Norwegian Forest

The Norwegian Forest cat is a domestic cat breed that originated in Northern Europe. With a top coat of long, glossy, water-shedding hair and a woolly undercoat for insulation, this natural breed is adapted to an extremely cold climate. The origins of the breed may have been a landrace of short-haired cats introduced to Norway by the Vikings about A.D. 1000, who may also have brought with them long-haired cats, such as the forebears of the contemporary Siberian and Turkish Angora. The Norwegian Forest cat was nearly extinct during WWII, but the Norwegian Forest Cat Club's breeding effort increased the cat's population.

It was recognized as a breed with the European Fédération Internationale Féline in the 1970s, when a cat fancier named Carl-Fredrik Nordane became aware of the breed and worked to register it. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and France are all big fans of the breed. It is a large, robust cat with long legs, a bushy tail, and a solid physique, comparable to the Maine Coon breed. It excels at climbing, thanks in part to its powerful claws. The average lifetime is 14 to 16 years. The breed has been linked to kidney and cardiac disorders. Complex rearrangements of glycogen branching enzyme (GBE1) can induce prenatal hypoglycemia and late-juvenile neuromuscular degeneration in glycogen storage disorder type IV in this breed.