Abyssinian cats are medium-sized, slender, and elegant with a muscular, slightly elongated body. They have strong, long, and slender limbs that give the impression of standing on tiptoe. The tail is relatively long, tapering from the base to a pointed end. Their heads are moderately wedge-shaped with a straight vertical line formed by the nose and chin when viewed in profile. The ears are large, upright, and wide at the base, while the eyebrows and eyelids are dark. Their eyes are large, expressive, almond-shaped, slightly slanted, and come in intense colors ranging from amber-yellow to green.
The neck of Abyssinian cats is short, graceful, and elegantly curved. Their coat is the main attraction, short and shiny, with a shimmering effect due to ticking - where each hair has several shades. The original color standard for Abyssinians is a warm deep reddish-brown base with black ticking, known as 'usual' in the UK, 'tawny' in Australia, and 'ruddy' elsewhere. There are other variants such as cinnamon or red, blue, fawn, tortoiseshell, tortoiseshell red, tortoiseshell blue, and tortoiseshell fawn. The UK also recognizes the Silver Abyssinian, where the base coat is pure silvery white with black (called 'usual silver'), blue, cream, or red ticking.
Abyssinian cats often have a typical tabby M-shaped marking on their forehead, adding to their distinctive appearance.
