Oriental.

Oriental. Oriental, either of two varieties of a solid-colored breed of cat, the Oriental shorthair and the Oriental longhair, that is similar to the Siamese cat. The Oriental shorthair was developed in the 1950s when British cat breeders attempted to produce a brown, shorthaired cat with a Siamese body and green eyes. A seal point Siamese female that was crossed with a Havana brown male gave birth to two brown-colored kittens with green eyes. Other breeders then paired Siamese cats with many different shorthaired breeds to produce a variety of solid-colored cats with Siamese bodies. In 1972 a pair of American breeders discovered the work of the British breeders and established their own program in the United States to develop the same type of cat. They used only Siamese, Abyssinian, and American Shorthair cats, and named this new breed the Oriental shorthair. Breeders later created the Oriental longhair by crossing Oriental shorthairs with Balinese cats. The Oriental longhair is more difficult to produce because both shorthair and colorpoint (characteristic large spots of darker fur on the face, ears, legs, and tail, contrasting with a lighter body coloring) traits must be suppressed. Both the Oriental shorthair and the Oriental longhair have a long, sleek, medium-sized body with well-defined muscular lines. With back legs that are longer than the front legs, this cat's rump stands higher than its shoulders. A long, slender neck supports the tapering, wedge-shaped head, which displays a prominent bone structure when the whiskers are smoothed back. Medium-sized, almond-shaped eyes slant toward the long, straight nose. The eyes are green, amber, or blue. Large ears are wide at the base and pointed at the tips. The long, slender tail tapers to a fine point. Fine, glossy fur lays close to the body of both shorthaired and longhaired Oriental cats. The cat's plume-like tail has long, feathery fur. Both types of the Oriental appear in many patterns and colors, including solid and tabby, and ebony, blue, chestnut, cinnamon, cream, and white. The Cat Fanciers' Association granted official recognition to the Oriental shorthair in 1977, and to the Oriental longhair in 1995. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.