Dearheart Persians: AKA The Fancy Feast Cat
Welcome to The Silvr Palace Dearheart Persian Cattery. The traditional (Non-flat/Non-Peke Faced persian) Line of Dearheart Silver Persians
Have you ever wondered what type of cats you see in the Fancy Feast comercials? And Just what's so special about them? Well, there is a lot to be said about this magnificent breed that almost went into extinction. The gene pool of the Dearheart lineage is very small. I am just one of a small network of people, who have agreed to work together to put these animals first by making them part of our family, and also by becoming a part of this amazing breeding program to preserve this breed and line of traditional persians. After reading this if you are thinking of joining this program also, please feel free to message me and ask any questions you may have about helping us preserve these beauties. Careful coordination must be done to make sure the gene pool stays strong. Each of our cats & their offspring are carefully matched with their mates
A) for the healthiest kitten outcome
B) to best help widen our very small gene pool. The kittens and cats that you see in the Fancy Feast commercials are what is called: Dearheart Chinchilla and Shaded Silver Persians. They have been used exclusively for at least the past 50 years (It is a known fact among breeders.). In the USA Persian is the breed; Silver is the division; Chinchilla & Shaded are the specification of the color class; Dearheart is the line. Dearhearts are a line of Chinchilla & Shaded Silver Persian cat created by Jeanne Ramsdale and her husband Philip N. She used many different lines including Reene's, Silver Mesa, Silver Mist, Allington, Delphi, Gray-Ivy, Las Montanas and Silver Gables. These are important for looking at the pedigrees. Jeanne Ramsdale was a judge and an authority in the Persian cat world back in the 50's -80's. They are one of the only lines to have the traditional Chinchilla & Shaded Silver Persian cat traits. To be a Dearheart there must be a pedigree to back it up since each breeder has it's own cattery name. The Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian must be bred carefully so the set-in traits are not lost. (L'Dearheart & Cherie-Finesse have done an excellent job). If this is done the traits are passed down true. After the deaths of Jeanne & Philip their entire line of 50 cats were left to friends. There was a large fire that killed most of the line. Today's main breeders, L'Dearheart - owned by Firenza Pini and Diane Amble (San Francisco CA.), along with Cherie-Finesse (South Africa) owned by Alida Delport (& previously Stella Slabber, now deceased), have been trying to bring the line back strong (and healthy). They have literally brought them in from Europe & South Africa. With the assistance of the breeders and owners of the cats, (that were still of breedable age) they have since been building the gene pool back up. Dearhearts look white in color but their hair shaft is tubular in shape and translucent, the shading is just on the ends and is silver to black in color. They have the trademark green eyes with black rims, looking like they’re wearing eyeliner. Their noses are brick red, lined with black and heart shaped. All these traits make them photo beautifully. (This is probably why Fancy Feast and others use them for film and photo ads.) These Persians are shown in the "Original Longhair" in the WCF World Cat Federation. What is the difference between a chinchilla and a shaded silver? It has to do with the amount of tipping (15% WCF / 20% CFA) The chinchilla having a more clear sparkling white & the tipping very light over face, legs & back and the shaded tipped evenly over head, body, legs, back & sides. They have the 3 dimensional face (traditional) and a sleeker body type than the standard (peked face) persian. They typically have green eyes but they can be any shade of green to blue green. The Dearhearts must have the green or green variation eye color to be a Dearheart. They are an angora & persian mix so their hair is very different from the standard persian. They actually have long & short persian fur & long & short angora fur. Every cat has different variations of each. They are the sweetest most loving, gentle cats. They are very touchy in the sense that they like to touch you with their paws. What is the difference between a Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian and a "Dollface Persian" or "Teacup" Persian?
#1- Breed
The Dearheart Chinchilla Silver Persian is a CFA (Silver Persian) or WCF (Original Longhair) recognized & registered cat. A "dollfaced" persian or "teacup" persian (being bred smaller purposefully) is not a CFA or WCF recognized breed. The Silver Persian came from breeding traditional long haired angoras to persians. THE LONG HAIRED ANGORA IS EXTINCT. The short haired angora exists but the long haired angora is gone.
#2- Cross Breed
Because the traditional persian head only exists through very few lines you must have CFA documented animals to prove this. For instance a person may have a papered Silver Persian and breed it to a papered long haired animal of another breed and have it "look like" a traditional Silver but it is not. Both parents must be listed as a Silver Persian on the CFA or WCF paperwork. The dollfaced persian breeder usually does not have paperwork from the CFA or only has it from one parent. Some will breed a papered silver to a white. The dearheart line of the silver persians are a truly amazing and beautiful breed of the persians. They also are known not have the eye and breathing issues that is commonly found or associated in flat faced persian breeds. As a team we try not to be competitive with our pricing by undercutting each other. So please understand the beauty and value of these amazing cats as we work as a team to preserve their existence. Also we do have the option to use a pet nany service to deliver to you (at your expense) if you decide to purchase and do not live near. One of which one is my stud cat Eli, 1 is now a retired breeder (Elsa)and she is spayed, the other 4 (Leia, Ami, Peach and Hello Kitty) were each born here in the USA but are the offspring of South Africa imports. All my cats come registered with both CFA and CASA, and I have 8-10 generations worth of pedigrees for all my cats. All my adult cats are also DNA tested for genetic diseases and various other genetic traits and are 100% clear on those tests where diseases are concerned. A super exciting surprise came back with Peach's DNA test, Peach is my golden and according to her DNA test she does carry one copy of the dilute gene, which means she can pass that on to approximately 25% of her offspring, this is exciting because it now makes it possible for her to throw not only silver and golden kittens, but also blue goldens or blue silvers when bred to another silver or golden that is either a dilute or a dilute carrier. So now our cattery can now work on breeding silvers (Chinchilla & Shaded), Goldens (Chinchilla & Shaded) as well as the blue varieties in those colors (Blue Silver and Blue Golden) in both Chinchilla and Shaded varieties. So we are super excited to have that now. I hope you have enjoyed learning about this most amazing and beautiful breed. Blessings from our home to yours
