ORIENTAL SHORTHAIR

The Greyhound of catsBoth originally from Thailand, the Oriental Shorthair and the Siamese differ only in coat and eye color. Some believe the Oriental Shorthair is the original type, while the Siamese, a colorpoint Oriental Shorthair, is a variety.Both breeds arrived in Great Britain in the late 19th century. From 1920 to 1930, the Siamese was more popular than the Oriental Shorthair, which did not interest breeders until after 1950.By crossing Siamese and European Shorthairs of different colors, breeders successively obtained chocolate, white (Foreign White), and blue Oriental Shorthairs.By 1968, American breeders began breeding programs focused on an extreme morphological type closely resembling today’s Siamese, while the British preferred a moderate type. The C.F.A. recognized the breed in 1972 as the Oriental Shorthair. In 1994 it approved the Oriental Longhair, or Mandarin.The Oriental Shorthair is not very common.

Head:Long, can be inscribed in an isosceles triangle. Straight profile without stop. The skull, seen in profile, is slightly convex. Slender, well-formed muzzle. Long, straight nose. Medium-sized chin.
Eyes:Medium-sized, almond-shaped, set at a pronounced slant. Separated by one eye-width. Emerald green or jade except in the white Oriental Shorthair, which has blue eyes. Yellow or copper eyes are accepted for red and cream coats (u)(?). Note that the color may not be acquired until the cat is one year old.
Body:Long, svelte, slender, tubular. Narrow abdomen. Fine-boned. Firm, long muscles.
Tail:Long and slender, even at the base, tapering to a point.
Coat:Hair is short, dense, fine, silky, lying flat.Four main groups of varieties:- solid coats: solid color without stripes or tabby markings. Pure white, ebony, blue, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn.- tortoiseshell coats and variants: orange, black, and chocolate.- coats in which the base of the hair is dilute: smoke: dilute color in a short band at the base. silver: pigmentation at the hair tip (tipping).- tabby coats: blotched: broad stripes. mackerel: narrow stripes perpendicular to the spine. spotted: circular, evenly distributed spots.The spotted tabby Oriental Shorthair, also called Maus, is often mistaken for the Egyptian Mau. Between stripes and spots, agouti-type hairs with alternating dark and light bands.