If you’ve never heard of a Nebelung cat before, don’t worry! While a Nebelung cat is a breed of housecat, they are fairly uncommon. Nebelung cats are most often adopted from a breeder, rather than from a shelter. This is because of the rarity of this breed. Since they are uncommon, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to find a pure breed Nebelung cat anywhere but from a Nebelung cat breeder.
The History of Nebelung Cats
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In terms of breed histories, the Nebelung cat is a fairly new breed of cat, with its history beginning in only the early 1980s, when a breeder was working with a recessive long-haired gene that came from the Russian Blue breed of cats.
Over time, the breeder was able to create this breed of cat with many of the traits of the typical short-haired Russian Blue, but with much longer, glossier hair, eventually naming it Nebelung, which is a German word that loosely translates to “creatures of the mist.” In 1987, this breed of cat was officially registered and established as a specific breed of cat, and it has slowly gained popularity for its unique mist-blue and glossy coat.
As with many breeds of cats, especially more modern breeds, the Nebelung breed descended from one stray cat, whose breed was not actually known. All that is known for certain is that the Nebelung breed comes at least partially from the Russian Blue, which is a hypoallergenic species. This becomes a problem, as this means that only some Nebelung cats will develop that hypoallergenic property, as it depends on the traits of their ancestors.
The Origin of Nebelung Cats
Nebelung cats are a relatively new breed of domestic cat. They were first bred in the 1980s, and were actually bred by accident, and not by a cat breeder.
These cats are a cross between domestic shorthair cats and Russian blue cats. When a household adopted both of these cats, the cats mated and the resulting litter was of Nebelung kittens.
In 1987, Nebelung cats were officially named as their own breed by the International Cat Association. Since then, Nebelung cats have been bred on purpose by breeders. It is not a breed that is recognized by every group that assesses breeds of cat, but it is recognized enough that it is its own official breed.
Even though Nebelung cats were originally bred accidentally, they’ve become a very popular rare cat breed.
How Rare Are Nebelung Cats?
Part of the rarity of Nebelung cats is due to how new that breed is. However, if you are looking for a Nebelung cat to adopt, you shouldn’t have too much trouble as long as you go through a breeder.
If you are looking for a pure Nebelung cat, you’re going to have to look a little harder to find a breeder, and they might be more expensive. Getting a cat that is similar in looks and personality to a Nebelung cat might be easier, but they will not be the standard mix of a domestic shorthair and a Russian blue.
What Do Nebelung Cats Look Like?
Nebelung cats are a medium-sized breed, with their average weight being between about 7 and 15 pounds, depending on the gender of the cat. They also have medium to long length blue-grey hair. Typically, Nebelung cats have green eyes, although not all of them do.
The breed standard is their thick grey-blue coat, green or yellow-green eyes, and that they have a long body and tail. Their ears are large compared to the size of their head, and their legs are long. The appearance of Nebelung cats is very graceful and elegant.
Their hair is longest on their tails, and they have extra tufts of hair around their necks and back legs. Male Nebelung cats tend to be bigger and have longer hair than the females.
How Long Do Nebelungs Live?
Nebelung cats can live for a long time. In good health, the life expectancy for a Nebelung cat is about 15 to 18 years, and they can live even longer than that.
They are great cats to add to your family if you are looking for a companion for many years to come. They will provide great company, and are typically very healthy.
The chances that your Nebelung cat will live to be 18 years old is very high, and there is also a good chance that they could live even longer.
You should not adopt a Nebelung cat if you are not looking to keep a pet in your life for that long, or if you are uncertain that you will be able to take good care of the cat for at least a decade.
How Intelligent Are They?
Nebelung cats are known for their intelligence. While cats in general are intelligent animals, Nebelungs stand out among other cat breeds.
While these cats are generally calm and pleasant, you’ll want to make sure that you have enough activities around your home to engage them with. Get a lot of different toys, so they always have a new form of enrichment.
