And what do those funny acronyms mean?

There’s quite a bit of confusion over this! So, let me help to clarify this in words and pictures.

Acronyms
“D” stands for Domestic. Domestic cats are your loveable “moggie”, so they aren’t any specific breed as such (like say a Persian, Siamese or a Birman). The majority of New Zealand cats are domestic cats. The acronyms DSH (Domestic Short Hair), DMH (Domestic Medium Hair) and DLH (Domestic Long Hair) are used for identification purposes by SPCAs, shelters, vets and the NZ Companion Animal Register. It helps us all to use the same language to identify, and match, lost and found cats.

 

This blog relates purely to hair (fur) length. So let’s ignore the colour for now (that’s the next blog) and just look at the fur length.

 

Domestic Short Hair (DSH)
A short haired cat is a “normal” cat. Domestic Short Haired cats are by far the most common Domestic cat. If your cat does not have a fluffy (feathery, plume-like) tail, he or she is shorthaired.

Domestic Medium Hair (DMH)
A medium haired cat often has a bit of a “ruff” around the neck and has a definite fluffy tail. The “ruff” can often be longer in winter, and shorter in summer.

In this picture of a Domestic Medium Haired cat you can see a slightly fluffy ruff. The key differentiator compared to a Domestic Short Haired cat is that fluffy plume-like tail.

Domestic Long Hair (DLH)
A long haired cat has quite long fur all over - their tail, their coat and their ruff.

The other fur type is “hairless” - like the Sphynx cat.

It’s a bit of industry jargon, but knowing the difference between a DSH, a DMH and a DLH really helps us all to bring lost pets home faster ????