American Shorthair vs Exotic Shorthair — Side by Side

	American Shorthair	Exotic Shorthair
Lifespan	15-20 years	8-15 years
Size	Medium	Medium
Weight	8-15 lb	8-15 lb
Energy	Moderate	Low
Grooming	Low	Moderate
Shedding	Low	Moderate
With kids	Good with kids	With supervision

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the American Shorthair. More with the Exotic Shorthair.
Less brushing with the American Shorthair. More with the Exotic Shorthair.
Calmer of the two is the Exotic Shorthair. The one that needs more exercise is the American Shorthair.
American Shorthair tends to live longer — 15-20 years against 8-15 years.
With young children, American Shorthair is the safer default — Exotic Shorthair is listed as "With supervision".

The honest downside of each

American Shorthair

The 'all-American working cat' story implies a hardy, mixed-heritage constitution, but this is a closed pedigree bred like any other purebred, and Cornell's feline health center lists American Shorthair among the breeds with an elevated rate of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy — the same silent heart disease people specifically worry about in Maine Coons.

Exotic Shorthair

The Exotic Shorthair is a Persian in a plush short coat, bred to the same extreme flat-faced standard, which means it inherits the same brachycephalic breathing problems, tear-duct overflow, and elevated polycystic kidney disease risk as the Persian — buyers who pick this breed specifically to avoid 'Persian problems' are mistaken about what they're avoiding.

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American Shorthair · Exotic Shorthair
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.