Intelligent cats can get bored easily, so make sure that you get some toys that are more interactive than others. If your cat gets too bored, it might start causing trouble around the house, like getting into something that it knows it shouldn’t, or breaking items.
Make sure that you set aside time in your day to play with your cat. As long as you give this intelligent breed of cat enough enrichment and activity, it should be happy and content.
Essential Supplies for Nebelung Cats
If you are thinking about adopting a Nebelung cat, there are a few things that you should make sure that you get before bringing your new cat home. The most important things to make sure you already have are food, food and water dishes, a hairbrush, and a bed. These are basic essentials that your cat will need. It’s smart to get a few different kinds of food, such as a mix of wet food and dry food.
As for a bed, it’s a good idea to get something that your cat is able to hide in. Most cats like enclosed spaces because it makes them feel safe. Nebelung cats especially like to hide, as they do not like to be very social, especially when someone unfamiliar is in the house.
Getting a bed that has a top is a great idea for a Nebelung cat. There are plenty of options in pet stores and online, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one that would be great for your new pet.
When you are looking for food and water dishes, make sure that you get something that a cat will want to eat out of. You don’t need to buy specific cat food and water dishes, although those should work great. You could also just use regular bowls and dishes that you can find in any store that sells kitchen items. Cats like to eat out of wide or more flat surfaces, so try to get a large and shallow bowl.
Behavior of a Nebelung Cat
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If you’ve met a Nebelung cat before, it’s likely that it didn’t take too kindly to you. This is a very common reaction that Nebelung cats have when they meet new people. When they are unfamiliar with you, Nebelung cats tend to be aloof.
When you visit a household that has a Nebelung cat, chances are that they went off to hide in a different room, or in a place where you could not see them. Nebelung cats don’t usually like to meet new people. They like it when their environments are stable, and stay the same.
Meeting a Nebelung cat for the first time isn’t necessarily an indication about how the cat usually acts around people. In general, Nebelung cats are actually very friendly. They love to spend time with the people in their household, and they are affectionate.
They take a little bit of time to warm up to people before they will display their friendly nature. If you are adopting a Nebelung cat, all you need to do is be patient. In time, your new cat will warm up to you, and will become affectionate.
Are Nebelung Cats Aggressive?
Just because Nebelung cats can be aloof at times, doesn’t mean that they are aggressive. If unprovoked, Nebelung cats will rarely show any sign of aggression. This breed is known for being affectionate, and isn’t aggressive.
However, you should be careful about how you act around them. Even though the breed isn’t known to be aggressive most of the time, this could still change based on the personality of the cat. Not every Nebelung cat has the same exact traits.
The mood and behavior of a cat can even be influenced by things that they have been through in the past, or the way that they were treated as a kitten. These influences will present themselves on occasion. If you are adopting a new cat, make sure that you are careful around them while you take time to learn what they like and what they don’t like.
If you are adopting a Nebelung cat, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about them being aggressive. The vast majority of Nebelung cats are very calm and affectionate. They will bond with you quickly, and will not be aggressive unless provoked, like any other animal would be.
Ideal Household for Nebelung Cats
The ideal household for a Nebelung cat would be a household that is usually quiet and peaceful. These cats would prefer a household that does not include young children. Typically, young children can be loud, and might disrupt the environment of the household regularly.
Nebelung cats prefer to have their own space, and can be quite aloof. They will not be aggressive toward children, but they will tolerate them.
However, tolerating children doesn’t mean that they will be happy being around children. If you have a household with children in it, a Nebelung cat might not be the right choice for you.
Similarly, Nebelung cats would prefer a household that doesn’t have any other pets. This is also because other pets can be loud or intrusive, and Nebelung cats are a solitary breed. If you have other pets, it would be best if they are quiet and mostly keep to themselves.
If your household has other pets that are regularly loud and disruptive, and might want to play with a Nebelung cat, you should probably not adopt a Nebelung cat. They would tolerate the other pets, and will probably not start any fights, but they are happiest when they are left alone.
