Have you ever met a dark and mysterious Chantilly cat, a.k.a. a Chantilly Tiffany? I’ll bet you haven’t, because this ill-fated breed is as good as extinct! And yet people continue to search for Chantilly kittens for sale, wonder what the personality will be like, and how big it will grow. The Chantilly cat might be THE most sought-after extinct pet that people don’t realise has gone for good. So why are people still looking and why am I writing about a cat you can’t buy? Because it’s really interesting, and I don’t want you to end up on a disappointing wild goose chase.
Contents
- Where did Chantilly cats come from?
- Attempted saviors of the breed
- Successes and set backs
- Facts vs fiction when finding a kitten
What is the Chantilly Tiffany cat?
The Chantilly cat has a backstory worthy of a Hollywood film. Alas, as we shall see, there are very few first hand records about them left. So everything we think we might know comes from second hand evidence which is prone to gaps and inconsistencies!
The first Chantilly cat breeders
Where: New York
When: 1960s and 1970s
We know the Chantilly cat starts out in 1960s New York, with a professional breeder called Jennie Robinson and two longhaired chocolate-colored cats called Thomas and Shirley. In some versions of the story, Robinson bought Thomas and Shirley at an estate sale following the death of a wealthy New York socialite.
Others believe it was a regular garage sale, and in some versions Thomas and Shirley were actually left at a petshop where Robinson found them. History is equally muddled on how closely Thomas and Shirley might have been related, but nonetheless, they go on to have kittens.
Lovely fluffy chocolate kittens, and all identical.
In the 1970s, Robinson manages to persuade the American Cat Association (a cat registry of the period) to accept Thomas, Shirley and their descendents onto their register, with the uninspiring name Foreign Longhair.
But later in the decade, Ms Robinson decides not to breed any more fluffy chocolate Foreign Longhairs.
Saving the Chantilly cat – The first attempt
Where: Florida
When: 1970s and 1980s
When Robinson decides to stop breeding her fluffy brown cats, she sell the remaining kittens to a breeder of Burmese cats in Florida, called Sigyn Lund.
First job: make them sound more appealing.
Thus, Foreign Longhair is changed to Tiffany, (reportedly after a classy hotel nearby). Sadly, the re-christened Tiffany cats don’t stay on the ACA’s books for much longer.
Due to dwindling numbers, they are de-registered, and they all lose their pedigree status. Without a proper name and status of their own, Lund starts advertising her fluffy chocolate kittens as Longhair Burmese instead.
In 1979, The International Cat Registry agrees to re-register the Tiffany breed, in their Burmese cat section. Things are looking up again, but not for long.
Set back #1
As it happened Lund never crossbred her Burmese and Tiffany cats.
But following a fateful phone call between Lund and a book researcher called Joan Bernstein, two cat handbooks are published in the late 1980s which mistakenly claim Tiffany cats were exactly the result of crossing Burmese cats with Persian or Himalayan cats from the UK.
Is it false advertizing or human error? No one knows, cat fancy chaos ensues, and no one really wants a fluffy chocolate kitten without pedigree papers any more.
So is this the end of the Chantilly cat?
Not even close. They haven’t even got that name yet! Let’s pick up a parallel thread of the Chantilly Tiffany cat’s story a few years earlier, in Canada of all places.
A new generation of Chantilly cat breeders
Where: A farm somewhere in Canada
When: 1973
A pregnant cat who looks just like a Tiffany cat arrives out of the blue at a farm in Canada, and promptly gives birth to a litter of identical fluffy chocolate kittens.
Canadian breeders fall for their charms, but take a more casual approach to preserving the dark chocolate coloring. Now the fluffy kittens start to come in cinnamon, fawn, blue and lilac.
Meanwhile, the Canadian breeders find out about Robinson and Lund’s breeding programs, spot the similarity with their own cats. A cat exchange begins, and soon Canada has its own fledgling Tiffany cat population.
Time for another new name: Enter the Chantilly Tiffany cat (at last!)
In 1992, the Canadian Tiffany cat breeders realized that the name of their cat is causing some confusion with the British and Australian Tiffanie cat breeds. Tiffanie cats are an entirely unrelated Asian longhair breed.
So to set them apart, the Tiffany cat now becomes the Chantilly Tiffany cat, sometimes just called the Chantilly cat. In reality, this does almost nothing to end the confusion. And now it’s time for…
Set back #2
Also in 1992, TICA cotton on that the now-Chantilly-Tiffany doesn’t have any provable Burmese heritage after all.
The Chantilly breed is deregistered and kicked out of the Burmese class. Once again, the fluffy chocolate cats lose their pedigree status.
Is this the end of the Chantilly Tiffany lifespan?
It’s not looking good, but devoted Chantilly cat fans aren’t going to let this breed go down without a fight. Despite the change of status, these cats maintain a kind of cult popularity, and in 1994 TICA agree to have them back as a breed in their own right.
At the turn of 21st century, Chantilly Tiffany cats are being bred at a handful of locations in America, Canada, Norway and Germany. But their position feels precarious and interest is dwindling.
By 2003 Amorino Cattery in Illinois is the only Chantilly breeder still operating in the US.
Sometime between now and 2012 we know that TICA once again drop the Chantilly Tiffany from its registry, due to lack of numbers.
And there may have been an attempt to revive the breed by appealing to Havana Brown, Somali, Abyssinian and Nebelung cat breeders for possible outcrosses. Then, in 2012, the Amorino cattery and all of its archives are destroyed by a fire.
The last Chantilly Tiffany cats
With no breeders left in the U.S., things are bleak once more for the Chantilly Tiffany cat. In September 2012 a male Chantilly called Frosty who survived the fire at the Amorino Cattery makes the long journey to Norway to live with a Nebelung breeder called Norma.
We know a bit about Norma’s efforts to revive the the Chantilly breed from a blog she kept at the time. Apparently Frosty was not impressed by Nebelung females, and only one kitten was ever born – a female called Acey.
Norma also writes that Chantilly cat health had been left in a poor condition, and their immune system was poor (presumably due to inbreeding within a dwindling population).
In 2015 Frosty was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put down. In the same year, with no breeding prospects left, Norma decided to have Acey spayed and ended her Chantilly Tiffany breeding program.
That’s a lot of history, but what does it tell us?
The history of domestic cats is full of plucky breeds gradually coaxed into existence from a single cat (like the American Curl), or rescued from the brink of extinction by one passionate breeder with a burning vocation (like the Havana Brown).
And the Chantilly cat came so close to joining them. But with no breeders, no breeding program, and no records of where the last Chantilly Tiffany kittens found their forever homes, this unlucky breed is now considered extinct.
The breed today
That means I can’t buy a Chantilly cat today, right? But the thing is, at the time of writing, if I do a quick internet search for “chantilly kittens for sale”, I get results!
Litters near me, with a Chantilly Tiffany cat price from the suspiciously low, to the eyewateringly high. There are also plenty of Chantilly cat breed reviews on other websites, with details of the Chantilly cat personality, and Chantilly cat health.
How come? And if you meet find a breeder who also claims to have these cats, how can you sort the Chantilly cat facts from the Chantilly cat fiction?
Chantilly cat facts
The Chantilly Tiffany cat breed has left a legacy of confusion. But these Chantilly cat facts we know for sure. Whilst at the time of writing (2018) it is conceivable that Chantilly cats from the closed breeding programs are still alive, their numbers are vanishingly rare.
Only half of them are females, and the proportion of those not spayed and still young enough to bear kittens is tiny. The closest Chantilly ancestor a kitten might have now is, perhaps, a grandparent. So how are kittens still being identified as pedigree Chantilly, or half pedigree Chantilly?
Busting some Chantilly cat myths
Firstly, no breed registries recognize the Chantilly cat breed anymore. This means new kittens can’t be registered, and previously registered cats have lost their pedigree status.
But a cat is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, and some cats have more perceived value because they are pedigree animals, or because they are rare.
In 2013 the former owner of the Amorino Cattery launched a social media campaign against a Canadian breeder calling himself “The King of Siam” who was selling fake pedigree Chantilly kittens.
Sadly, some people will tell lies and make up facts about their kittens to command higher prices. But don’t be duped into thinking you can buy a pedigree Chantilly cat.
Beware the black Chantilly cat
Observers have noticed (and my quick foray into looking for Chantilly kittens appears to bear out) that some people might mistake “chantilly” for a simple adjective meaning “black and fluffy”.
Sometimes it might be an innocent mistake, and sometimes it might not be. If you see a black Chantilly cat for sale, it’s a dead give away that they are not Chantilly at all.
Know your Tiffany from your Tiffanie
Another source of confusion, is the similarity between the Chantilly Tiffany name, and the Tiffanie breed. This could well be a genuine mistake in many cases.
Tiffanie is actually an unofficial name for the Asian longhair in the UK. But, spelling Tiffanie with an -ie does not come naturally to Brits, and these cats are often described as Tiffany cats as well.
In most cases, only approaching the breeder will settle whether their Tiffany kitten or Tiffany crossbreed is part Chantilly-Tiffany, or part Asian longhair.
Will the Chantilly cat breed ever make a come back?
Who knows? This cat appeared out of nowhere, twice! Maybe it will do it again. In the meantime, the unexpected and fascinating tale of the Chantilly cat breed is an interesting contrast to the triumphant breed stories we more usually write about.
We’d love to hear your first hand experiences of this enigmatic breed – please share them in the comments section below!
Chantilly cats seem to appear. How seems unclear. I got a three year old from the pound. She was picked up as a pregnant stray. I never saw the kittens I assume they found homes.
Midnight lost the tip of her left ear somewhere along the way. She may have lived through some stressful times. Shes fiesty, does not make friends easily with people. She’s sociable, on her terms. She lives with a young male oriental. They’ve had an interesting relationship, but no fur, or blood has flown. Roger the oriental considers the world full of toys for him. He’s not used to being stalked and taken down. Midnight does this to him on occasion.
