Breed Summary

The Oriental breed is very similar to the Siamese with the main differences are the coat and eye colour (except for the Foreign White which has blue eyes). Orientals are extremely intelligent cats and has an elegant, sleek body. Like Siamese, they thrive on human and feline companionship and love to be part of all household activites. They are an alert, active breed with the graceful physique that looks perfectly at home on a show bench. Orientals should have a balanced appearance, slender tail, long body. Their ears should be large and their eyes should be an Oriental shape and of bright, vivid green colour. If you were looking for a breed similar to the Siamese but without the "points" then look no further than the Oriental.

Oriental History

In the 1950's breeders in the UK commenced a breeding program to produce self coloured cats. The first brown cat was born in 1952 and was followed by a couple more in 1953. The breed was given official recognition by the GCCF and was called Breed 29 (currently the breed number for a Havana).

Towards the end of the 1960's the breed numbers started to decline however in the 1970's more breeders became enthusiastic about the breed and continued breeding programs to ensure the Havana was around for many years to come.

From here, the Oriental Lilac was produced (originally called the Foreign Lilac) and since then, breeders have been experiementing with different colours and genes to produce the wide variety of Oriental colours that is accepted today.