Ideal Lifestyle for Household Members
Nebelung cats are very easygoing. There are a lot of different lifestyles that they can adapt to, so you don’t need to worry so much about how your schedule will affect your cat.
If you have a schedule where you have to be out of your house for long periods of time, such as long work days, your Nebelung cat will be just fine alone for the day. They like to have some solitude every once in a while, and usually do not have separation anxiety.
Spending a lot of time at home is okay, too. When your Nebelung cat doesn’t want any interaction, it will go off on its own, and will not be bothered by you being at home. These cats are very flexible about being left alone and being around you, which is great for a lot of people.
However, they do like routine. They don’t like new people coming into the house, and they like it when things stay pretty much the same from day to day. If their routine is disrupted, they will probably hide, and it could cause some anxiety.
If you regularly have company at your house, or you tend to move around a lot and your schedule changes frequently, a Nebelung cat might not be the right kind of cat for your household and lifestyle.
The Basic Needs of Nebelung Cats
Nebelung cats are extremely playful and intelligent. They do not have a particularly high energy level, but they will need plenty of toys to play with throughout the day. Make sure that you have a lot of different kinds of toys, so that they can have multiple kinds of enrichment.
Also, make sure that you are brushing your cat. Nebelung cats have long fur, and brushing it will help them to keep tangles out and could reduce the amount of hairballs that your cat has from grooming itself.
Nebelung cats also love to hide, so you should make sure that you have places that they can go to be alone. This could be covered cat beds, cat trees, or anything that they would feel secure in.
Nebelung Cat Personality
While the intelligence of Nebelung cats is outstanding, they also have other great features of their personality and their disposition.
Most Nebelung cats are very high energy and playful. This, combined with their high intelligence, will mean that they need a lot of enrichment and toys that they can play with throughout the day. Make sure that you have plenty of things laying around your house that they can access at all times.
Nebelung cats are very affectionate, but they also tend to be somewhat aloof. They might not like to spend a lot of time around other people, but will want plenty of affection from those who they are close with. They love to cuddle and be petted, but are okay to be left alone for long periods of time and will likely not get anxious or upset.
These cats tend to be more comfortable when there is an established routine. If there are many changes in their environment, they could get stressed. Make sure that you have a fairly regular daily routine, and you shouldn’t have a problem with your cat getting upset.
Great Toys for Nebelung Cats
Nebelung cats aren’t particularly picky about which kinds of toys that they like to play with. The most important thing is that you get them a variety of toys, so that they have plenty of different things to keep them engaged.
If you do not always have a lot of free time to play with your cat when they have energy, it’s a great idea to buy a toy that will move on its own. There are plenty of different toys that will move, such as mechanical mouse toys, flopping fish toys, or spinning wand toys. When you get your cat something like this, it will be able to interact with the toy, providing both enrichment and exercise.
You should also have a non-mechanical wand toy, so that when you have the time you can play with your cat. Getting a laser pointer is also a great way to play with your cat. Laser pointers are especially good for people who have limited mobility, since you don’t need to get up and move around, and only need to point the light around the cat.
Other toys that are great are ones that they can throw around themselves, such as crinkle balls or small toy mice with catnip. It’s also a great idea to have a scratching post or a cat tree.
Nebelung Cat’s Sociability
Nebelung cats tend to be calm but aloof. They would prefer a home without much noise and commotion. It would be best if they lived in a home without small children, and that is generally calm and quiet, with a regular routine.
They will get along well enough with other pets and family members, but Nebelung cats tend to be loners. They will likely not want to become close friends with the other pets in a household, and would prefer to live with other pets that are quiet and will leave the Nebelung cat alone most of the time.
Nebelung cats also might run and hide when people that they do not know come to their home. If you have a Nebelung cat, you shouldn’t be too worried about bringing people over. Your cat will be fine when you have company, but will probably not want to engage with them, and will come back out of hiding when the unfamiliar people have left.
