The Napoleon Founder

Joe Smith is credited as being the Napoleon

Breed founder. Many had been enamored with

the new breed of cat called the Munchkins that

had come on the scene in the early 90's. There

were even a few who had hoped that the Munchkin

breed would evolve into something that didn't look

so "domestic" but there was nobody BUT Joe Smith

who tackled it head on and at 100% effort. It was

Joe who began with the specific purpose of crossing

the Munchkins (who at this time were not even a

totally official breed yet) with the Persian Breed

Group (which includes the Himalayans and Exotic

Shorthairs too). It was Joe who came up with the

name Napoleon. It was Joe who lead the way and

invested a lot of money into trips, websites,

applications, etc. in order to promote the Napoleons.

Though there were a small group of breeders who

were somewhat involved, it was Joe whose efforts

were full-fledged and extremely purposeful.

If you read the History/Timeline page on this

website, you will see a run down of events.

I will not repeat most of it here. Once Joe

Smith left - around 2007-2008 - after

becoming extremely frustrated in the

process - after several rejections - and much

much money spent on the process - with

little hope of ever succeeding and few

supporters, Joe gave up. He neutered, sold,

and/or gave away all of his breeding stock and

walked away from the Napoleons - and never

looked back. He dropped it all and made it clear

that he did not want to talk Napoleons - end

of story. Thus, there are gaps of information

that we do not have. As a group of us Napoleon

breeders picked up the torch in early 2009, we

attempted to rally supporters and work as a

unified group to pick up where Joe left off and

help advance the Napoleons. We do not have

any paperwork from Joe from those early years

and attempts. What I was able to locate on my

computer was a word document with some

information that came off of Joe's Napoleon cat

website (*Note: Joe referred to his website as "The

Napoleon Cat Society") back before he shut it down.

It is not complete - but I consider it precious - just

to have some "words from Joe." I, and several others,

had talked to Joe over the phone back in earlier years.

I recall several of our phone conversations as I

shared my concerns and hopes for the Napoleon breed

and Joe answered questions and advice.

Below are bits and pieces of that website

information:

Thank you for your interest in the Napoleon Cat

Society (NCS). We are a group of committed

Napoleon Cat breeders and fanciers. Our goal is

to secure a place in the cat fancy for the Napoleon

Cat as a healthy, viable and recognized breed.

We are currently seeking registration status in The

International Cat Association (TICA). Once a

registration status is achieved, our ultimate goal

will be to achieve Championship status for the

Napoleon Cat so that we may compete in cat

shows and title our cats as well. This is a long

journey, but one which we will st rive for via the

route set forth by TICA.

For a little more background on what exactly a

Napoleon Cat is, please take a look at What

Are Napoleons. Interested in joining us? Then

please learn how in Our Journey. We hope

you'll enjoy your visit. For more pictures of

this exciting new breed, please check out

Napoleon Cat Photo Gallery. And if you'd

like more information regarding the

Napoleon Cat and its development

and/or registration, please feel free

to email us.

Founder, Napoleon Cat Society

Hopefully our photos are worth a thousand

words! You can see even more in the Photo

Gallery. Basically, the Napoleon Cat is a

moderate to heavy boned cat possessing

a round pleasing face with large round eyes.

The uniqueness of the Napoleon Cat can be

found in its extremely short legs which are

the result of a naturally occurring spontaneous

mutation known as hypochondroplasia,

commonly known as dwarfism. This

type of drwarfism only affects the long

bones of the leg. This has been a common

occurrence in the dog world for centuries

(i.e., Dachshunds, Basset Hounds, Welsh

Corgis, etc.) but is a fairly recent

occurrence in the cat world. The original

short-legged cats have been developed

into a breed called the "Munchkin." The

Napoleon Cat comes in long or s hort (brush

coat) hair and any color is allowed. For a detailed

description (or standard) of the Napoleon Cat,

please refer to the Napoleon Cat Standard.

As stated in our Welcome, our goal is to

"secure a place in the cat fancy for the

Napoleon Cat as a healthy, viable, and

recognized breed"; and certainly, the words

"healthy " and "viable" cannot be over-

emphasized. It must be remember that the

dwarfism mutation in the cat, althought

now almost 20 years in popular existence,

it is still a relatively new phenomenon, with

many questions still unanswered. Short-

legged cats (Munchkins) have thrived, and

by and large are doing quite well all across

the country. However, a small percentage

of these cats have experienced

structural problems, although no more than

any other breed. As breeders, our goal is to

not keep our heads in the sand regarding

inheritable problems, while also not "throwing

the baby out with the bath water" when

problems do arise.

Breeding animals is not for the faint of heart,

regardless of the "species" one undertakes,

another aspect which cannot be over-

emphasized when it comes to cats. The

prefer to the book Feline Husbandry, by

Dr. Niels C. Pedersen, begins with the

comment that, "The domestic cat is one of

the most difficult animal species to

propagate under conditions of close

confinement and intense breeding." When

raising cats properly, there is no great profit

to be made, nor does it come easily. I

would recommend anyone who has not

raised cats before to research this

thoroughly and learn as much as possible

before undertaking this difficult, yet

potentially very rewarding endeavor. It

really is all about the love of the cat.

