The Exotic is the short-haired variant of the Persian Cat. This breed is a good choice for people who like Persian type cats but are not prepared to put in the significant amount of time required to care for their coat. All the colors found in the Persian occur in the Exotic. The first Exotic was bred in the USA. A breeder who kept American Shorthairs and Persians mated an American Shorthair tom with a Persian longhair queen. What resulted was a Persian in type with a the father's short fur coat. Word got around of these kittens and it was decided to start a breeding program to establish the short-haired coat in the Persian type. The coat of the Exotic is soft and dense. It shouldn't lie flat but always stand out from the body slightly. The hair is slightly longer than a British Shorthair's Because the Exotic is a short-haired Persian, the breed comes in all the colors of a Persian Longhair. Exotics can be white, black, blue, red, cream, chocolate and lilac. Then there's the parti-colors depending on the amount of white in the coat and the type of markings. Vans are predominantly white with two spots of color on the head and a spot on the tail. Harlequins are like the Vans but with additional spots on the body. The Bi-color is one third white and another color. The is usually a white inverted "V" on the forehead. The Tri-color has two colors plus white. Tortoiseshell or Tortie Cats have different colors in their coat but no white. There are four different tabby patterns: ticked, mackerel, spotted and classic. Tabbies may be black, red, cream, blue, chocolate, or lilac. This info was taken from Encyclopaedia of Cats by Esther J. J. Verhoef- Verhallen ⓒ 1998