She seems of the type. Tufted ears, glowing yellow eyes, a ruff around the neck, and a plume of a tail. A single coat silky and longish. Coloring from milk to semi sweet chocolate. She sings and trills, often carrying on long conversations. A medium sized svelt body. I hope she and Roger stick around for a long time.
Yes! We had one show up on our back patio and adopt us about three years ago. She was starved down to five pounds. We didn’t know what sort of cat she is until my son saw the Chantilly segment on Animal Planet’s “Cats 101” show. True to the segment, she is anxious and almost obsessively sociable (very tuned in to humans). Animal Planet refers to them as a “supermodel” of cats. She definitely gets compliments from anyone who sees her, and she has the domineering persistence of an entitled beauty. Maybe in a future comment I will post more (with a photo link) about our experience with this most peculiar cat.
I rescued a wonderful female and have been trying to find a breeder who would take her to keep the breed going. (I currently have a male in foster care who I believe is also a Chantilly and I think they would mate. But do you know of any breeders anywhere? If one litter can be produced I would have her neutered and keep her forever. She is a wonderful cat.
David, are you able to breed them yourself, since you have both cats in your possession? It may be easier to ‘seed’ the potential breeder field with kittens rather than the potential of kittens. I understand that you want to keep your own cat, blessings to you that she’s found such a good home.
I have a female who had a litter of long haired Chantillys. They are a beautiful chocolate color. They are currently about 10 weeks old.
Where do you live? I want to get another one! I love my Charlie so much’
Did you find a way to breed her?
I adopted a chocolate brown kitten in 2010. I have no idea if she is a chantilly but she checks a lot of the boxes. She’s gorgeous milk chocolate brown with big golden eyes, medium length silky coat with little or no undercoat. She trills and chirps her little conversations with me and likes to be near people, me in particular. She does have the over-grooming problem and perhaps some seasonal allergies that exacerbate her hair tugging. We were told she was almost 8 weeks old when we adopted her at the shelter, but more than 1 vet told us she was more like 5 weeks. Perhaps consequently, she is very easily overstimulated and anxious, something we have been working on since she hit about a year old. I named her Godiva (because, obviously, she is luxurious chocolate), but the “Diva” embedded in the name often fits her personality, because she is drama most of the time. She does have a really sweet side and I love her. It is interesting to find how much she resembles a chantilly. Any insights for her struggles would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
I have one that looks like one. I just got it from our spca. How can I send you a picture
I just adopted a spayed female in Hamilton, Ontario. She’s a bigger boned girl, racketty, large ears, long tail, and not floppy like a Persian. Her eyes are gold and she has a pronounced brown ruff.
I had a Chantilly Tiffany who lived to be 17 years old. She looked exactly like the pictures with her blackish brown fur. Her looks and personality matched the breed exactly. She was amazing and I would love to have another Chantilly Tiffany. She was just a mutt so it seemed untill I found the breed on a poster at the vet office. She was so personal, sweet, loyal …so hard to not go on and on about her many wonderful attributes that far outweighed her problem points.
I have a Chantilly cat who came to me as a pregnant stray and she did have a litter which we found homes for – she fits no other cat description for look or personality and also used to coo and sing when little but voice has deepened with age. I used to coo to her when she came to me as a young mom and she would coo back – very communicative and smart – she is likely too old to breed but I’m sure she must be a descendant of this rare breed because her personality is not like other cats and she fits all the descriptions – does anyone know if there are dietary needs for the breed I can look to as she ages? I think she is about 13years old but very healthy
I would like you all to meet Bear. She is a Chantilly Tiffany living in Hamilton, Ontario. She has espresso fur and a broen ruff and underbelly. She is about 7 years old, and fixed. I acquired her from a local, who had her as a stray for 5 years. The reason I checked her out is because of her unusual colouring. Also, she is exceptionally intelligent, wily, and cannot stand being without people. We call her a cat and a half. She is a dead ringer for the photos. I am happy to send photos. She is alive, well, and in exceptionally good health.
I got my girl Shyanne by chance in Florida, beautiful chocolate brown color, big yellow eyes, I miss her. Best thing having her was I’m allergic to cats and I was not allergic to her, plus she hardly ever shed. Still 8 years later after she’s gone I still miss her singing to me and sleeping on my pillow
We ended up with my daughter’s wonderful cat, whose head was twice as large as my small tabby, so I wanted to research his breed. Turns out he looks exactly like the Chantilly Tiffany images I found, and has the personality to match. He’s 2-1/2 years old, black (other than your website, apparently this is one of the colors they can be), has big gorgeous eyes, tufted ears, silky black fur, a fluffy tail, square skull, chirpy voice, mischevious, affectionate, follows us around, likes to play – just love him!
I too had an all black male, but in the sunlight, I could see hints of chocolate. I was 16 when I acquired him as a kitten from a friend who no longer wanted him. He had a long, silky coat, fluffy tail, and beautiful gold eyes…he was gorgeous, and he knew it. His personality fit all the characteristics of the breed. He lived to be 18yrs old before I had to send him over the rainbow. I would love to have another.
I own a Chantilly cat, but she is now 14. The breeder I got her from told me she was no longer going to breed them anymore, so I got one of the last ones-it was a small cattery in KY. Paris is a lilac chantilly, and one of the most beautiful cats I have ever seen, but sadly has had many health issues, especially with her teeth.
OMGOODNESSGRACIOUS I have a Chantilly. Can we donate blood or something to keep his breed thriving? I’ll get Skitz’s permission first of course but I know he’ll help. How interesting was that read? I didn’t know aside from just how wonderful and unique he is just based on how crazy about him I am, I didn’t realize HOW unique he is. Imma give him a big ass hug after typing this
I have a one year old kitten, he has long beautiful chocolate brown fur, big bright yellow eyes and matches the personally perfectly. He was a reacue so I never saw his parents. But there is no doubt that he is this cat breed.
I live in South Florida and found a chantilly kitten abandoned on the beach. I adopted him and he was the beautiful dark chocolate color with gorgeous yellow eyes always gazing at me so lovingly. My husband and I were very impressed with the breed and were instantly in love with all his chirping chattering and singing to us. He was very sweet and affectionate needing lots of attention from us. Unfortunately after 10 wonderful years with our cat; he developed bone cancer and I had to put him to sleep in May 2018. He was the most wonderful cat I have ever owned and I would most definitely want another Chantilly cat some day.
My probable chantilly cat who I adopted in Florida also passed away due to bone cancer/osteosarcoma, in 2021.
I was looking to adopt a cat for Christmas, and I fell in love with one semi-long haired black/brown female on Petfinder.com. I inquired about her but she was too old to warrant the full adoption fee and she had some health issues. However, my heart set on finding a similar cat. I found a semi-long haired black smoke, golden-eyed kitten from Jacksonville, Florida (Florida being the state of one of the first reported Chantilly catteries). I brought her home. She follows me from room to room, chirping and trilling. After a couple of months, I learn there is a Chantilly breed. Does she have Chantilly blood? For several more months, I believe it. Then I learn of the breed’s struggle and demise in America. The last U.S. Chantilly cattery burned and ended the pedigree here. But how many of the kittens bred in those 40 years?
How can we know for she that we have a Chantilly? I took in a semi stray female with 4 babies. They have tufted ears, beautiful looking and silky black/ chocolate brown coats. They have stunning yellow eyes and a distinctive face. They look like they have a brown lions mane. Most beautiful kittens! I’d love to keep the breed going. The mother is young and has beautiful black silky fur. Her babies fur is even longer!
I have one, she’s about 12 years old but I’m not certain because she wandered up to the house one day (I live in the country) and just adopted me. She had kittens, they all looked just like her and after they were weened I had her fixed. I’d never seen a cat like her before. She’s petite, dark, golden eyes and acts very protective of me. The strange thing is, several months ago, another one wandered up. The new one is a male and still fairly wild but is slowly getting more docile. He won’t let anyone pet him yet but I think he’s settling in and just might stay. After reading about how rare they are now, I’m wondering where they’re coming from? Very interesting.
I agree. My son found my own 11 year old Chantilly as a kitten on a country road in Wisconsin. She has been a godsend to me for many reasons. Im beginning to think they are being dropped off as gifts from angels 😇❤️. I hope they continue to live on.
We believe we have a Chantilly cat that we adopted at 8 weeks from our local shelter. He is now 16 years old, and a bit overweight at 13 lbs. He’s a beautiful dark chocolate color. He’s been very healthy except maybe for his digestive system. His stools have been loose all his life, as opposed to other car stools that are formed and hard. He is quite the character with a big personality. A visitor to our home recently commented, upon spotting Rocky walking into the room:”wow…that cat looks important!” And that’s exactly his opinion of himself. He plays fetch, he “talks” non-stop, and for the past few years has started “howling” crying vocalizations that are sometimes really hard to stand. I am “his person” and he follows me all around. Although he does not sleep in my bed with me at night he waits in the bedroom until I’m in bed and lights out, before leaving. He is intelligent, not particularly agile (for a cat) loving when it suits his mood, and he likes to BITE! Sometimes they are love bites, but not always.
He is friendly with some people and never seems to warm up to others. I don’t know how or why he makes these judgments; all I know is that he rarely changes his mind!
I’ve never had such an interesting and personable pet before Rocky. He is a joy and I love him so much. At age 16, I’ve started to prepare myself for losing him. That is going to be very, very difficult for me.
I lost my best friend recently and it’s been very difficult. He was such a wonderful cat it’s heart braking Knowing I’ll never find such a smart loving devoted Cat like him again. Best comment about the breed is that they’re a dog trapped in a cats body.
I had a Tiffany that I adopted through PetsMart in 2000. I’d never seen a cat like her before; it wasn’t until several years later that the internet really became robust enough to do reliable research. She had a pug-like face so I named her der Fledermaus. She was fluffy and brown with the tell-tale light saddle across her shoulders, which became more pronounced in the summer. You could always tell she was SOME kind of a breed, just not WHAT breed, since cats are never brown (aside from a couple of Asian breeds). Mausy was the sweetest cat I’ve ever know, super affectionate but not as demanding as a Siamese. With great sorrow I had to have her put down at age 17 due to kidney failure. I’ve been looking ever since for another Tiffany but was confused by all the sudden color variations (I thought brown was the defining color) and my inability to find a current breeder. I feel so sad that this wonderful line of cats has gone extinct. Hopefully they will spontaneously arise again, just as they have before.
