Personality:
- Talkative, people-loving cats that enjoy sitting on laps and shoulders.
- Demonstrative, playful, and affectionate.
- Dog-like in their devotion and behavior.
- Easily trained to fetch and walk on a leash.
- Like to participate in all household activities.
History:
Created by cat fanciers who wanted a Balinese (longhaired Siamese) cat with a wide variety of colorpoint possibilities beyond the traditional point colors of seal, blue, chocolate, and lilac. Breed was primarily created by crossing Balinese with Colorpoint Shorthairs. Named for the island of Java, the next island over from Bali. Accepted for championship in the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) in 1986. In The International Cat Association (TICA), all longhaired Siamese in all colorpoint possibilities are considered as Balinese—there is no separate Javanese breed in that association.
Body Type:
- Medium-sized with long, svelte lines, fine bones and firm muscles.
- Plume like tail.
- Head is a long, tapering wedge with large pointed ears.
- Deep blue eyes are almond shaped.
Coat:
- Coat is medium long, fine, silky, and without undercoat.
- Mask, ears, legs, feet, and tail are pointed.
- Long coat does not mat and sheds less than many shorthaired breeds.
- Body is a contrasting pale color that darkens slightly as the cat matures.
- Kittens are born white, developing colorpoints when they are a week to 10 days old.
- Color points include red, cream, seal-lynx, chocolate lynx, blue-lynx, lilac-lynx, red-lynx, chocolate-tortie lynx, blue-cream lynx, lilac-cream lynx, cream lynx, seal-tortie, chocolate-tortie, blue-cream, and lilac cream.
- Some colors exhibit thumbprint marks on the backs of their ears.
Health and Wellness:
- Some lines have a tendency toward gingivitis. Preventive dental care and early detection keep this condition under control.
What you should know:
- Since Javanese are hybrids with Siamese in their background, they sometimes have kinked tails and/or crossed eyes. These defects do not affect the well being of the cat.
- Minimal dander makes this breed easier to tolerate by some people with allergies.
