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| Weight |
7-9 lbs. |
| Overview |
Members of the Siamese family, Orientals are cuddly, loquacious, and inquisitive cats. They like to climb and to retrieve objects, and are ingenious at finding new toys to play with.
They are extremely people-oriented, which means that they are always underfoot. Orientals do well with children as long as play sessions are not too rough.
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| Appearance |
The Oriental is a nonpointed Siamese that comes in hundreds of combinations of color and pattern. Orientals are long, lean cats with long, triangular heads; large, flared ears; and green, almond-shaped eyes (white Orientals may have blue, green, or odd eyes).
Orientals may have short or long hair. Shorthairs have short, finely textured, close-lying fur. Longhairs have medium-length, silky, close-lying fur and a plumed tail.
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| Gromming Needs |
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| Origins |
In the late 1960s, fanciers created the Oriental Shorthair by breeding Siamese to American Shorthairs and Abyssinians. Oriental Longhairs were developed in the late 1970s by crossing Oriental Shorthairs with Balinese and Javanese. |
| Other |
Orientals need lots of human interaction and love to play. They have the same breed-related health problems as the Siamese: crossed eyes due to an inherited neurological defect; nystagmus (a slight but very rapid jerking back-and-forth of the eyes); congenital heart defects. |
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