I am so glad to have found recent posts about Chantilly cats. I believe my rescue is this breed. There is no other explanation for her beautiful voice, mesmerizing eyes, rich chocolate coat and extreme loyalty. She is going on 19 years and she is as agile and friendly as the day I found her — 8 years ago at the humane society. I couldn’t ask for a better companion. How sad that she might be one of the last!!!
Yes, I have an older Chantilly as well and it is sad to know they are becoming extinct . We have been blessed with the time we have had with our loving and beautiful friends.
I adopted a Chantilly Tiffany from the Bloomington Indiana Animal Shelter in 2006.
She is blue with golden green eyes.
Ear tufts as I call them .
Very docile and affectionate.
She has always been in great health and even thought she is a senior cat .She still likes to play. She loves to cuddle but also likes her alone time .
I found her to be quite intelligent and she makes trilling sounds when happy. She is the most wonderful cat. I want another one . But sadly for now that’s a dream . People need to save this breed . They are so unique. Very soft gentle cats.
I have a a painting of her.
Hope I can post here.
I had never heard of this breed until a stray kitten attached itself to our household. First it appeared all black with bright green eyes. Then one day I asked my brother if he had notice the brown ring around his neck and the brown hair that was showing up. So, googled the description, found out the brown ring is a ruff, and saw a LOT of pictures that were the spitting image of my Midnight. He is not a large cat, is very vocal, and wants to be with me all the time. If the breed is virtually extinct, how come so many of them are still showing up out of nowhere. It’s 2018 and supposedly they have been extinct for years???
We had a chantilly tiffany until a few weeks ago… 13 years ago, we brought home a kitten from the flea market. At the time, I knew nothing about the chantilly tiffany breed, all I knew was that we were bringing home a cat for our 2 year old daughter. Midnight was a loving cat towards everyone, but he formed a very special bond with our daughter. He would followed her, come running when she called, and of the 3 couches in our living room he would always jump up on whatever one she was sitting on. Midnight was a huge part of our lives and a little over 2 weeks ago he stopped coming home. My daughter sits at the back door and calls him, we walk our road looking for him, she cries every night. I’m still hoping that he will come back home, however, I am at the same time desperately trying to find another chocolate fluff ball to bring home to ease my daughter’s pain.
I have a Chantilly Tiffany, after so much research I finally found what breed she is!
She has soft/silky black fur, which. Shines brown when she’s in light.
She has a chirpy-meow, huge golden eyes and she’s very fluffy.
She was born around late 2009.
I never knew that this breed has been through so much!
And I’m very happy my mom adopted my baby kitty back in 2009 <3
Yes, my Sequoia has fur almost as soft as a bunny.
I adopted two female rescue kittens in October of 2017, and they were from Staten Island. One is a Black Domestic Short Hair, but the other could pass for a Pure Breed Chantilly, with her chocolate color, strange vocalizations, gold eyes. Maybe there is male Chantilly that is getting out on Staten Island.
My step-daughter gave me a kitten for Chrismas in 1999. She was an abandoned feral kitten, about six weeks old, and she came from the animal,shelter in Tallahassee Florida. She had a funny looking skinny tail, and smoke grey eyesm, (which later turned amber,) I called her Misty, and it was Love at first sight. As she matured. That silly tail grew into a gorgeous plume, of which she was obviously very proud.
One day, I was looking through a book on cats, and there was a picture of a cat that looked just like my beautiful Misty. It was a Chantilly Tiffany, and as I read the characteristics of the bteed, they fit her perfectly, even down to the chirp!
She was the best cat I EVER had, full of fun, and she traveled with us to every State in the Continental US, including Alaska and much of Canada, in our motorhome, loving every minute of her adventures.
Sadly, in 2017 she had trouble eating, and the vet said she had a fast-growing, and inoperable tumor under her tongue, and we had to euthanize her. It broke our hearts.
I certainly wish we could find another Chantilly Tiffany. They are wonderful!!!
I have a dark chocolate/blackish Chantilly Tiffany that I adopted from the Humane Society. She’s a gorgeous cat, has all the characteristics, and is certainly the most affectionate and personable cat I’ve ever had. I wish I could attach a photo here!
I ‘m sure I have a Chantilly. In 2010 I was looking for a playmate for my male domestic when I came across an ad for a free cst. She was beautiful and knowing i could give her a loving home, i took her. She’s long haired, brown, large head, eyes and ears. She’s medium size but looks heavier that what she is. We immediately noticed she did not meow like our domestic male. Her personality is completely different. She is very offish and hesitates with kids or strangers. However has taken a special interest in my husband. Very particular about her liter box (she has her own). Once she dirtys it she will go on the floor if we aren’t home to clean it. Frustrating. And 8 years later, she has no intentions of being friends with our male. He will only be allowed to lay within 10 ft of her. But if he moves, she hisses. She was fixed and completely declawed when i took her but she holds her own. He’s fixed but not declawed and she seems to scare him. She loves to cuddle and sit on your lap, but with too much petting, gets aggravated. Have often considered finding her a new home, thinking she may be more at ease but in reality think this is her personality. She is beautiful but at the same time can look evil with those big eyes and stand up ears. Can you tell me if this sounds like a true chantilly?
The cat still loves you. Its just getting hot because of the fluff. My cat was like that.
We have a 15 year old Chantilly beauty queen! She really is so rare in so many ways. She’s social to the point she wants to be physically present in every single interaction as if she will be taking turns to speak as well. Not just laying around in the same room, if there are four chairs she will take one and sit up straight like the rest of us ready to pay attention. She’s very very talkative and will speak more than a lot of humans do. Her voice is generally very delicate and “girly”, though she has probably a couple hundred different meows/chirps/trills/sounds she uses for different reasons that range from soft and girly to deep and “I mean business” like. She talks enough so that she usually covers that spectrum many times over in a day. Of course I think she’s gorgeous, but it’s everyone else’s response that makes it truly obvious how much she stands apart. Her eyes are striking yellow/green and she does not use a random “cat stare”, she’s very expressive all of the time. Shes a “black cat” or so most people think. Really she is a super rich dark brown that can be shown obviously in the sun when she’s glowing a beautiful red color. She’s super fluffy but something about her fur makes it not easily matted or dirty. It stays shiny and silky all the time. Definitely the softest of cats I’ve ever felt she feels like fresh and clean down feathers. Everyone always says WOW you must brush her a lot – I don’t, and there have been long periods when I haven’t been able to brush her at all – still the same exact response every time. She’s super super sweet, not even sure she’s aware she has the ability to bite or scratch as a weapon. Super intuitive. Super smart. Once when playing with my baby niece on the floor she watched intently circling around us for a bit before leaving and coming back dragging a toy with her…I’m not sure if this was jealousy and wanted me to play with her instead or if she was just bringing the baby a toy offering like we humans were doing but either way she definitely knows how to read a situation and react intelligently. She’s always always super mentally present. Like she’s watching and learning all the time, which may seem like a guess but I actually get to see the results of her “thinking” on a daily basis and she is still always surprising us with how much she understands what’s going on. She LOVES snuggling up close and personal…like a lot of cats. She’s a big girl though at 15 lbs and her spooning and hugging takes up the space a small child would. She also loves being completely spine to spine and her spine runs the length of mine from my neck all the way to my tailbone. She’s a big girl! So to put it all together she’s a brilliant, beautiful, sweet sweet, intuitive girl and she’s far different than any other cat I’ve ever met or owned. Of course I’m a little biased, but I never have to convince anyone how cool my cat is, they all immediately fall under her trance on their own and start pointing out all her differences without me ever having to say a word…so it’s legit 🙂
Oh, and how we came upon this sweet girl… my father rescued her from behind a building where a field met the parking lot. He had seen them in the field with the parent/s before and thought nothing of it until he noticed the parents stopped coming around and the kittens were wandering around the parking lot with their eyes still closed crying and starving. He scooped all four up after really making sure it was an emergency, and 15 yrs later here we are! All stayed in the family with three different owners. There was one other Chantilly that grew up identical to my girl in just about every way. Then there were two shorthairs that were also very very sweet, but except for a few other basic type similarities they were as different as they could have been from the Chantillys. They were much more like “regular” type aloof kitties. We didn’t know they were Chantilly until someone told us a few years back. They were so right!
Sorry for the book! I never get the chance to talk all about my girl! 🙂
3 months ago we adopted a cat that I believe is a Chantilly from the local animal shelter in Morgan county Indiana. She is around 5-6 years old going from the info from the microchip company. She was already chipped and spayed when she arrived there. She was originally chipped in Illinois as a kitten born in a shelter/rescue. She is a beautiful silky deep dark chocolate, that has a lighter milk chocolate shading at the tips. She has the petticoat/cloud from her floofy mane to her elbows. Her floof is not a double coat.
I belong to a Chantilly Tiffany Group on Facebook.please check out Chantillt Tiffany Lovers group. Mine is from Illinois a rescue at Pet Smart Schaumburg ,Il 2016.. The lady that we got her from was from a rescue called 4 Paws Rescue. The cat is amazing and as I read all the reviews your describing my cat. I named her Coco Chanel. She is amazing personality. Cat Talking and singing chriping.
We had a male Chantilly, with the soft, fluffy black/chocolate brown coat, green eyes, and a gorgeous ruff he would grow in the fall and lose in the spring. He loved to “talk” with you, and acted almost more like a dog than a cat as he liked to follow us around. No one has mentioned this, but our guy would go limp when you would pick him up, like a ragdoll cat; it was like holding a baby on your shoulder. And I’ve met two other cats who looked like him and also had this limp quality. Unhappily we lost him last year to cancer, after 17 wonderful years.
I can’t help wondering if there’s some sort of recessive gene that just keeps popping out (we found our guy in Virginia). Hi mom was not a Chantilly, and his sister was a tabby!
