Norwegian Forest Cat

The Norwegian Forest Cat (Norwegian: norsk skogkatt or norsk skaukatt) is a pedigreed breed of domestic cat originating in Northern Europe. This landrace breed is adapted to a very cold climate, with a top coat of long, glossy hair and a woolly undercoat for insulation. The breed's ancestors may have been a landrace breed of short-haired cats brought to Norway about 1000 AD by the Vikings, who may also have brought with them long-haired cats, like those ancestral to the modern Siberian and Turkish Angora.

During World War II, the Norwegian Forest Cat was nearly extinct; then the Norwegian Forest Cat Club's breeding program increased the cat's number. It was registered as a breed with the European Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) in the 1970s, when a Norwegian cat fancier took notice of the breed and made efforts to selectively breed and register it.