Health of a Nebelung Cat
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Nebelung Cat Care Tips
To make sure that you are taking great care of a Nebelung cat, you should make sure that you are paying special attention to the cat’s health and diet. If you feed your cat a good diet, it will likely make your cat healthier, and in turn could lead to your cat living a longer life.
It’s best to give your cat a varied diet of high-quality dry and wet food. If you are adopting a Nebelung cat, make sure that you don’t buy the food in bulk the first time around. Take some time to figure out what kinds of food your cat likes before you buy food in large amounts. Nebelung cats tend to be a little bit pickier than most other breeds of cat, so make sure that you are not investing in something that your cat won’t want to eat.
It’s also a good idea to have a hair brush. If you brush your cat regularly, you’re helping to keep its coat healthy and shiny. Nebelung cats have long, thick hair, so it’s important to brush it. When you brush its hair, your cat will look cleaner and healthier, and will likely have less hairballs from grooming itself.
Common Health Problems in Nebelung Cats
Compared to other cat breeds, Nebelung cats have few common health problems associated with their breed. This could be partially due to how new the cat breed is, having only been around for a little under 40 years. There have been very few generations of this cat from which to draw conclusions about common health problems, unlike other breeds of cat that have been around for much longer, and generalizations about the breed can be made with accuracy.
There are a few general things that you should look out for when you have a Nebelung cat. Make sure that you pay attention to their health and activity levels. If you see them acting strangely, there could be something wrong and you should contact their vet.
Also, make sure that you are feeding and taking care of them properly. You should brush their teeth (if they let you), and make sure that you aren’t overfeeding them. These are just some general tips about taking care of cats, and Nebelung cats aren’t necessarily prone to tooth problems or obesity.
In general, you should also make sure that you take your cat to see the vet for regular checkups. Keep them up to date with any vaccinations they might need. If you do all of these things, you’re likely to have a cat that is healthy for a very long time.
Are Nebelung Cats Hypoallergenic?
In a sense, Nebelung cats can be considered “partially” hypoallergenic.
There are reports of people who are allergic to cats coming across Nebelung cats and not having an allergic reaction to them, much as they would with a truly hypoallergenic cat. At the same time, there are also reports of people interacting with these cats and having allergic reactions to them.
An experienced breeder may be able to determine whether a specific Nebelung cat is hypoallergenic or not, but even then, there is no guarantee on whether this could be true.
If you are someone who needs a hypoallergenic cat, it might be worth looking into one of the parent breeds of the Nebelung, the Russian Blue. Both cats have similar personalities and appearances, with the Russian Blue having shorter fur.
However, you shouldn’t count on Nebelung cats being hypoallergenic. Of course, there is the chance that you could be lucky and adopt one that is, but nobody wants to risk the chance that they have to return or rehome a cat because of allergies.
For the most part, you should turn your attention toward other cats that are known to be far more hypoallergenic, especially if you are someone with severe allergies to cats. Thankfully, there are more than a few different hypoallergenic cat breeds out there, many of which can share traits with the Nebelung, if that is the kind of cat that you want.
Relatively solitary cats that you could adopt include:
- Russian Blue
- Balinese
- Cornish Rex
- Devon Rex
Some hypoallergenic cats with longer fur include the Siberian cat, the Siamese cat, and the Laperm cat.
Adopting one of these cats for a household that needs a hypoallergenic cat will be a lot more beneficial for everyone, as these cats are far more likely to be truly hypoallergenic, as opposed to the gamble that you would take with adopting a Nebelung cat.
Cats and Allergies
There are actually two main types of allergies to cats that one can have, with one being easier to handle than the other.
The most common allergy to cats is to a specific protein that is secreted in the cat’s skin and is found in the fur of a cat. Most hypoallergenic cats are bred to not produce this protein, making them suitable for people who are allergic to this.
There is another main allergen that cats produce, and this allergen is the second most common cause of cat allergies. This second allergen is found in cat saliva, which is then deposited through the cat’s fur during grooming.
