Cat Breeds

The Oriental Shorthair is a breed of cat.This cat combines the Siamese body with a diversity of colorings and patterns.

Oriental Shorthairs are intelligent, social animals who bond very closely to their people. They are inquisitive, friendly, emotional, demanding and often quite vocal. They will depend on and trust you forever if you love and take care of them. Their purr can be extremely loud when happy.

The Oriental Shorthair is a self-coloured (non-pointed) member of the Siamese Family. They can be found in solid colors (white, red, cream, ebony, blue, chestnut, lavender, cinnamon, or fawn), smoke (white undercoat to any of the above except white), shaded (only the hair tips colored), parti-color (red or cream splashes on any of the above), tabby (mackerel/striped, ticked, spotted, and blotched/classic), and bi-colored (any of the above, with white). In total, there are over 300 color and pattern combinations possible. Though in CFA, pointed cats from Oriental Shorthair parents are considered AOV (Any Other Variety), in TICA, as well as in the majority of worldwide Cat Associations, these cats are considered to be, and compete as, Siamese.

Oriental Shorthairs have expressive, almond-shaped eyes, a wedge-shaped head with large ears that fit in the wedge of the head. Their bodies are very elegant yet muscular. When seeing an Oriental Shorthair, one would never guess them to be as solid as they are.

The longhaired version of the Oriental Shorthair, Oriental Longhair, simply carries a pair of the recessive long hair gene.

The Siamese cat was imported to Britain from Siam (Thailand) in the later half of the 1800s. According to reports, both pointed and solid colors were imported. The gene that causes the color to be restricted to the points is a recessive gene, therefore the general population of the cats of Siam were largely self (solid) colored. When the cats from Siam were bred, the pointed cats were eventually registered as Siamese the others were referred to as "non-blue eyed siamese" or foreign shorthair. Other breeds that were developed from the moggies of Siam include the Havana Brown and the Korat.

It was not until 1977 that the Oriental Shorthair was accepted for competition into the CFA. In 1985, the CFA recognized the bicolor oriental shorthair. The bicolor is any one of the accepted oriental shorthair color patterns with the addition of white to the belly, face, and legs/paws.

The Oriental Bicolour is a cat breeds of Oriental type, either longhaired or shorthaired and in any pattern including colourpoint, which has white areas on its coat caused by the white spotting gene.

The Oriental Bicolour is a cat of Oriental type with a long, slender body and tapering whip-like tail. The triangular shape of the head is made of straight lines with a straight side profile and large, wide-set ears. The eyes are green, except in the colourpoint varieties which have blue eyes. The coat on the shorthaired variety is sleek, close-lying and glossy, while that of the longhair is fine and silky, lying flat to the body with no thick undercoat and forming a plume on the tail. The full range of colours seen in Siamese and Oreintals is permitted, however a defining feature of breed is that they always have white spotting. In a cat of show quality this should extend to cover at least one third of the body and the distribution may be random and quirky like splashed paint. There is always a greater distribution of white on the cat's underside and legs in comparison with its back. This patterning is caused by the dominant white spotting gene, which is symbolized with the letter S.

Although some experimental breeding took place during the 1970s and 1980s in the UK, including Pat Turner's Seychellois breeding programme, the modern-day Oriental Bicolour owes its origins to matings initiated in the USA by Lindajean Grillo (Ciara Cattery). Starting in 1979, Grillo carried out a series of matings between Siamese and Bicolour American Shorthairs. She then selected the best Bicolour offspring to mate back to Siamese or Orientals in order to regain type. The variety was granted recognition by TICA in 1983 and the first champion was Ciara Quite-N-Oreo.

During the 1980s European breeders, principally those in France and the Netherlands, initiated their own Oriental Bicolour breeding lines. A red and white female Moroccan street cat was used as an initial outcross, then later on a Black & White Cornish Rex. Further cats were imported from the USA. It was important for breeders to have different lines in order to be able to mate bicolour to bicolour and obtain a higher proportion of white on the coat, without excessive inbreeding.

FIFe granted championship recognition in 2003 to the Bicolour Oriental Shorthairs and in 2005 to the colourpoint and white cats under the breed name Seychellois.

