It is believed that Russian Blues originated from Russia, arriving in england via ships of sailors leaving the port of Archangelsk. The Russian Blue has had several names including Foriegn Blue, Maltese and Archangel.
What we all know is Mrs Caraw-Cox of England imported the first Russian blues to be used in a breeding program in 1890. By the mid 1890's Russian Blues were appearing in cat shows. The time of World War II almost wiped out the breed, in an attempt to save Russian Blues they out-crossed with Siamese towards the end of the 1940's. In the late 1950's Russian Blues had lost there signature coat due to the out crossing and took many years to regain it once more. |
