Cat breed · England
The Oriental Shorthair is a breed of domestic cat that is developed from and closely related to the Siamese cat. It maintains the modern Siamese head and body type but appears in a wide range of coat colours and patterns. Like the Siamese, Orientals have almond-shaped eyes, a triangular head shape, large ears, and an elongated, slender, and muscular body. Unlike the breed's blue-eyed Siamese forebear, Orientals are usually green-eyed.
In 1977 the Oriental Shorthair was accepted by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) for championship competition. Since 1997, it has also received recognition from the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) and various other cat breeding organisations. The breed is among the most popular among CFA members.
The Oriental Longhair breed differs only with respect to coat length.
Behaviour: Their personalities are very similar to the Siamese, they have high locomotion levels and are natural conversationalists. Orientals are social, intelligent, and many are rather vocal. The adult Oriental Shorthair cats are considered to be active, curious and interested about surroundings by breeders and veterinarians. They often remain playful into adulthood, with many enjoying playing fetch. Despite their slender appearance, they are athletic and can leap into high places. They prefer to live in pairs or groups and also seek human interaction.
Coat Colouration: Under recognised breed standards, more than 300 coat colour and pattern combinations are theoretically possible, although permitted colourations differ between registries. These coat combinations are derived from one or more of the following base colours and patterns:
Colours
All Western and oriental base colours: black ("ebony"), chocolate, cinnamon, red, white
Dilution and dilution-modifiers: blue, lilac ("lavender"), fawn, caramel, cream, apricot
History: According to the CFA, "Orientals represent a diverse group of cats that have their foundation in the Siamese breed." The Siamese foundation stock were landrace cats from Siam (today, Thailand) in both pointed and full colours, imported to the UK and later selectively bred since the end of the 1800s, becoming one of the most popular cat breeds. The gene that causes the colour to be restricted to the points is a recessive gene; therefore, the random-bred cat population in Siam was largely full-coloured (non-pointed). When the foundation cats were selectively bred, the pointed cats were eventually registered as Siamese, while the others were referred to as "non-blue eyed Siamese" or "foreign shorthair".
While the breed's genetic roots are ultimately in Thailand, it was formally developed in the US by a number of New York area cat breeders, led by Vicky and Peter Markstein (PetMark cattery), who in 1971–72 were intrigued by tabby point (US: lynx point) patterned and solid coloured cats of a Siamese body type at Angela Sayers' Solitaire Cattery and at Patricia White's. These were based on solid-coloured cats with the oriental-type body of a Siamese, bred by Baroness von Ullmann over the 1950s. An "Oriental Shorthairs International" was formed in 1973, and Peter Markstein presented the breed to the 1976 Annual CFA meeting, at the same time as the Havana Brown was presented by Joe Bittaker.
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