Yes they do go limp! More so than a rag doll cat! I believe that most cat breeds are related to a degree and some have the traits of of one breed and some other trait she and the trick to making a new breed is for them all to have same qualities! And this breed does have same qualities…
How interesting this article is for me! I have a story of my own and currently have 3 litters of kittens I need whichever I believe are exactly that! Chantilly cats! All my questions about their odd coloring and obsessive affectionate personalities and their identical look HAVE NOW BEEN ANSWERED! I found the grandfather at an Amish farm in Kutztown, Pa! He was dropped off in the dark in November of 2014/15. I took him home and he accidentally bred with my pure Persian momma cat and alas we have refreshed the breed ! Ppl aren’t allergic to them! They don’t shed! They don’t mat up! They are super affectionate! Ride on my hay wagon, walk through the creek, stay with me out in middle of woods in the down pouring rain and hide under some branches and when I ask where are you? They come running out just until I see them and back under the branches to stay out of rain. Drenched by the rain they never leave my side and race all the way back the path staying just inches behind or in front of me all the way back out the woods! I have special silvery blue colors, dark chocolates, milk chocolates, heavily swirled tabby’s and almost spotted tabbies with very thin stripes as well. Very much not like the Persian cat!
If you have a dark chocolate Chantilly male that you would like to find a new home for, my husband and I might be interested. We have a couple boy kitties right now that we adopted from a rescue near us in Virginia, who are both about a year old and I think would be very open to having another brother. And we would love to have a Chantilly again! Are you on Facebook?
Do you still have any of the kittens left? I lost mine about eight years ago at the age of 21. I couldn’t get another cat, after her, cause it hurt too much! Now, I would like to have one. My little girl was only 7 lbs, deep dark brown, golden eyes, broad face with a thick tail. She would demand to know where I was in the house, gave kisses (even when you didn’t want them) and talked and chirped all the time… If she was awake, she was talking. After she passed, my house was silent… I couldn’t believe how quite it was and still is.
Hello Debi,
Let me share my story with you. It was around the first or second week in March of this year when out of the bushes outside of our home, the cutest little ( what seemed to me to be a kitten ) comes to me meowing. My husband gave me a look & said: “Don’t even think about it, don’t feed it-it’s wild”. But we noticed she wanted in our home. We didn’t let her in that night. The following day she was lethargic on top of our trash can the fun beating down on her, called my husband he informed me to make an appointment with the vet to go down to the store to get her cat food & put her inside our home. Did just that. Fast forwarding after many vet visits she is a very ill cat she has cost us over 5k over a 7 month period. She has been diagnosed with two terminally ill illnesses it’s devastating to us to see such a loyal, affectionate sweet cat go through so much she doesn’t leave my husband’s sight.
Named her “Peridot” because the color of her eyes are the color of my birthstone. We call her “Peri” for short. She is unique like her breed. Came across a cat magazine & there she was it was until then realized she was a Chantilly-Tiffany. Looks like sometime the week is over we will have to put Peri down her breathing has become labored we believe she is suffering. If you have any females left please let me know if you are looking to place them in a good home. Want to give one to my husband to ease the loss of Peri
In 1987 I went with my mom to get a new cat. We were looking at a three year old tabby. I noticed this black puff ball kitten being rascal with the other cats. He let me puck him up and I gave him the name Rascal. We could not choose so we left to think it over. We went back and got the little black puffball.
This guy grew up and earned the nickname EB for extra big. I think the top weight was 13 pounds. Drank water from the tub faucet. This cat ate bamboo leaves, but had a special diet. My best friend for many years. I don’t have many good pictures because he ran to me whenever I tried. Did the chirp tracking flying insects in the house. As the cat got older the dark chocolate brown you could see when the cat was backlit.
Always thought it was just a part persian black cat until seeing Cats 101 last night.
I have a Chantilly cat. We were given to us by my son, who could not care
for here when she was just a kitten. She’s dark dark brown. Yellow eyes and is the sweetest cat I have ever owned. She’s blinks to me frequently
and talks to me (chirps). I am looking to purchase another. My oldest cat is dying of kidney failure and I need a companion for my Chantilly.
I’m starting to think that my cat is one of these, or st least a cross with one. He has a large frame but isn’t fat, and looks exactly like so many pictures I’ve found. He is the friendliest cat in the world, follows me around everywhere I go even if outside. He is so mellow and calm, anyone can pet and pick him up. His fur is a very dark brown that shows more in the light, tufts of fur around his neck, ears, and between his toes. I was thinking he was a Maine Coon or Himalayan mix, but then I found out about these beauties that describe my Sabastian perfectly.
I was fortunate to have had a Chantilly cat in my life. I live in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. I have had many cats but none as interactive, loving and loyal as my boy named Baby. I recently had to put him to sleep as he developed bone cancer and I was devastated. I am ruined for all other cats. To me; none can measure up to the character and personality of my late Chantilly. I would feel like a traitor to my boy to ever have another cat. I might have to revert back to being a dog owner. I will only have another cat if I could get another Chantilly. It was an amazing experience and I feel blessed to have known such a wonderful creature. I miss him every day.
I feel exactly like you. Never owned a cat till I married my husband, and Crackle was the best little boy. I’ve always had dogs and I’ve always said he was a dog trapped in a cat’s body. So loving, sweet, loyal, easy to care for, sociable…I could go on and on. My heart has been so broken since we had to put him down, but I’m slowly thinking of getting another. Yet, they seem to be hard to find now. What gives?
Spookie, my C/T black cat showed up on my doorstep 2 years ago, two weeks before Halloween. She was around 3 months old. We live in a semi-rural area in SC, so no telling where she came from. She instantly bonded to me. We took her to have her spayed and all of her shots because we have 3 indoor cats and did not want another one inside. It took me forever to figure out what kind of cat breed she was. After a LOT of research we found out the breed. So I kinda flipped out because it said the were “extinct”! She loves me and follows me everywhere I go outside, just like a dog would do, and she loves to chase sticks! She stays mostly to our house, but during the day she will roam around the woods around our house for hours on end. Spookie is a wonderful mouser…many, many day I have woken up to go feed her and she has left me a “present” of a dead mouse or mole, and even a chipmunk! She does like my hubby, but is still kinda standoff-ish towards other people. She does the limp noodle thing when picked up, but would rather sit in my lap while I sit on the porch and read. She has the beautiful collar which has a small amount of grey, and her underbelly has some as well. If you see her at night her eyes look orange in the right light. She has been a gift from God to me and has helped me thru some very hard times over the past year. My mom got sick and passed away last November, and Spookie would just sit in my lap and let me cry and get the emotions out while just loving on me. Anyone lucky enough to find a kitty like my Spookie deserves it. I would not trade her for anything in the world!
I have a Chantilly who looks strikingly similar to the picture. My cat (Sasha) has a cream-colored streak running down her right side of her chin, and the color blends into her black fur when it reaches her neck. Sasha also has two very light brown streaks in her fur, on her back. She is VERY fluffy and unbearingly cute, just like the one in the pictures.
I adopted an abandoned skinny, ugly, black kitten less than two years ago, and he turned out to be such an astonishing beauty. This rich dark brown fur and.black head and paws. Started looking up and found him to be exactly like the Chantilly.
The more I look up, the more he seems a Chantilly.
Could that be possible? I live in. Rio, Brazil.
I came across this beautiful cat 6yrs ago. I rescued my chantilly Tiffany 6yrs ago. He is kind and lovable and knows when I’m not feeling well. He absolutely gorgeous. The fur needs to be brushed everyday. They r playful no matter thier age. And just want 4o be loved. I think those who have this breed don’t know what they have. I wish I could include a pic of him.
I adopted my Nimba in 1997. I found her at a local shelter and fell head over hills in love with her on sight.
Funny thing. I had no idea what she was at the time. If I had, I may have started my own breeding program just to keep the breed alive.
She had chocolate colored skin. Rich chocolate fur. Was like picking up a ragdoll when holding her.
Unlike most. I was blessed to have her in my life for 18 wonderful years. I have lots of photos of her. She was my baby. Loved to be held like one too. I miss her everyday.
Sad to think she was one of an almost extinct breed. I look for similar cats/kittens all the time. Sometimes I will see some in a shelter with similar characteristics and I wonder….
Wow, I truly was lead to this page. Back in 2010 My silver tabby baby girl named Tiffany was 19 and we knew she was failing. I couldn’t bare to make that decision to put her down, so I went out in my garden area in the wooded mts of waynesville, nc and asked for a distinctive sign, and sure enough out of nowhere appears this black/brown fuzzy cat. So I jumped up and told Tiffany her Angel guide was now here to assist her. MY heart was broken after we came back from the vet, so the next day I asked for that cat to come back to us, and sure enough he reappeared and was our new baby boy. He was around nine months and had worms, fleas, ear mites but we fixed him up and named him Mykey (my key to happiness).
He was so much fun, so talkative, he’d follow me all around, we’d hike along my road, where he’d be chasing me even in the snow. We had a blast together. He’d stop exactly where I wanted him to stay, he was the best boy. He grew into the most gorgeous cat we’d ever seen. We did research and thought he was a Siberian breed, until today.
Sadly, just five weeks ago (Sept 28, 2018), the same exact day he came to us back in 2010, we came home and found him dead, the vet said he died from a heart attack.
Our hearts are broken and now finding this website all the answers make sense. My tabby cat Tiffany brought him to us, and the Chantilly Tiffany breed was her clue that she chose him for us. So now I pray they both find us another CHantilly Tiffany cat, but we are in south Florida so hopefully it’ll come out of nowhere again. Thanks all, enjoy this spectacular breed, we are lucky to have lived with them, they are Angels from above, I am sure of it!
I’m so grateful that I was lead here because I joined and got accepted to the Facebook group “Chantilly Tiffany project” and right there on that post was a cat that needed a new home, only 30 minutes from us was Riggie a beautiful Chantilly that needed a peacfule new home.
She is now my new baby girl, even though she’s six, I will love her for ever. Thanks so much. My broken heart is healing now.
