Abyssinian vs British Shorthair — Side by Side

	Abyssinian	British Shorthair
Lifespan	9-13 years	12-20 years
Size	Medium	Medium
Weight	8-12 lb	7-17 lb
Energy	Very high	Low
Grooming	Low	Moderate
Shedding	Low	Moderate
With kids	With supervision	Good with kids

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the Abyssinian. More with the British Shorthair.
Less brushing with the Abyssinian. More with the British Shorthair.
Calmer of the two is the British Shorthair. The one that needs more exercise is the Abyssinian.
British Shorthair tends to live longer — 12-20 years against 9-13 years.
With young children, British Shorthair is the safer default — Abyssinian is listed as "With supervision".

The honest downside of each

Abyssinian

Abyssinians are one of the most perpetually active cat breeds that exists and generally dislike being held or restrained, which is the opposite of what most people picture when a breeder describes a 'friendly, people-oriented' cat.

British Shorthair

The round 'teddy bear' face and dense plush coat of the show standard sit on a breed that Cornell's feline health center lists among those with an elevated rate of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a silent heart disease that can kill without warning, so a breeder who can't show recent cardiac screening on both parents is a real red flag, not a formality.

Read the full pages

Abyssinian · British Shorthair
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.