Nebelung Cat
Origin and History

What is the history behind the Nebelung cat? In the early 1980's Cora Cobb from the United States adopted a black domestic shorthair cat who was named Elsa. In 1984, Elsa mated with a black longhaired cat, believed to be a Turkish Angora. This union produced 6 beautiful kittens - an assortment of 5 blue and black shorthaired kittens and one very special little fellow - a blue longhaired kitten with features closely resembling the Russian Blue cat. Mrs Cobb called him Siegfried.

During 1985, Elsa and her 'Angora' beaux once again produced a litter of kittens - this time a litter of 7. Amongst the litter were two longhaired kittens, one blue and the other black. The blue longhaired kitten had a beautiful silky coat. She was named Brunhilde.

Siegfried and Brunhilde were siblings and unbeknown to them the foundation cats for a future cat breed. These two cats produced a litter of healthy kittens in 1986. Mrs Cobb was infatuated with her Siegfried and Brunhilde and approached Dr Solveig Pflueger, The International Cat Association's, resident genetic specialist for assistance in developing a new cat breed. The breed was provisionally known as the Longhaired Russian Blue.

Mrs Cobb had the unenviable task of developing the breed standard, setting up a breeding program, getting other interested breeders involved and of course the honor of naming the breed.

She named the cat breed Nebelung. The word 'Nebel' is the German word for fog (mist) and Russian 'Nebo' for sky or heaven. The Nebelung has a blue coat with silver tipping that gives the fur a luminous misty aura - this could possibly be the secret behind the name.

Another school of thought is that the breed name was derived from the epic German poem called the 'Nibelungenlied' (translated: Song of the Nibelungs). Siegfried was named after the hero, a dragon slayer and Brunhilde was named after Iceland's Queen, Brünhild, also a character from the poem and the love interest of Siegfried's King, King Gunther.

The Nebelung cat breed is recognized by TICA (The International Cat Association) and WCF (World Cat Federation), but at this stage, not the CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association), but things change all the time. This is a rare cat breed with only a few cat breeders found across the world.

Sadly, Siegfried and Brunhilde would not live long enough to enjoy success as the founding cats. They both died in the late 1980's. Brunhilde died of unknown causes whilst Siegfried died an undignified death - he was run over by a motor vehicle.

Related Cat Pages:

Pictures of Nebelung Cats - beautiful photos of Nebelung aka the longhaired Russian Blue cat

Nebelung - valuable information and facts for cat owners

Nebelung Breeders - a list of cat breeders from around the world

Nebelung Pictures Courtesy of:

© Bernard Boucher of Chatterie Le Fort del la Bosse Marniere