Although this breed’s ancestors arrived on the shores of the United States hundreds of years ago, the friendly, even-tempered kitty we know and love today is all-American. Many believe the working cats that would become the American Shorthair arrived with the Mayflower in 1620—or existed even earlier, with residents of the Jamestown Colony.
These cats worked to keep rodents and vermin out of barns and away from their family’s houses. Over the last few hundred years, the cats that had the strongest hunting instincts and the best endurance to cold New England winters were the ones to persist.
In the 1800s, the Shorthair cat was first accepted into the American Cat Fancier, but their name changed several times. They started as Shorthairs, graduated to Domestic Shorthair, and then ended up as American Shorthair. courtesy by: litter-robot.com