A breed standard is the written description a judge uses to compare a cat against the ideal. For the Minuet, The International Cat Association's standard is the only championship-level standard in existence — and it repays careful reading, because it says as much about what the breed should not become as it does about what it is.

What a TICA standard is, and how it reads

TICA standards follow a common structure. A short General Description sets the overall impression, followed by sections on Head, Ears, Eyes, Body and Boning, Legs and Feet, Tail, Coat, Colour, Allowable Outcrosses, Allowances, Penalties and Disqualifications. Points are allocated across these sections to a total of 100, and each trait has language that distinguishes the ideal from the acceptable and from the faulty.

The Minuet standard (breed code MNT for shorthair, MNL for longhair) was drafted with the help of TICA's longtime judging administrator Gloria Stephens, and has been revised steadily since championship recognition in 2016 — most notably in the 2024 and 2025 revisions which clarified the variety groupings and allowable outcrosses. What follows walks through each section in plain language; for the authoritative text itself, breeders should always consult the current PDF on the TICA website.

General description: roundness, moderation, balance

The Minuet is described as a medium-sized, well-balanced, muscular cat with a "sweet, open expression" and short legs, giving the impression of being low to the ground without appearing deformed. The key words that run through the whole standard are round, cobby, balanced and moderate. This is a breed that is meant to be Persian-flavoured without falling into any of the extreme typing the Persian itself has drifted into at the highest show levels.

4
Varieties in breed group
3
Allowable outcross groups
2016
Year standard went championship

Head

The head is round, broad, and slightly domed on top. In profile it should show a gentle curve from forehead to nose with a clear but moderate nose break — "moderate" being the crucial word. The muzzle is round, the jaw is broad and firm, and the chin is strong and in line with the upper lip. A snub (extremely short) nose is explicitly penalised, and a full nose break in the Persian show style is a disqualifying fault. The underlying skeletal structure should be cobby but never coarse.

Ears

The ears are small to medium, set wide apart and slightly low on the head, with rounded tips. They should tilt gently outward, fitting into the overall round silhouette of the head. Ears set too high, too close together or too pointed break the desired round impression. The standard allows for slightly larger ears in kittens, recognising that head proportions take time to mature.

Eyes

The eyes are large, round, wide-set and expressive, giving that "innocent wonder" expression the standard explicitly calls for. Importantly, the eyes should not protrude and should not tear excessively — both faults associated with extreme brachycephalic breeding and both explicitly penalised or disqualified. Eye colour should be clear and luminous, but, by a specific allowance in the standard, does not have to correspond to the cat's coat colour.

Body, boning and build

The body is semi-cobby to cobby — broad, deep-chested, thickly muscled, with a level topline that sits low to the ground. Boning is medium to heavy; the overall impression is of a muscular, substantial cat rather than a dainty one. Mature males are larger and more robust than females, and jowls are permitted in mature males.

The standard specifically calls out "excessive bowing" of the legs as a disqualifying fault. This is a welfare-facing clause as much as an aesthetic one: a Minuet's legs must be straight and well-formed despite being short. Breeders who produce straight legs with good conformation are in effect being rewarded for the same thing that makes a short-legged cat comfortable to live with. See our article on patellar luxation and joint health for how this connects to real-world mobility.

Legs and feet

The legs are short, and all four should be of equal length. Feet are round and compact, with toes carried neatly. The Minuet is not meant to look like an ordinary cat on stilts cut down; the short legs should be proportional to the cobby body, which is why the standard rewards balance over extremity.

Tail

The tail is in proportion to the body, tapering slightly to a rounded tip, and is carried level with the back. A tail that is kinked or visibly deformed is a fault.

Coat

The Minuet breed group encompasses four varieties: shorthair and longhair, each in standard (short-legged) and non-standard (standard-legged) forms.

The non-standard (standard-legged) varieties (MTT shorthair, MTL longhair) are identical in every other respect. For a deeper look at how coat length changes daily care, see our comparison of longhair versus shorthair Minuets.

Colour

The standard permits "any colour, pattern, or combination thereof." This follows Persian-family convention and includes solid, tabby (all four tabby patterns), tortoiseshell, calico, bicolour, smoke, silver, shaded and pointed (colourpoint) varieties. Our separate guide to Minuet coat colours and patterns walks through each category.

Allowable outcrosses

Only three outcross groups are currently recognised by TICA for the Minuet:

This list is deliberately narrow. It defines the breed genetically: every championship Minuet must trace back, within a limited number of generations, to these permitted crosses. It is also why the Minuet has a distinctive, recognisable look rather than drifting toward a generic short-legged cat.

Allowances

The standard explicitly permits:

These allowances are important because they keep judges from penalising natural developmental stages and normal sexual dimorphism.

Penalties

Faults that count against a cat in the show ring but do not disqualify it include:

Disqualifications

These are faults that end a cat's show in that class entirely. For the Minuet, they are:

Why the DQs matter

Read as a group, the Minuet disqualifications are a deliberate attempt to protect the breed from the worst excesses of both parent lines: Persian-extreme muzzle and eyes on the one hand, and bowed legs and jaw misalignment on the other. The standard is, in effect, a health-minded document.

How judges actually use the standard

In the show hall, a TICA judge handles each cat, evaluates it against the standard, and scores across the point allocation. A Minuet that is cobby, round, with a moderate nose, clear eyes and a straight, level topline will score well; a cat that is too fine-boned, too pointy-faced, with bowed legs or a Persian-style flat face will lose points or, in the worst case, be withheld from awards. Standards evolve — and the Minuet's has already had minor revisions since 2016 — so breeders who exhibit regularly keep the current PDF version at hand.

Why reading the standard matters for pet buyers too

Buyers who are not planning to show still benefit from reading the breed standard. A kitten that is badly off-type — extremely flat-faced with protruding eyes, bowed legs, or an obvious jaw fault — is not only unshowable but at higher risk of the welfare problems the standard is meant to guard against. When meeting a breeder, expect them to be able to discuss these traits confidently and, if asked, to show you the standard's language applied to their kittens.

For a step-by-step checklist, our article on choosing a reputable Minuet breeder translates the standard into buyer-facing questions. For the welfare debate that sits behind the penalties and disqualifications, see brachycephalic risks in the Minuet.

A standard that knows where it sits

The Minuet standard is unusual among TICA breed standards in how much of its text is dedicated to what to avoid. It names snub noses, nose breaks, bowed legs and protruding eyes — all of them features that, in an extreme Persian or an extreme Munchkin, could otherwise quietly drift into the breed. The standard's job, in other words, is not just to describe the ideal Minuet. It is to keep the Minuet from becoming a caricature. Whether you read it as a breeder, a judge or a buyer, that is the lens that makes the document make sense.