I was looking for a kitten and a friend said they had a stray batch living in the sawdust at their lumber yard. When i arrived to pickup a kitten there were three. One black, one chocolate, and one fawn all long haired. They appeared to be sleeping then I noticed the flies. The kittens had all died. My friend and I looked around and found an open bucket of antifreeze. My lumber jack friend was heart broke. I had never seen such a rich chocolate color nor a true fawn colored cat before. When I did a search for that color the Chantilly came up. My friend said the adult cats were wild and both dark brown/black long hair. This is in Washington state. such a heart break.
2 years ago while temporarybstaying in my rv at a camp ground this fuzzball kitten showed up at my door in the cold october morning. She was all black and fuzzy and VERY social and vocal. I thought it was someonr else cat but when i came back for lunch she was still there. I fed her 2 cans of catfood and she was very hungry. I left her outside but that evening when i came back she was still by my rv. Waiting for me. I took her in and she has been an amazing cat. Very social. Very playful. Steals items she likes to play with. Very very vocal, never had a cat that ‘talked’ this much. Loves to sleep on my lap or bed once the weather turns colder. And she looks exactly like the black pictures of chantilly cats i see online. Exactly. Beautiful silky soft fur. Ears with fluffies sticking out. Eyes that look like owl eyes. Absolutely beautiful. Waits for my by the door when i come home, always ! If not i know immediately she got locked up by accident in a closet. Happens a lot when she follows me around. She is now 2 years old. Very healthy too. Its a character, she loves to run from one end of the house to the other and back when she gets a spurt of energy. Love that creature.almost forgot, she is all black w grayish ‘armpits’ the gray didnt show up until about 1 year old.
We, too, may have adopted one of these darlings into our family….from the pound! We love her, regardless of her pedigree, of course.
My boyfriend and I just adopted a cat from a local shelter in Kansas City this past September (2018). They estimated he was around five years old at the pound. We were curious what type of cat he might be so we randomly googled “black cat breeds” just now and were shocked with how well he matched the physical and personality description of a chantilly. We’ve only had him for a short time but love him more each day…even when he’s chirping at us in the wee hours of the morning to play. I’ve never met a cat as laid back as he is. He has a few minor issues (a little hitch in his step that slightly hinders jumping and some partial blindness). The pound couldn’t tell us much since he was found on the streets-which I can’t even imagine bc of how sweet and trusting he is. Now that I’m reading how rare this breed is, I’m wondering if his condition could be the result of some poor breeding conditions? Unfortunately, Missouri has a big issue with puppy and kitten mills. I certainly hope that’s not the case. Either way we are looking to many more years with our Benny ??
Rachel, I have a black cat that was found under a bush at the public pool in Aurora, MO, in 2014. He was a kitten, half-starved, with a bot-fly larvae living in his neck. The lady who rescued him put him on FB and my mother took him to give to me. He developed a bushy, grey tail that calmed down to black, and flaming orange armpit tufts that eventually turned grey. He has long, blackish, chocolate hair that is silky-soft, very low-shed, with small tufts of white between the tops of his toes. He chirped for the first year, and now meows. He has owl-like, yellow eyes. Very intelligent and a good mouser. He likes to play rough, a biter like no other!, and stalk me, and the dogs are afraid of him. He goes completely limp when picked up and hangs upside-down. Very snuggly, will wait until I’m almost asleep, then leaves the room for a bit, but I always wake up with him next to me. He seems part-wild, yet extremely loyal to me. He’ll be just 5 years, this coming year. He is my heart, I’ve never seen another cat like him. If not Chantilly-whatever, maybe they are wild things left from a different time, the vestigial remnants of something -? The characteristics are consistent to a fault, if one reads back through this thread, ( all 43 posts!) We have sent his DNA in for testing at Basepaws and we are waiting for results/percentage possibilities.
Well! Readng all this is very spooky!! I live in the English countryside in South Devon. We discovered ‘Toffy’ eating the bird food in the garden, just skin and bones, with hair falling out. He was about 6 months old, dark chocolatey brown with gingerish patches down his back and big golden green eyes, very like a Persian, I thought. We hadn’t had a cat for some years as the wild birds are so tame and it would not be fair to them. So I phoned the local Cats Protection but they couldn’t take him as they were overrun with cats. We decided to keep him until they could take him in. However once my Mum, who was not in best health, saw him she said, ‘He has some breeding!’ and called him The Shah, believing him to have Persian in him. I taught him to walk on a leash, which he did readily and still does at 6 years old. He obviously is still here and we also had another wander in which had shorter hair but stunning eyes and he really chirruped when he purred! Amazing! There was another sighting of another kitten at the time too but we never caught that one. I kept these two , naming the second one Jaffa, like the chocolate Jaffa cakes. Sadly he died suddenly with a suspect heart attack. Toffy has developed Feline Herpes virus and also a dust and pollen allergy, probably due to a compromised immune system. It has taken some time to diagnose and treat and is on very expensive tablets to control the scratching issues, but it is now under control and he looks amazing now! Dark chocolate with a smokey grey ruff and tummy and a beautiful fluffy chocolate tail. Very devoted especially since I lost my Mum 5 years ago, he simply appears and chirps when I am feeling sad! Follows me everywhere and is very affectionate, loves visitors, especially men is seems! Where did he come from? Did someone attempt breeding in the UK and have a substandard litter or just found there was no market for the breed? I will never know but it is so strange how so many people seem to find these cats abandoned or stray. He is truly remarkable and worth every penny I spend on him. Bless him!
I currently have a Chantilly Tiffany. She’s my second. My first lived 15 years. Beautiful black with golden eyes. Very social and chatty. Most loyal pet ever. My new Chantilly is Lilac with gorgeous blue eyes. My husband surprised me with her. He searched long and hard, finding her in Canada. I believe in this breed and truly hope they don’t become extinct.
We have a Chantilly Tiffany cat. Will send photo if you email.
Hi Kimberley, That would be lovely. Please send your photo to [email protected]
I adopted a “smoke” colored fluffy kitten from a human society. As he has gotten older (about two now) his smoke coloring has turned more to a chocolate. I have always wondered his breed and now think he may be a Chantilly. He is very vocal, he trills and chirps and loves human interaction. In fact, he thrives on human interaction. He is extremely intelligent and loves to play. He is amazingly curious and will knock over any cup of water that he finds. He has a single coat, medium to long, silky and a plume around the neck. Will send pictures.
We found our Chantilly at the SPCA in Phoenix,AZ. Although we didn’t know when we adopted her, we could tell right away she was special and after much research we found out she was a chantilly. I really hope this breed doesn’t go extinct. Our experience with ours named Coco has made me fall in love with them. She is so sweet and loving, a little cautious of strangers but always goes to check them out. She is extremely intelligent, playful and her way of communicating through little chirps is adorable. She gets along very well with our other cat, a tabby. Ours is chocolate colored with gold eyes. Her coat is the softest thing I have ever touched. If you are able to find one to adopt I would highly recommend as there is no love like the love you get from these truly sweet kitties.
My kids and I found a stray on our street 2 summers ago. She was about 10 weeks old and I called her my Little Baby, but she goes by Baby now. I initially thought she was black until she laid in the sunlight one day and I noticed the chocolate color on her under side and hind legs. I also noticed that her meow was different from any other cat I’d had, with a kind of scratchy sound to it. It was then that I started researching black cats and came across the Chantilly Tiffany breed. I’m sure my Baby is one of them! Just a few months ago she started chirping at the birds and squirrels outside the window, it’s really a sight to see and hear, it’s so fascinating! Baby has chosen me as her #1 and my little girl as her #2. She hardly acknowledges any other person in the house. I also have a 5 year old blue pitbull named Sasha who tried to treat Baby as her own baby, which astonished me bc she normally doesn’t like cats. They have become the best of friends. Recently I’ve seen another Chantilly Tiffany cat hanging around my house that I think may be Baby’s mother. My cat likes to look out the windows so I know she sees the other cat too, but she doesn’t make a sound. I’m always keeping my eyes open for a male to breed with bc I’d love to share this breed with others. Baby is only 2 years old now so I’m not going to spay her yet. I’m still hoping I’ll find her a mate and the Chantilly Tiffany breed will continue here in South Jersey.
I own a Chantilly Tiffany. I adopted her from a PetSmart in Vaughan as a kitten. Her two brothers were being adopted also.
Tiny in stature, long haired, extremely gentle, playful and friendly with those she knows. She won’t scratch or bite. I’ve never owned a cat with such a sweet temperament.
Very distrusting of strangers tho.
We were curious of her breed as she has the odd appearance of a long haired brown calico with owls eyes. We call her Gizmo. I had a friend from Collingwood who had a cat that was a mirror image of this cat and I recalled her telling me the cat she owned was a Tiffany. This goes back 20 years ago. So my internet research began with a google search for Tiffany’s. And there she was.
It’s a shame these cats are not a recognized breed. The temperament alone makes them unique.
We also just acquired a young female which matches Tiffany’s temperment. Just like you said, playfull,sweet, wants to be with people, constantly following me around house, almost doglike. Love her faint chirp voice. We had no idea they were so rare.
Thought I had already posted but don’t see it. At first I did not read all the stories. Read more now and can’t beleive how much all the cats are alike. Our was a stray also. Looks just like cat in picture and sounds like cat in video just a little fainter. Doglike is how I describe ours. My husband has had many cats in his lifetime and has NEVER had one like our Kitty Purry. We would love to see this breed continue.
My very-allergic-to-cats friend found a solitary kitten behind her aircon unit and promptly called me. We watched for 24hrs but never saw a mom. I fetched the tiny black fluffy kitten with barely open eyes and raised him with a bottle. He’s now 10 month old and has gone from solid black to big, fluffy, and chocolate with piercing golden eyes. After looking at pictures and videos, I’m 99% certain he’s a Chantilly. Gorgeous boy. I wish I could post a picture here.
