe, TICA, CFA and WCF do not recognise it.
Jet black to the roots, with a glossy coat and green eyes. Even rarer than the Russian White.
Recognition: With the same registries as the Russian White; a champion in Britain's GCCF since 2013.
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)
Black(n)
White with green eyes(w 64)Only in Britain's GCCF, France's LOOF, the Dutch breed club and a few other registries. FIFe, TICA, CFA and WCF recognise blue only.
No registry allows these colours. Because of the Siamese crossed in after the war, colourpoint kittens are still born now and then. GCCF does register blue-eyed whites, but such a cat may not be shown or bred from. Faint tabby stripes on kittens fade by themselves.
Thanks to the upturned corners of its mouth, a Russian Blue always seems to be smiling a little.
The silver shine comes from hair tips with no colour in them: the light shines through.
Kittens are born with blue eyes that turn yellow and then green. That can take two years.
One of the first blue cats in London is said to have been swapped for a leg of mutton in 1890.
Russian Blues are known for working out how to open cupboards, drawers and even jars.
Often 12 to 15 years, and some live longer. There are too few Russian Blues in vet records to measure it well, but in Swedish insurance figures they died less often than almost any other breed.
The body cannot control its blood sugar well. In Sweden insured Russian Blues got it about 4 times as often as other cats, mostly after the age of six and more often males. It can be treated well, usually with daily insulin.
How it is found: There is no DNA test. Keep the cat lean and watch for drinking a lot, peeing a lot and losing weight.
A small cloudy spot forms at the back of the eye's lens. In a Swedish study 1 in 3 examined cats had it. In most it stayed small and they saw normally; a few lost much of their sight.
How it is found: An eye check of breeding cats by a veterinary eye specialist. There is no DNA test yet.
In a large American study Russian Blues had bladder stones more often than average, mostly between the ages of four and ten.
How it is found: There is no test for breeding cats. If there are signs, a vet can look for them.
A rare inherited condition found only in the Russian Blue. Young cats move wildly in their sleep, as if acting out their dreams, and have trouble peeing. The gene is rare: perhaps 1 in 35 cats carries it, and only a cat with two copies gets ill.
How it is found: A DNA test of the parents, so two carriers are not mated together.
Combing or brushing once a week is enough, a little more in spring. The dense coat rarely mats; brush gently.
Play with it every day and give it puzzle toys for its clever mind. It loves high places to look around from.
It is always hungry and gains weight easily, which raises the risk of diabetes. Give measured meals at fixed times.
It is often called hypoallergenic, but nobody has measured it. If you have an allergy, spend some time with one of these cats first.
It dislikes noise and change. A fixed routine and a quiet spot help, and in a new home it needs time to settle.
Checked on 20 October 2026
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