Also known as Oriental Shorthair, Oriental Cat is a unique breed of cats which combines the Siamese body with a diversity of patterns and colorings. They are basically considered to be members of the Siamese family and can be found in very clear and vibrant colors such as white, red, chocolate, ebony, cream, lavender, fawn or cinnamon; they maybe tabby or even bi-colored. Overall, Oriental Cats have been found to exist in 300 possible color combinations!
Origin:
The Oriental Cat have a great history. First, the Siamese cat was imported from Siam (Thailand) to Britain in the late half of the 1800s. Then, the pointed and solid colors were made to breed together, and then in consecutive breeding attempts, an Oriental shorthair was developed, which was recognized in 1977.
Peculiar Patterns:
With over 300 colors and patterns to choose from, you can guarantee to find an Oriental Cat which can tickle your fancy, and if you have previously kept a Siamese, just imagine a Siamese wearing a head to toe coat in red, white, cream, lavender chestnut, cinnamon or fawn shades! Moreover, you can look for those Oriental Kittens that have a silver undercoating, which may give them the appearance of smoked oriental.
To make you understand the colors and patterns to make it easier for you to decide, read through the following details of the shades:
Solid: This coat color is uniform across the entire body of the Oriental Cat. Each hair is of the same color from the shaft to the tip and is free of any banding or tipping.
Tabby coat pattern: The tabby patterns may include ticked, mackerel, spotted and classics. Every hair shaft should have a particular band of color around the middle of the shaft of the hair.
Bicolor pattern: This pattern is created as an addition of the white spotted gene to any of the other accepted patterns and colors. Cat with this particular pattern may have white color on its belly, legs and an inverted V shade on its face.
Shaded pattern: Oriental Cats with shaded patterns have a white undercoat with colored tips.
Smoke pattern: When the hair is parted, you can see the white band at the base.
Parti-Color: Oriental Cats with a parti-color have essential patches of red and cream. These patches may have well-defined shades and blotches of color. This color is defined as a tortoiseshell coat pattern and is seen in non-pedigreed oriental kittens.
Expressive appearance:
The Oriental Cats have an extremely expressive appearance with almond shaped eyes and a wedge-shaped head which is characterized by large ears that are fitting in the wedge of the head (the line of the nose, eyes and middle of the ear give them this particular wedge like appearance). Even though they show off an elegant appearance, the muscles and cuts are really well-built. They may seem thin which often puts a cover on the excessive muscular power that they possess.