As defined in TICA's Registration Rules,

a hybrid is "A breed developed from a

deliberate cross between two existing

breeds, incorporating characteristics of

both parental breeds. The Napoleon Cat

is the result of the hybridization of the

Persian Group (Persians, Himalayans, and

Exotics) and the Munchkin Group (both

long and shorthaired Munchkins). The

notable characteristic that the Napoleon

derives from the Munchkin group is the

short leg. The characteristics derived from

the Persian Group are body type, heavy

boning, round head and increased density

of coat. Even though the Napoleon derives

characteristics from both of its "parent"

breeds, to be a true hybrid, it must be

distinguishable from its parent breeds.

The Napoleon differs from its Munchkin

parent in body type, boning, coat and

head. The Napoleon differs from its

Persian Group parent in its distinctive

short legs as well as facial structure...no

break is permitted in the nose, a predominant

feature of the Persian Group. Once the

hybridization has occurred, i.e. the Napoleon

Cat, the resulting offspring,either in the

long or short leg variety, cannot be

registered or represented as either

belonging to the Persian Group or the

Munchkin Group, they are Napoleons only.

For further information regarding hybrid breeds,

please refer to section 37.5 of TICA's

Registration Rules (as stated previously, these

can be found on TICA's website). Ultimately,

once there are sufficient number of Napoleons,

we can eliminate the outcrosses to the Persian

and Munchkin Groups and only allow the breeding

of Napoleons to Napoleons. At that time, we will

be eligible for the classification of an

Established Breed.

Regarding the Napoleon, this

statement could mean either legs or coat! First,

let's talk about legs. No matter how long you

breed short-legged cat to short-legged cat, you

still have kittens in the litter that will have

long legs, and those long-legged (also known

as non-standard) kittens will not carry the gene

for short legs. That is because, in the cat world,

the short-legged gene is not homozygous (for

the sake of brevity, I'll let you look that one up

in the dictionary if you're not sure of its meaning).

We will always have Napoleons occurring that will

have long legs. Needless to say, a registered non-

standard Napoleon is as much a Napoleon as its

shortlegged siblings (or parents!), and has

a valued place in a breeding program. This

will be even more true once the napoleon has

moved from the classification of a hybrid to

an established breed, when outcrosses to the

Persian Group and Munchkin Group will no

longer be allowed. In the meantime, they

are lovely cats in their own right and in that

regard quite marketable. (You can see a

photo of one of these nonstandard Napoleonnns

in the Photo Gallery.)

Regarding the long and short coats, it will

suffice to say that we do encourage both of

these varieties.

If you have never bred cats before, please

research this endeavor thoroughly before

starting. If you wish to start producing

Napoleons, please procure your initial

breeding stock very carefully. Your prime

concerns should be health and temperment;

these factors cannot be stressed strongly

enough. Your initial cats must be registered.

For our purposes, TICA registers both the

Persian Group (Persians, Himalayans, Exotics)

and the Munchkin Group. CFA, another major

cat registry, does not register cats belong to

the Munchkin Group. Allow yourself plenty of

time to get your first cats and make sure you

have proper facilities. Another factor to

remember when choosing your initial cats is

what color and coat type you wish to work

with. In other words, make sure your

homework is done! As of this writing, TICA is

registering the Napoleon Cat as an experimental.

When you are ready to register your Napoleons,

you can contact either the TICA office or myself

regarding this. We will keep this website updated

as we proceed along the road to full acceptance

in TICA.

Thank you for your interest in the Napoleon

Cat and please feel free to contact me

regarding this exciting new breed if you

have any further questions or concerns.

Please check out the Breeder's Directory on

our website to communicate with other

Napoleon Breeders.

Sincerely, Joe Smith

"The Napoleon is a shortlegged Persian."

"The Napoleon is a flat- faced Munchkin."

NOT! As stated in What Makes a

Napoleon a Napoleon? section of this

website, the Napoleon is a hybrid breed"...

incorporating characteristics of both

parental breeds into the new breed." Since

a picture is indeed worth a thousand words,

below you find head photos from each of the

"parent" groups as well as the Napoleon

itself. Although the head type of the

Napoleon more resembles the head type

of the Persian Group than that of the Munchkin

Group, there is a definite difference in what

the standard of the Persian Group calls for and

what the Standard of the Napoleon calls for. The

profile of the Persian Group is described as

"Short, snub-nose, definite break directly

between the eyes." The profile of the

Napoleon calls for a "moderately short

nose with a slight dip below the eyes." In

fact, the Napoleon Standard penalizes

a "break between the eyes or above the

nose."

***************

Joe refers to various pictures - and of

course, I wish now that I had copied those

picture files to my computer too -but,

I did not. But we do have several

pictures of several of Joe Smith's cats...

.and as he mentions above - a picture

is worth a thousand words. So, let me include

a collection of Joe Smith's cats (as shown

on this page).