Getting a hypoallergenic cat will not relieve this allergen. Ultimately, this means that first things first, you need to consider what type of allergy you have to cats, as getting a hypoallergenic cat will make a difference with only one.
Keeping this in mind, if you find that you can take care of and handle cats that are hypoallergenic, you may wonder where you should go from here. You may not know which cats are hypoallergenic, and of those cats, which ones are the best for you.
One of the many hypoallergenic cats that you can consider is the relatively new breed of cats known as Nebelung cats, or so some people will tell you. It’s actually rather unclear whether this cat is truly hypoallergenic, and to understand why, you need to first understand this breed’s history.
Cost of Nebelung Cats
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One of the aspects that plays the biggest role in determining whether or not you may want to adopt a particular breed of cat will be the price. No matter how much you may like a breed of cat, if you cannot afford it, then it will be completely out of the question.
The price of a breed can fluctuate a lot based on demand, difficulty to breed, and how specialized the breed of cat is.
The Nebelung is not a particularly popular or well-known breed, such as Persians, Maine Coons, and Russian Blues. This means that it is likely not going to be readily available by breeders.
At the same time, the restrictions for what qualifies as a Nebelung (by show and pedigree standards) are strict enough that breeders have to put a lot of consideration into their cats. This will translate into the price heavily.
On top of all of this, the Nebelung is a gorgeous cat, and cats that are beautiful to look at are always going to be more expensive.
With this in mind, you may begin to wonder what exactly the Nebelung cat price is going to be by the time you begin planning an adoption.
Understanding the Price Range of a Nebelung
For better or for worse, the range of what these cats can cost is quite a large range, and it can be difficult to try and determine what will create a cat on the less expensive end of the spectrum.
As a whole, the price range for purchasing kittens will be anywhere from $600 USD to $1,200 USD.
As mentioned above, the price will fluctuate on a lot of things. The price will also reflect the age of the cat, as kittens are much more expensive than adults that have run their time as show cats and simply need a new home.
So what goes into determining the price of the cat?
For one, a major factor will be how well the cat could perform as a show cat.
There are strict standards for what kind of cats can get into a show for their breed, and if a cat meets all of those standards with flying colors, then it is going to be far more expensive than a cat who does not meet those standards.
Unless you are planning to show your Nebelung cat off at the local cat show, you can often save several hundred dollars by adopting an “imperfect” cat.
Other factors of what determines where a cat falls in the range of prices include the pedigree history and how lengthy that is, the genetic health of the cat and its predecessors, as well as the temperament of the particular cat.
Nebelungs Are a Rare Breed
These cats are also considered rare cats. They are a relatively modern breed (in terms of cat breed history), only coming to light during the 1980s. This means that there aren’t many dedicated breeders who focus on this cat, or even know of this breed’s existence.
What this means for the breeders who do focus on this cat is that there is little competition to dissuade them from increasing the price to exorbitant amounts. There aren’t really many ways around this price increase than to simply shop smart so that you can purchase your new kitten for the best price around.
As mentioned earlier, price can also play a massive role into where a cat will fall in the price range of Nebelung cats.
Kittens are always going to be a higher price than adults, as they are easier to rehome, easier to transport, and easier to train if you want to try and get it adapted to its new environment. It is significantly harder to try and get an older cat to adapt to a new life and you are often better off adapting to the cat’s preferences instead.
Additionally, back to the idea of using cats for a show, a cat who is older is not going to be able to be trained to be a show cat, decreasing the number of people who may be interested in adopting that cat.
When less people are interested in adopting a cat, the price of it goes down. This means that mature cats as well as retired show cats are going to be notably less expensive than kittens and young “teen” cats.
Do keep in mind that it may be tough to adjust to the ways and the temper of older cats, and if you are looking to adopt an older cat, you may have to make some changes to your life as it is.
Top 3 Nebelung Cat Names
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AZUL
TINSEL
BLEU