The Greyhound of cats

Both 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 color point 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 Shorthair 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.

.
Characteristics

Like the Siamese, Oriental Shorthairs are very lively, extraverted, proud, and captivating. They are sociable and do not like being alone. These playful cats can tolerate children.
They are affectionate and often very possessive, even tyrannical, toward their owner. Indifference is not acceptable to them. They are “talkative” and have a loud voice.
They have the temperament of a hunter.

Female cats are sexually precocious (entering puberty by 9 months) and have frequent heats. They are more prolific than average for domestic cats. They are easy to groom, as weekly.