By admin
Nov 19th 2010 @ 4:20PM Filed under: Cat Breed Issues

The Norwegian Forest Cat greatly resembles the Maine Coon Cat but this is an older breed. There is evidence that cats were brought to Norway around 1000 AD by the Vikings. There may be a connection between the Norwegian Forest Cat and cats that were and are still common in Turkey. The Vikings traded between Rome and the Byzantine Empire, so they may have brought these cats from Turkey.

These are large cats, weighing 13 to 22 pounds. Few health problems are known in the breed but there have been reports of flat chests and pectus excavatum. Type IV glycogen storage disease (type IV GSD) does occur in the breed as well as retinal dysplasia.