Portraits of Popular Breeds at Home and Abroad: The Oriental Shorthair

The Oriental Shorthair cats are very similar to Siamese cats in terms of their appearance as well as character. These elegant cats are suitable for extroverts who are looking for a companion at all times. This is because you will always know about their presence and they will definitely let you know if they feel a lack of attention.

The Oriental Shorthair cats are very much like Siamese cats when it comes to their appearance as well as their character. They are mainly different in the colour of their fur and eyes – the Oriental Shorthair doesn’t have the colour patterns typical for the Siamese and instead of blue eyes, their eyes are green.

The Oriental Shorthair is a result of crossbreeding the Siamese with common domestic cats and other breeds. It’s because mainly English keepers in the 1950s wanted to have the Siamese without its typical colour patterns. Thanks to a large number of crossbred cats, there are many colours and patterns, except the Siamese (Himalayan) colouration. Therefore, we can find them in full colours, with an inkling of a pattern, with full patterns and also with tortoiseshell patterns, always in many colourful variants.

As it was mentioned above, the nature of the Oriental Shorthair is similar to that of the Siamese. Some people say it is less noisy but it doesn’t have to be always true. They get on well with other cats and dogs and they can develop a very good relationship with kids. The Oriental Shorthair is a very sociable breed of cat that suffers from loneliness. Therefore, if the human members of their pack spend most of the day away from home, they should at least have a cat companion. In the opposite case, it could be distressed and it would probably show it off by destroying the household or by bad hygiene.

As they are very sociable, they like cuddling and caressing a lot. They can force you to pay attention to them and cannot stand being ignored. They are playful even at an older age and thanks to their intelligence, they are quite fast learners when it comes to tricks. One of their favourite games is fetching balls. They like wild games so you don’t have to be too careful when playing with them, they can stand some poking.

They also want to be in the centre of attention when you have guests – they inspect them thoroughly at first and let them learn about their need for attention. They are also very curious which, combined with their intelligence, might lead to some trouble. They will soon know how to run a water faucet or open a door for treats.

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