What Different Cat Breeds Looked Like 100 Years Ago: Tweets Of Amazing Historical Photos Of Cats

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Feb 20, 2023 9:00 AM EST

One of our favorite genres of photos on the internet is old cat pictures. It's just that no matter how old the photo is, we still, to this day, feel a kinship with the cat owners of that time. it could be photos of cats throughout history being peeved by wearing costumes. It could be hissterical historical photos of cats getting blasted in the face with milk - straight from the cow. It could be photos of cats literally leaving their paw marks throughout history - and on very important texts and landmarks. 

We feel this kinship as cat owners because… well, cats have not really changed throughout time, not if you really think about it. Or have they? Well, in today's vira twitter thread, we found out that although their purrsonalities remained pretty much the same throughout history, cats' appearance did in fact change - and quite drastically in some cases. 

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  • 01
    Font - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore m... A lot of you guys seemed surprised to see what Persian cats looked like 100+ years ago, so I thought I'd show you what a champion Siamese cat looked like around the same time... commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cha 4:46 AM Feb 17, 2023 663K Views 924 Retweets 102 Quote Tweets : 15.3K Likes
    via @CatsOfYore

    You know, we always laugh about how we have no idea what breed our cat is as cat people. It's rare for someone to know exactly what breed their cat is, but we didn't really think too hard about why that is. So, seeing these pictures really put things in perspective for us. 

  • 02
    Cat
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 03
    Carnivore - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore versus now... cfa.org/siamese/siames... ALT SINCE 1906 www.cfa.org ATION ... Ⓒhanan 2016
    via @CatsOfYore, Lhanan 2016, The Cat Fanciers' Association

    The difference really is stunning. It would be hard to guess that these two cats even come from the same family. We talk a lot about bad breeding practices with dogs and what that has done to them over time. Now, we think it's time to start talking more about the topic when it comes to cats as well.

  • 04
    Cat - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore ... and the Oriental breed that was developed from Siamese. cfa.org/oriental/orien... ALT SINCE 190 ATION
    via @CatsOfYore, The Cat Fanciers' Association
  • 05
    Font - Cats of Yore @Cats Of Yore : Obviously the rounder or "applehead" Siamese still exist and color point genes are frequently expressed in cats that are not of pure Siamese blood lines, but you can see how drastically humans have deformed their bodies and skulls within the official breed standards. 4:46 AM Feb 17, 2023 42.5K Views
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 06
    Font - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore I can't really imagine what they will look like 50-100 years from now. 4:46 AM Feb 17, 2023 53.6K Views .
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 07
    Rectangle - Cats of Yore @Cats Of Yore : So, I thought I made this clear but when I say "Siamese" in this thread I'm referring to purebreds and the official standards set forth by the cat show/pedigree world. The way the cats originally looked would be considered highly undesirable by them now. 6:31 AM Feb 17, 2023 57.5K Views
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 08
    Photograph - Cats of Yore @Cats Of Yore Another example of how Persian cats used to look. Ca. 1910 - 1915. loc.gov/resource/ggbai... ALT
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 09
    Cat - Cats of Yore @Cats OfYore Compared to today. cfa.org/persian/persia... ALT 9:59 PM. Feb 10, 2023 32.8K Views CAT FANC SASSOCIATION ALT
    via @CatsOfYore, The Cat Fanciers' Association
  • 10
    Photograph - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore "Sarah A. Weeks and kittens, Coopers Mills, Whitefield, ca. 1915" mainememory.net/artifact/103576 ALT ...
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 11
    Photograph - Cats of Yore @Cats Of Yore Ca. 1905. gettyimages.com/detail/news-ph...
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 12
    Cat - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore "I couldn't put my violin away because I didn't want to disturb the cat in the case" seems like a very plausible dilemma. Ca. 1880s. ucpress.edu/blog/50634/nat... ALT
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 13
    Photograph - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore The look this cat is giving those pups... Ca. 1920. collections.musee- mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/152... ALT ...
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 14
    Cat - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore 100% matching expressions. 1866. collections.musee-mccord- stewart.ca/en/objects/148... ALT :
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 15
    Hat - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore (Future suffragette activist) "Florence Luscomb holding her cat, Needles, c. 1893" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_...
    via @CatsOfYore
  • 16
    Cat - Cats of Yore @CatsOfYore "Draftsman and the Cat" (the cat is identified elsewhere as Thomas). 1910-1911. cartermuseum.org/collection/dra... :
    via @CatsOfYore

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