I have a 6 year old Male Chantilly he is like my child. His name is Obie but we call him Woofy because hes like a dog. I love him dearly even though he can be a total pain sometimes!! At first i thought he was a Siberian but upon further investigation ive realised he is indeed a Chantilly. Would love to send a photo to see what you think. Thanks, my other cat is a female Nebelung 6 years, love her to bits and any one who sees her says “she is the prettiest cat theyve ever seen”!
We got our first cat in the mid-’30s, when I was around 5 or so. I can’t remember whether she was a stray or from our next-door neighbors. She looked exactly like the Chantilly in Cats 101, a beautiful dark brown with those great eyes and no undercoat. We had her for several years, and she did have a kitten, darker, toward black, with a fluffier coat. I don’t know who the daddy was. We named him Oscar and both were wonderful, sweet kitties.
I have what everyone usually sees as a black cat, but she has a cinnamon cast to her coat color that really shows up in the sun. She has a ruff, a plumy tail, britches and “snow feet,” i.e., with tufts between the toes. Her feet lack traction; she slips and slides on a polished wood surface. She has gold eyes. She is called Sequoia because she was rescued from under the hood of one, having survived a trip halfway across Jacksonville, FL and back. I’d love to have met her family–she was said to be one of a litter of feral cats that hung around the Church of the Nazarene. We put her type as domestic medium hair when we had her first physical and shots done at the Humane Society, but her coat has evolved over five years. The ruff, which I referred to as a manelet, only turned up last year. We always assumed there were Maine Coons in her ancestry, but when we saw the piece about Chantilly cats on Cats 101, my husband decided she seemed more like a Chantilly. She loves her people, especially our son, who kept her in his room till she was big enough to hang out with the three other cats we had, but doesn’t instantly warm up to strangers. She’s a clothsucker because she was only five weeks or so when rescued, just old enough to lap, but hadn’t been completely weaned. She’s very playful and likes to chew on hard crackly plastic, which she doesn’t eat, just put lots if holes in. I doubt she’s really a Chantilly, due to the circumstances she came from, but she’s very aware of how pretty she is; one of our names for her is the Cat Princess. We’re all having our DNA done later this year, including both cats (our other cat looks astonishingly like a Korat but we’re pretty sure he’s not. After that I’ll try to get back here and report my findings. I wish it were possible to include a picture of her.
I have a beautiful cat that we have always believed was Tiffany Chantilly. Actually I have had two. This is my second one andjhis name is Brodie III. Brodie Jr looked and acted just like him. But he disappeared and I was devastated. Then this beautiful little guy found us and I called him Brodie III. He just turned 11. And I live in Jacksonville Florida.
He tops out at 17 lbs but isn’t really fat. He is just thick and strong. With the most beautiful black chocolate long fur. And big yellow eyes. He actually acts more like a dog. When he was little he hates to be alone. He would chief and cry. So we got him a sister Pandora. She hates him and everyone but he loves her. We also have a full blooded orange Persian. They play all the time. He is so smart just as smart as Brodie jr was. He can open closets and doors. He use to beable to open our back door and let himself on the house like it was nothing. I have never seen a cat do what my two Brodie’s could do. I have never seen a cat so intelligent. He will play chase. He will follow you, he chirps and talks to you. He is so loving maybe too loving. He begs to beable to play with the neighborhood cats. I wish I could post a picture. He has the bushiest tail. Long silky black chocolate fur. He doesn’t shed much. He does get tangled and matted bad cause he refuses to let me brush him. And I can’t take him a normal groomers when he mats. I have to take him to a vet have him sedated then shaved. His fur grows so slow. No one has seen anything like even the vet. He can get shaved in feb and still not have his full cost back by sept. He got shave two months ago cause of terrible matting and his firm has barely grown out looks like he was just recently shaved. This could be why they don’t shed much. Cause their fur grows at a snails pace. The person I got him from said he was the only one of the litter that came out long haired with black fur. His mother was grey shorthair. As he gets older his fur turns more and more chocolate. Both Brodie’s had a very small white patch on their chests. I sware sometimes I forget they were different cats because they even act the same. It was like he came back to me. I was so lost when I lost Brodie jr. and then I found Brodie III. It’s like he cane back to me. I have a feeling he will find me again someday in another form lol they are the most intelligent cats I have ever seen in my life. I wish I had never fixed him. People beg me to breed him. I had him fixed before I knew what he was or how rare. It’s the best of both worlds it’s like having a cat and dog wrapped into one. He even plays fetch. He is 11 now and is in excellent health. Even his vet says he acts much younger then he is. I hope to have him many more years. I will be devastated when he is gone.
We just realized after watching cats 101 that our beloved Poe is a Chantilly. His mother left him and his brother and sister on my door step 18 years ago. She was not a Chantilly but a starving and sick momma of three. I fed her a couple of times and the next day her 3 kittens were waiting at my door step. Poe is a big cat with majestic yellow/green eyes and a long velvety brownish black coat. He’s loosing mass in his old age but has always weighed around 13-15lbs. I’ve had other cats come and go but Poe has stayed with me for 18 years and hopefully many more.
I believe I have one! She was an abandoned kitten found in a storm drain near my regular veterinarian’s office. They took care of her until she was old enough to be adopted. Dr. Domday has no idea what kind of cat she is. When she was a kitten, she had this scrawny little body with a huge, fluffy tail. She’s almost a year old now. She looks exactly like every Chantilly Tiffany picture I’ve found, I wish I could upload a picture of her. It’s too bad I didn’t do my research sooner, as I would not have gotten her spayed.
Jack adopted us outside a casino in the middle of a tornado. He is dark in color, somewhere between reddish brown and black. He has the tuffed ears and toes. As mentioned by another, no traction. He has a single med/long coat, breaches come in lighter in color, and a plumed tail… also some food allergies and is a picky eater. Petting him is like petting a cloud made by silk worms. He is extremely social (see found at a casino) and low key. He gets along with the other cats in the house and speaks primarily in chirps and trills to cats and humans alike. He’s the largest cat in our house, but only weighs in at 12 lbs, so only a medium breed. We have no idea what he really is, but fits description from head to toe or tail. Whatever he is, he’d be the first pick for anyone.
Leo came into our lives as a rescue that someone left behind in favour of a dog , my daughter lived next door and after feeding him for a few weeks decided to ask me if I would take him in as she already had three cats of her own. We did and he’s the most amazing cat I’ve ever owned (we have dogs as well). My husband said he was definitely not your average moggy and after researching his characteristics and appearance we believe him to be a Chantilly. He is chocolate in colour, tufted ears, large ruff around neck and big green eyes He chirps to be picked up and is the most affectionate cat I’ve ever owned. We absolutely adore him. We live in England and believe no one breeds here On Instagram I follow Chantilly cats in America and feel maybe the breed is continuing there. What a shame this breed isn’t a popular and highly bred cat they are amazing. From good looks to personality and a wonderful temperament it’s hard to understand why this is so Leo is definitely king of cats and he’s a Chantilly ?.
I met and fell in love with 2 Tiffany Chantilly cats in a downtown apartment in Asheville NC of all places . They belonged to an antique dealer and his partner and he had inherited them from his mother. One was lilac and honestly I cannot remember the color of the other but I immediately fell in love with them and their friendly , playful almost dog like dispositions , also the “dad” said they were hypo-allergenic which was appealing since my husband was allergic to cats . I want to say they had come from NY via the mother of the antique dealer, This was in apprx 1998, I was a leasing agent for a property management co & they were living in one of our properties I was showing. After meeting these beautiful , sweet kitties I was determined to find one to no avail, the only breeders I could find at the time were far, far away from Asheville NC and the price tag lingered around $1200. Now , considering their disappearance this seems like a deal since I lost my chance at ever owning one of these rare , beautiful sweet kitties. I finally got my cats though adopting a common grey tabby that acts also more like a dog and a quirky hysterically funny Maine coon looking huge orange very fluffy kitty that by the way is definitely not hypoallergenic lol, but we are thrilled with our kitties and love them to pieces & have come to realize that it is really not about the breed or the cattery they come from sometimes but more about the cat and their own individual personalities . I’m glad I did however get to meet these rare cats and their eccentric , very interesting owner.
So beautiful! I love Asheville. Glad this worked out for you!
We rescued a Chantilly in 2017 at a Petco. She came from KY. Somewhere, somehow. She was under 6 weeks old. She couldn’t meow. She would open her mouth, nothing came out. But she purred and purred and was the tiniest little thing ever.t They spayed her too young. Some of her teeth are just so little and she suffers from some allergies. Her tummy is stapled strange, compared to other cats that have been spayed. She is the sweetest baby. Within 6 months she found her voice. Fast forward 2 years later, she’s healthy, she’s chocolate and black and red tint, big harvest moon yellow eyes. Wakes us up with kisses in the morning and just purrs all the time. I love this baby. So interesting to read about her breed!
I am Debra Baker, now Annie Davenport, the former owner of Amorino Cattery. That fateful night in February 2012 I watched in horror as many of my Chantillys were lost in the fire. I tried so hard to get them all out. I made 8 trips back into a burning house jumping over burning timbers that had fallen from the ceiling but I could not get them all. I did not bother to call the fire department until the house had collapsed because I did not want to waste precious moments on the phone when I could have been spending that time rescuing my babies. I have with me the last two babies that were born in Amorino a couple of months before the fire. They are not Chantilly, I was working with two breeds, the other breed was the Norwegian Forest cat.
The Chantilly male you speak of in your article that went to Norma in Norway with the last Chantilly to leave Amorino Cattery. We had high hopes riding on Frosty, we were hoping that he and a female Nebelung, Nova, also from Amorino Cattery, Unfortunately, Frosty, for reasons we’ll never know, only had one successful breeding with Nova, resulting in one kitten.
Chantilly does come in solid black and black tabby. I was Breed Chair for the Chantilly through ACFA for many years. And, a true Chantilly is double coated, not single.
Please know that I did all I could to recover the breed, however, by the time I had come into the breed, there had been years of inbreeding for the sole purpose of bringing in new colors. This resulted in severely retarding their immune system. I helplessly watched entire litters die from pneumonia. This is what caused the Washington state Cattery to close.
