History of Siberian Cats
Siberians are a time honoured breed in Russia. Being national treasures, they have been around for hundreds of years and were even featured in Russian folklore and fairy tales. They were once thought to be closely related to the Norweigian Forest Cat, Angora and the Persian. However, the Siberians probably evolved in their own ways, acclimatising themselves to the harsh Russian climate.
Siberians did not descend directly from Siberia. After the Siege of Leningrad in World War 2, the city was left ravaged and an infestation of rats took hold. With many people and cats having perished in the conflict, the rats had no shortage of space to roam and almost no predators. A massive campaign was launched to bring cats from all over the country into Leningrad via train in an effort to decrease the rodent population.
It was not until the 1970s and 1980s when cat shows were introduced that the Russians started keeping records of their domestic cats. In 1987, at the The Kotofey Club in Moscow, the first breed standard was written for the Siberians. This was based on 2 cats named Mars and Roman. After a while, a new breed called the Neva Masquerade was created by mixing Siberians with Siamese cats.