Although there was a small breeding program stemming from the last of Pat Turner's cats being kept by the late Barbara Lambert (Nomis cattery, breeding under FIFe guidelines,) this disappeared following her death in the early 2000's. The first modern-day Oriental Bicolours were imported to the UK starting in 2004 with the arrival of Black & White male Tassam Tom of Landican owned by Sarah Johnson and Pat Norman of the Landican Cattery. The variety gained official Preliminary recognition with the GCCF in 2006. In 2008 the breed progressed to Provisional Status, the fastest breed recognition within this organisation and a mark of the breed's popularity and success.

The Ocicat is an all-domestic breed of cat which resembles a 'wild' cat but has no wild blood. The cat breed is unusual in that it is spotted like a wild cat but has the temperament of a domestic animal. It is named for its resemblance to the ocelot.

Despite its appearance, there is no 'wild' DNA in the Ocicat's gene pool. The species is actually a mixture of Siamese and Abyssinian, and later American Shorthairs (silver tabbies) were added to the mix and gave the breed their silver color, bone structure and distinct markings.

Ocicats are a very outgoing cat breed. They are often considered to have the spirit of a dog in a cat's body. Most can easily be trained to fetch, walk on a leash and harness, come when called, speak, sit, lie down on command and a large array of other dog-related tricks. Most are especially good at feline agility because they are very toy-driven. Some even take readily to the water. Ocicats are also very friendly. They will typically march straight up to strangers and announce that they'd like to be petted. This makes them great family pets, and most can also get along well with animals of other species, although they are likely to assert their dominance over all involved. Ocicats make excellent pets for people who want to spend a lot of time with their cat, but they do require more attention than cats who aren't so people-oriented.

There are twelve colors approved for the ocicat breed. Tawny, chocolate and cinnamon, their dilutes, blue, lavender and fawn, and all of them with silver: black silver (ebony silver), chocolate silver, cinnamon silver, blue silver, lavender silver and fawn silver. Ocicats have almond shaped eyes perfect for seeing at night. They also have a large, strong body, muscular legs with dark markings, and powerful, oval shaped paws. The body shape of the Ocicat is partway between the svelte Oriental and the sturdy American Shorthair. The breed's large, well-muscled body gives an impression of power and strength.

The Norwegian Forest Cat is a cat breed of domestic cat native to Northern Europe, and adapted to a very cold climate. In Norway they are known as skogkatter or more properly, the Norsk skaukatt.

The cat breed is very old, and occurred as a natural adaptation to the cold climate of the region, but it was not regarded as anything other than a standard house-cat until the late 1930s, when a small number of 'Skaukatts' were shown in Germany and received very favorably by the judges. World War II brought an abrupt end to the fledgling Norwegian show cat industry, and the cat breeds was forgotten until the 1970s. The cats are now being bred and shown in several countries including the United States. The first international association to accept the breed was FIFe, in 1977. They are rumored to be the early ancestors of the Maine Coon and the long-haired Manx.

Norwegian Forest Cats have a thick fluffy double-layered coat, long tufts of fur in ears and between toes, and a long bushy tail to protect them against the cold. Their coat is essentially waterproof due to its water repellent outer layer and dense underlay. They are very large cats with adult males weighing 6 to 10 kg (13 to 22 lb), while females may be smaller. Their hind legs are longer than their front legs. They are very intelligent, playful cats that enjoy human company but can get upset if left alone for a long period of time. The nickname of "Wegie" (pronounced to rhyme with 'squeegee') began in the United States and is a shortened version of the word Norwegian.

Like Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats are an intelligent, robust and playful cat breed. They like the outdoors, are well suited to cold conditions and are great hunters. Despite their great affection for the outdoors, they also enjoy the company of humans and other pets and will sometimes go looking for company if left alone by their owners. They are not easily stressed and are quite patient, which makes them great for a family with children. They appreciate high vantage points and enjoy climbing trees, or, if they are indoor cats, climbing on appliances, bookshelves and other elevated surfaces in the home. Norwegian Forest Cats are very good family pets and do not need too much maintenance, only a comb at least once a week, without which the coat can become knotted and tangled.