Oriental - Self Cats

A beautiful black oriental with a shiny coat

History

The Oriental was first developed in the UK in the 1950s. It was created by crossing Siamese cats with Russian Blues, British Shorthairs, Abyssinians, and crossbreed domestic cats. The aim was a cat that looked like a Siamese cat without the pointed color.

The resulting cats were then crossbred back to Siamese to further develop the breed. This resulted in cats that looked like Siamese cats apart from coat color. Occasionally pointed Orientals appeared, as the pointed gene is a recessive one. These cats were used in Siamese breeding programmes to widen and strengthen the gene pool. All the cats that had different color coats were used as the foundation of the Oriental breed.

Orientals were first exported to the USA in the early 1970s. American breeders crossed them with American Shorthairs to produce even more colors.

Behaviour

Orientals have lots of personality. They are very athletic and love climbing to the tops of doors or up trees. They are also very intelligent and will respond to clicker training.

Orientals match their energetic nature with great affection to their owners. They are very playful, and love games with their owners. They are also capable of amusing themselves for hours. They retain the playfulness of kittens like throughout their nine lives.

The breed is very chatty, having inherited the conversational chit chat of the Siamese cat. They love to talk, and if they think you're listening they will continue chirruping and yowling for hours.