Oriental Shorthair

Personality:
  • Enthusiastic, energetic, and curious.
  • Devoted and loving, especially to their one special human.
  • Voices are usually softer and milder than a Siamese.
  • Known to enjoy riding on the shoulders of their people.
  • Usually prefer to bond with one human.
History:

Siamese hybrid that was developed in the 1950′s and 1960′s by breeders who wanted a cat that looked and acted like a Siamese but with a wide range of colors (without the traditional Siamese points).  Siamese were crossed with domestic shorthairs, Russian Blues, and Abyssinians to create the new look and then bred back to Siamese to maintain the Siamese body and personality type.  Although initially resisted by Siamese purists, the breed was accepted for championship by the Cat Fanciers’ Associaton (CFA) in 1977.

Body Type:
  • Medium-sized and svelte with a distinctive combination of fine bones and firm muscles.
  • Head is a long-tapering wedge with large pointed ears.
  • Green eyes are medium size and almond shaped (only white Orientals may be either blue, green or odd-eyed).
Coat:
  • Coat is short, fine, and glossy.
  • Over 300 color and pattern combinations.  Colors include solids (blue, chestnut, cinnamon, cream, ebony, fawn, lavender, red and white), smoke (all colors and combinations of colors with a white undercoat that lies close to the skin), shaded (similar to the smoke colors but the white undercoat extends farther up the hair shaft making the coat appear to sparkle), and parti-color and bi-color (blue-cream, fawn-cream, lavender-cream, cinnamon tortoiseshell, chestnut tortoiseshell & ebony tortoiseshell).
Health and Wellness:
  • Since the Oriental Shorthair is a hybrid 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, but are grounds for disqualification in the show ring.
  • Some lines have problems with gingivitis. Preventive dental care and early detection can keep this condition under control.
What you should know:
  • Can easily be taught to fetch and usually enjoy riding in the car.
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