I am considering the possibility of bringing the Chantilly back, however, it will be a huge undertaking and will require the assistance of the breeds that make up the Chantilly. These breeds are, Nebelung, Havana Brown, Abby, and Somali.
Thank you so much for your article. Please beware of anyone claiming to breed the Chantilly. They disappeared and became extinct after Frosty’s daughter, Acey was born to Norma in Norway. There are no more true Chantilly kittens or cats born after Acey in Norway.
Hi Annie,
Thank you so much for your comment, I’m not sure that we’ve ever been lucky enough to have a breeder named in one of our articles get in touch before!
This article was among the most memorable I have ever written. Many of the details have stuck with me, including the awful tragedy at your cattery. I don’t believe anyone could doubt your commitment and dedication to your cats, or that you did everything you could for them.
Thank you for filling in some of the missing details from the Chantilly cat story. I hadn’t expected to ever find out the answers to some of the questions raised during my research!
And I think it’s clear from the other comments that if you ever were to try and revive the Chantilly breed, it would be very enthusiastically received 🙂
Thanks again for getting in touch.
Warmest wishes,
Sarah Holloway
Unfortunately, I had to neuter Sprinkles, Fortunately, cloning is possible!
Hi Annie,
I visited you and your wonderful Chantillies and Wegies in 2007 when I adopted Phoebe, daughter of Princey and Splenda. I’d love to hear if you are able to revive your Chantilly breeding program. Phoebe is still doing great!
I have a Chantilly-Tiffany Cat named Sprinkles; born in Nov, 2013, to a Black and White Tuxedo Chantilly mix and her mate, Shadow, a Black and white bob-tail short-hair. When Sprinkles was born, Shadow watched and fainted! He was out for 5 minutes, and when he came to, he lovingly cleaned Sprinkles thoroughly, and then cleaned Munchie, the mother! It was only after Sprinkles turned 2 years old that I researched every cat breed that existed and Chantilly-Tiffany is the ONLY one that he matched in every respect, right down to the Chocolate sprinkled chest and the chirping meow. The Chantilly is one of a small number of long haired cats without an undercoat. The same as Sprinkles. If you have already viewed the chocolate Chantilly on-line, you know exactly what my Sprinkles looks like!
I adopted 2 sisters from the Humane Society…they are 4 years old now. Right away I knew there was something different and special about them. They have different mannerisms from other cats I have owned. Their sounds are much different, more chirping and more communicative than “regular” cats. I googled “black cats” one day because I knew my girls must be special and sure enough the pictures of Chantilly cats looked identical to mine…seriously spot on! I was shocked!!! The more I read about this breed the more convinced I am that my girls are 100% Chantillys.
:If you find one of these cats that needs a home, either yourself or you find one online or in the shelter, please contact me!!:
We found a chantilly under our porch 2 years ago around Christmas. He was first labeled by family as the ‘failure black cat’ because he had gorgeous deep brown and fluffy gray colorings that shown in the sunlight. He also had beautiful chocolate colored whiskers. I had never seen anything like him before!
He instantly became the love of my life. I am disabled and he was glued to my side every minute of the day, even in the bath he repeatedly checked on me to see if I was ok. He sang and chirped and was so sweet and loved by everyone.
I write this with tears in my eyes because today he suddenly collapsed on the floor panting. We rushed him to the ER and after an xray the vet told us she had never seen a living cat with such a bad heart. He had some symptoms that our regular vet had dismissed as normal for his age (they made me feel like I was overreacting) and we are sorry to have trusted them and not found a second opinion. We are changing vets and I’ve already written an honest and terrible review of their services.
He is gone and our house is empty and quiet. That is why I am asking if someone finds one of these cats that needs a home please contact me, I rescue other cats as well but I need one of these bundles of joy in my life.
It is 10pm and I have not stopped crying since 10am.
These cats change your life!
I am 99% sure my 11 week old female kitten (that I found on Craigslist) is a Chantilly Tiffany. Fascinating to hear about the history of this breed! Her chocolatey coat is really coming in. This makes her even more special!
I think I have a Chantilly cat. He’s a DEAD RINGER for the black cats which appear in the pics when I Google search Chantilly cat. Same coat, same body structure, same yellow-golden eyes. If he’s not a Chantilly, what is he?
M
In the mid-‘30s I’m sure our first cat was a Chantilly. I was about 5 and don’t remember how we got her. She had a son, Oscar, who had more black and thicker fur. Both were wonderful pets.
I believe that I have a Chantilly cat. She is the moat beautiful black/chocolate cat with round green/gold eyes. She does have three small white patches in either armpit and tummy though. So I’m not sure if that cancels out her possible Chantilly lineage.
I picked her up from the humane society and she came in with a group of other kittens. No sure if they were all siblings however.
I love her so much and I recently found out about Chantilly cats so I feel a little bummed that she is spayed. I would have loved to be a part of the new generation of Chantillies.
I got a black semi-long haired domestic black cat from the ASPCA about a year ago. I was curious to find out what type of cat she was due to her being such a beautiful silky chocolate brown cat. She is such a talkative, smart, calm loving and cuddly cat. You couldn’t get a more perfect cat than this cat. When I got her from the ASPCA, they said she was a rare cat. When I started researching black cats, I came across the Chantilly cat and she is an exact replica of this type. She has semi long hair. She is definitely not a complete black cat. In fact her fur is like a shade of espresso with way more brown than black. Her fur is like a silky satin and definitely doesn’t feel like fur as I also have another black cat that has course hair. She has eyes that are unique in that they almost look a bit green but are more yellow and seem to be changing to a unique color as she gets older ( she is about a year old now). I want to know how I can find out what type of breed mix she is so that I can better understand her personality and behavior. Lol, I think of it as a 21 and me for cats. Sounds silly but for me I really want to understand what type of rare cat I definitely have.
This site explains it all! She is one ofb them . Butbi believe this breed has a yet another new name
Samebstory line about how the breed im referring to began and same story line with the registries but with this new name it has it was registered with with the CFA and again no longer is !
Ive been attempting my own line and wanted it registered . Im at the fourth generation to make that happen . Could use some help .
I’m not entirely sure because my cat was a rescue from a reservation nearby but she looks and acts exactly as a Chantilly in every descriptor I can find on the Internet. Unfortunately all my cats are spayed so I’ll never be able to make more Chantilly however her brother is still out there and hasn’t been fixed. If anyone out there is Interested in seeing pictures I take many pictures of her and would gladly take picture of her brother as well. They are lovely cats.
My son actually rescued a Chantilly. She was raggedy, thin, hungry but surprisingly affectionate so he knew she wasn’t feral. After 2 trips to the vet, her coat grew out into the most silky, dark chocolate long hair I have ever seen. First, we thought Angora but she didn’t favor them at all. Until I saw a special on the Chantilly. That’s her!!! All the character traits down to the chirpy kinda meow she has. Sadly, had I known her history, I would never have fixed her cuz she is too beautiful and sweet a cat to be extinct. I will agree that she is very clingy but does NOT like other animals. She’s 8 yrs old and still will not even sit near my other cats.
I have a beautiful Chantilly cat named Peaches. I got her from the SPCA. She is so sweet and cuddly, always wants my affection. She is very polite and always asks if it’s okay before she does anything. She has the squeakiest chirpy .meow. She has such a pretty face, all silky black with her big round yellow eyes, bright pink tongue and her black fur glistens a beautiful chocolate brown in the sun. Now the unique thing with her, that even the vets and groomer say they’ve only ever seen once before in all their years, is that her undercoat is fully white. So when she goes in for a shave, shes a fluffy black/brown kitty and when she comes out, her head, tail and paws are the same but the rest of her body is white! Oh she looks adorably ridiculous! I WISH I could post her pictures on here!
We rescued a beautiful Chantilly Tiffany, had no idea that what she was.
She has gray, almost blue fur. Fluffy with tufts and a fluffy tail. Huge yellow eyes. She chirps. She is very sociable, playful, and sweet.
She loves to sit in front of our big glass storm door to watch birds out front.
The UPS and FedEx drivers love her. She just watches them. Everyone says she is so pretty.
I have always had tabby cats and they aren’t too social with strangers. Jasmine, however, is weirdly interested and sometimes affectionate with anyone who comes into our home.
I believe i have this breed .
I found a boy kitten inna farm in Pa . When he grew up i realized i had a purebred cat of some sort
Super loving and tons of EMOTION !
I named him Emoji. MOJO for short .
Its a long story and no longer have him but he made many babies with 2 of my pure bred persians . I kept 2 kitten who are half brother n half sister meaning 2 different mums but Mojo dad of both!
They had babies together . Most precious lil babies anywhere!
The grandmother of the half sister also had a litter from the half brother named Toby .
I found homes for 2 kittens and after that i decided to keep the others. All girls . So over the course of 3 years together many kittens have been born .
At this time i have only 2 mums that are not spayed and Toby is currently missing but i have 1 boy kitten and 4 girls currently and i am keeping the boy n one girl for now .
I have been searching for someone to help keep this going because of how very special they truly are!
I wasnt sure if these were truly Chantilly Tiffany Cats or York Chocolate Cats and if you ask me , they are one in the same ! The newest name being The York Chocolate Cat and that is what i have been telling people who get a kitten .
Recently one of my kittens sold to a woman in Lebanon , Pa who has a Kaho Manee boy 18 years old who is wild outside since the day she brought him home as a kitten as he leaped out of her arms and has never been caught but he mated with her cinnamon colored cat i sold her and the result was one Kaho Manee boy kitten !
So we will be attempting to create a white odd eyed longhair Kaho Manee .
I adopted a kitty from our animal shelter. Unfortunately she is spayed. She has all the personality traits of this Chanchilly Tiffany cat and looks exactly like the photos. She is however black but her entire underbelly is a grey/blue. She is approx 7lbs. How and where can I find out if she is truly this breed. I don’t know how to add photos.
We have had three Chantilly Cats all chocolate brown to black. It depends in the lighting. In the daylight they look dark brown and chocolate brown but also appear to look black. We have had three males and only one is still alive and he is 12 years old. He is gorgeous! All three were reacues.
