The history of the modern "Abyssinian" cat breed in Europe begins in 1868. The Abyssinian cat was first mentioned in a British cat book from 1874.

A colorized lithography zeigt eine Katze mit gesprenkeltem Fell namens Zula und erläutert in der dazugehörenden Beschreibung: „Zula, die Cat owned by Mrs. Captain Barret-Lennard. The cat comes from Abyssinia as a result of the war.

In May 1868 British troops left Abyssinia  and as the country entered the sphere of influence of Italy , it is reasonable to assume that Zula came to England as the first Abyssinian cat in the wake of the English colonial army.

How this cat got from Southeast Asia to what was then Abyssinia and whether there was a temporary population  of cats with Abyssinian characteristics is unknown.

About Zula's historical destiny in EnglandNo further details are known. The new and hitherto unknown type of cat aroused particular interest through the agouti effect des furs in English cat breeders  a lot of attention.

 

It came to crossings  with British shorthair cats, some domestic cats, some pedigree cats around the inbreeding to counteract. A result of the crossings were also the first Abyssinian cats mit silver staining. As early as 1871 an "Abyssinian" cat (probably Zula or direct descendants of her) was found at the first public  cat show im Crystal Palace in London  and received  the 3rd prize in the overall ranking.

In 1882 the Abyssinian cat was officially recognized as a new cat breed. The then President of the English National Cat Club, Harrison Weir, personally defined the breed standard for Abyssinian cats in 1889. So it belongs together with den Siam- and Persian cats  one of the oldest pedigree cats in the world. Just a few years after the definition of the breed standard, the first Abyssinian cats could be found in English studbooks. Shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, Abyssinian cats also came to the USA and were increasingly bred there. In 1911 Abyssinian breeding was recognized in the USA by die Cat Fanciers' Association (C. F. A.), der größten in den USA anerkannten Registrierungsstelle für Rassekatzen .

In the first half of the 20th century, Abyssinian cat breeding spread further in Europe and the USA. In the 1930s, breeders on both continents worked more intensively on the selection of typical Abyssinian breed characteristics. In 1926 Major E. Sydney Woodiwiss, a well-known English breeder, founded the first Abyssinian Cat Club. In Germany, the first Abyssinian cats were bred in 1933 by what was then the only German cat breeding association, the 1st German Noble Cat Breeders Association (1. DEKZV e. V.), registered.

There were setbacks in the further spread and breeding of the Abyssinian cat due to the two world wars. In England, the center of Abyssinian cat breeding in Europe at the time, only 12 purebred Abyssinian cats and tomcats survived den second World War. a felineleukosis-epidemic  in the 1960s, in addition to the declining numbers of breeders and cats in the two post-war periods, almost led to the Abyssinian cat breed becoming extinct. Since the 1970s there has been a slow consolidation of the population numbers, but they are nowhere near those of the currently popular cat breeds like Maine Coon, Persian or Siamese cats.