We were able to get what appears to be a Chantilly named Lestat from the Moncton, NB Canada SPCA in 2018. He hits all of the breed notes.
Just a lovely fella, and my wife is not allergic.
My chantilly Shadow showed up on my front porch in 2015. She was thin but definitely isn’t anymore. She is a rich dark chocolate color (almost exact to the picture at the top of this article). She has to be brushed regularly or she gets serious dreadlocks in her fur. Everyone who sees her says she is gorgeous. I wish I could post a picture of her on here. She always knows when I’m upset or something is wrong. She tends to like women more than men and is extremely vocal. She likes to have little mini conversations has personality traits that are almost more than a cat. She is also a little demanding when she has her mind set on something and has the slight arrogance of being superior. Unfortunately I had her fixed before I even knew what she was. I just thought she was a stray. She is my girl and is by far the best cat I’ve ever owned. She also likes my kids and sleeps with my daughter. She even lets my daughter dress her in baby clothes for a little while. When she is done, she lets her know several times with a certain tone and if she doesn’t let her go, she scratches her slightly so she will let go. I can’t tell you how many times she has come in the living room in a baby dress. Not many cats will let a child do that then warn them multiple times before trying to get up. I don’t know what I would do without my Shadow following me around and giving all of us love when we need it.
I have a all black Chantilly-Tiffany cat and I love her so much I didn’t knows he was one of them.
I believe I have a Chantilly I adopted as a kitten in 04. She’s 18 now and she is so beautiful, even in her scraggly old age. She is the most unique cat I’ve ever known. She loves to have her trilly conversations and is a look but don’t touch diva except for me. She has that chocolate fine long hair with no undercoat. Her face is stunning, so tiny but that fluffy hair makes her look like a goddess and her plumed tail is like a feathery fur accessory. She’s always the picture of composure, never really playful except as a kitten. I wish I’d known her rarity cuz I would have been interested in breeding her but I’m happy to see they are still out there in droves it seems! If you want that “one of a kind”, “only have eyes for you” relationship this is the breed for you!
She did develop an apocrine ductile adenoma on her chin which was just removed and even now is sleeping with her coiffed tail in her face and her front paws delicately crossed. She also has a lung mass that we just learned about and was diagnosed with IBD at age 16 but her bloodwork was stellar, “killing it at 18” the vets said.I don’t know if they are predisposed to these conditions but for the sake of science I thought I’d let the community know. Seriously unique and stunning cat! A true opposite of her Bombay sister.
Sequoia, my Chantilly, is down in the records of every vet she’s ever been to as a black cat, but while she is a glossy black in indoor lighting,her fluffy belly and sides are a bright reddish cinnamon color in the sun. But there are tufts of grayish hair in her armpits; I don’t know what that’s about. She has an expressive plumy tail, a butt so fluffy her private parts are almost never seen, and tractionless feet on account of all the toe floof. Before her we had never had a fluffy cat before, and we’re always messing with her fluffy feet because they’re just so intriguing. She jerks them back with an air of annoyance, and if you persist, she’ll take it as an invitation to play fight ‘n’ bite, but she is mostly a good natured, affectionate cat. She loves to bump heads with people–one of my nicknames for her is the Chantilly Headbanger, which sounds like a cocktail or a jazz band (Can’t you imagine them opening for the Squirrel Nut Zippers somewhere?) She has a small ruff around her neck. Her furnishings of her tall ears have touches of white. Also, tiny points, which emerged in n the last 2 or 3 years (She is 8 years old now.)
I’d say she looks like 97% of the Chantillys I have seen in the Chantilly Facebook groups. All I can offer about her provinance is she was born near the Church of the Nazarene on University Boulevard in Jacksonville, FL. She was born wild, and stowed away one day under the hood of someone’s Toyota Sequoia (it’s complicated) and ultimately ended up with us. She gets along ok with our other cat, Il Grigio, who looks like a Korat but is not (but that’s another story).
Believe it or not but I have a Chantilly Tiffany, her name is . I was living in Vegas. My friend knew I was looking to adopt a cat and she found her in her garage. She was VERY small and most likely a runt. At first she looked like something that was pulled out of a drain. Her fur was sticking together and she was scruffy brown with long hair and yellow eyes. As she grew older (still very tiny) she grew into her fur and has a gorgeous chocolate brown coat. Her tail is always in a question mark shape, she has an elegant gait and has a sweet mild temperament. She doesn’t really meow but makes the cutest little noises that sound inquisitive. It was totally by chance that she came into my life, but I’m happy she did. I am guessing there may have been a breeder nearby and she being the runt someone escaped and found her way into my friends garage for shelter from the Vegas sun looking for food in the trash, though she’s much too fancy to be a trash cat. She’s the best behaved sweetest nugget. I wish I could post a photo of her. I love her dearly. I would love to find a breeder because I’d love to include another into our family.
I found a cat that was dumped in my neighborhood. Two litter mates are also in this area. My cat is attached directly to me, runs through the house crying any time I leave and insists that she’s the boss of our sweeter natured cats she isn’t afraid of anyone or anything. She scratches me while kneading my skin and is always under my feet. My daughter cleaned her ears once about November of last year. Every time she comes to my house, this cat hisses and runs from her. She wasn’t harsh. She has 26 of her own so she knows what she’s doing. She is very opinionated and I don’t know what to do with her. She has been spayed. She is an indoor cat only. She’s a beautiful cat, just a lot more than this 64 year old can handle.
I just lost my Chantilly Tiffany & she was the best ever. If you still have your cat, I would love it
My Mawh Mawh showed up in my backyard about 13 or 14 years ago. She was very young and had just a few hairs hanging down from her straight up tail that curled over towards her back. We started feeding her and my son and husband took care of her on the patio and eventually she would come closer. We watched her belly get big and then one day her belly was gone. So I watched to see what happened and saw her jump into our garden shed. When she was out one day, I went in and searched and found four little babies. Had no idea she was anything special other than gorgeous. I held one of the babies that was really cute, and then put them back.. but 2-3 days later she brought all four of the babies up onto the patio as if to show them off. When they were 8 weeks old I caught them two at a time and took them to the local humane society for adoption. After some time she got to where she would come in the house but we never had a litter box, and she would always go outside..my husband would let her in and out several times a day. Will fast Forward five six years when I was brushing her and she seem to shy away from her back leg. So when I checked, it was all swollen and oozing. I took her to the vet for exam, stitches and antibiotics she came home with a cone. I got her a litter box, but she still went in and out.. up until yesterday when she finally passed away. She had started losing weight back in January, turned out she had hypothyroidism, and Vet put her on thyroid medicine twice a day, and appetite stimulant. She started pulling all her hair out and losing weight so bad she got down to 3.8 lb. She refused found & water & I saw rectal bleeding yesterday. I couldn’t watch her suffer anymore. So the long road home without her leaves me with many good memories. She looked like very dark chocolate when she was outside in the sun, but looked black when she was in the house. Beneath her long hair she had a smoky fluffy coat visible only when I would blow on it to separate the hair. Her tail was magnificent like none I’ve ever seen. And she did chirp, purr & talk if she was hungry or to go out, and was very affectionate. She was blanket trained but she would not get on my lap unless the blanket was there and she would grab it and pull it over so she could sit on my lap. She was the best cat I’ve ever had.
I am pretty positive I have a 16 year old Chantilly cat. I adopted her from the Humane Society when she was 11 and they didn’t know what her breed was. After a lot of online research into her physical appearance and personality, I’m positive she is Chantilly. We are so lucky to have this little lover. She follows me everywhere all day long and always wants to he cuddling. She had the most beautiful dark chocolate/black coat that it multidimensional in color & gorgeous golden eyes.
I had a Tiffany Chantilly that found me back in the ’90s had her for 19 almost 20 years very thick coat and she was a West Virginia cat that came out of nowhere hopped in my car and was then history been here in Georgia and after she died another female also showed up at my house somebody got her fixed not as thick of a coat but she’s a Tiffany Chantilly more skittish has her own personality and likes to have her own space which is kind of odd for those cats and about a month ago another one shows up at my house another female little bit thicker coat on this one and guess what she was pregnant and had two female kittens mostly all black a little bit of white within their fur they’re only three weeks old now eyes are still blue and their teeth had just come in one got a very tiny white patch on its chest very small area but I believe they’ll look just like their mother.. when I had my first cat I entered her into a pet show that my local Town veterinarian was holding at the mall she wants several ribbons and out of all the animals she won Best in show she was not afraid of any dogs or anything they were absolutely amazed they have never seen a cat anything like her before they said did not even know her breed I remember specifically they said she’s not a Mauser cat and all the other breeds she looks nothing like and when the internet became available over the years is when I discovered that’s what she was a Tiffany Chantilly her name was Shadow because she would follow me like a dog she would go anywhere. And one very odd thing about her one of her front upper teeth was much longer than the other and I used to call her my sabertooth cat. Now you talk about vocal that cat would actually talk to you when you would talk to it like it understood what you were talking about. They’re actually not extremely big cats weight Wise and you could actually comb another cat out of her I believe she was a true true Tiffany Chantilly and very light yellow eyes most you see have a little darker yellow green eye. And wouldn’t it be nice to actually breed these and bring them into society more than just finding the occasional stray that pops up but all three cats somehow found me and now the third had to baby kittens which were also female so isn’t that quite odd
Everything i have read on this breed leaves me wanting one. My question is for now is what is happening with the breed. Are they extinct or is their an evert under way to restore the breed.with all they have going for them i am surprised no one is trying to revive them and leaves me betting someone is but is keeping it secret for now
I am originally from Iowa but have been living in Northern California since 2013. In March 2008, I adopted a black/brown/smoke male kitten I was told was six months old at the time. I actually think he was closer to three months old. He looks like and has all the mannerisms and sounds of a Chantilly-Tiffany. He’s lived an amazing, happy life with me. His name is Maximilian. He will be sixteen years old next month and still is ornery and demanding like a kitten. He’s healthy and has had no major health issues during his lifespan. I feel incredibly blessed to still have him at his age. He’s my best friend.