Oriental Shorthair: Cat food and breed portrait
The Oriental Shorthair is a medium sized cat breed with a short coat. The variety of the Siamese cat originating from England is considered to be intelligent and curious. Furthermore the Oriental Shorthair is characterized by a trusting nature and a distinct joy of communication.
History of the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is a variety of the Siamese cat. The idea behind the development of the new breed was to breed cats without the typical markings and blue eyes of the Siamese.
The English Baroness von Ullman, who wanted to have a variety of the Siamese with green eyes and brown coat, was significantly involved in the development of the Oriental Shorthair in the 1950ies.
The official recognition as an independent breed finally followed in 1972 and since then the Oriental Shorthair has been able to convince more and more cat lovers of its friendly nature and high intelligence. However, it still does not reach the enormous popularity of the Siamese cat.
Look of the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is a graceful cat with a slender build. They have long legs and small oval paws. Their tail is thin and long. Females weigh about three to four kilos and males reach a weight of four to five kilos.
The head of the Oriental Shorthair is wedge-shaped and its straight, long nose has no stop. Their almond-shaped, slightly slanted eyes shine in a bright green. Their large ears are set wide apart, which further emphasizes the wedge shape of the head.
The coat of the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is a shorthair cat. It has a dense, close lying coat without undercoat. Her coat may have many different colours and may be either solid or multicoloured with different patterns, such as tortoiseshell and tabby.
The following coat colours are common in solid coloured animals:
- Blue
- Black
- Lilac
- Chocolate
- Cream
- Cinnamon
- Red
- Fawn
Character of the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is an extremely lovely and friendly cat. She is very people oriented and prefers to spend much time near her owner. Furthermore the Oriental Shorthair has a strong play instinct, which wants to be satisfied regularly.
Furthermore she is one of the especially communicative cat breeds, which like to have extensive conversations with their owners. If you prefer to be quiet, you may feel a little disturbed by the chattering, moaning and cooing of the Oriental Shorthair.
Keeping and care of the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is perfectly suited as an indoor cat. As long as she receives enough affection from her owner, she does not need to go out to be happy.
However, if possible she should not be left alone for too long, otherwise she will feel lonely very quickly. For this reason it is recommended to keep her always together with a conspecific whose company she will appreciate very much.
Apart from that the Oriental Shorthair needs sufficient employment possibilities such as cat toys and a keeper who shares this with her.
The coat of the Oriental Shorthair is very easy to care for. Occasional brushing is completely sufficient and serves primarily to strengthen the bond between the owner and animal.
Oriental Shorthair diseases
The Oriental Shorthair belongs to the cat breeds where inbreeding is a quite common problem. Affected animals suffer from a weakened immune system and are therefore susceptible to diseases.
One of the genetically caused diseases which can occur in the Oriental Shorthair is Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA), which sooner or later can lead to a complete loss of vision in the cat's eyes.
Various common cat diseases, such as diabetes or cat cold, can occur in the Oriental Shorthair. Regular preventive appointments at the veterinary surgeon are therefore highly recommended.
The life expectancy of the Oriental Shorthair
The average life expectancy of Oriental Shorthair is about 15-20 years.
The right food for the Oriental Shorthair
The Oriental Shorthair is an active cat with a correspondingly high energy requirement. In order to avoid an undersupply, you should take this fact into account when feeding your cat.
Our grain free wet and dry foods contain carefully selected ingredients such as fish and meat and are perfect for your cat.
For cats with food allergies, we also offer hypoallergenic cat food with insect protein. This unusual source of protein is characterised by high biological value and excellent digestibility, making our insect-based food an excellent choice not only for nutritionally sensitive four-legged friends.
If required, it can also be useful to supplement the diet of your Oriental Shorthair with the following products:
- Eye Care Drops are ideal for the gentle cleaning of sensitive cat eyes.
- Dental Powder enables you to care for the teeth of your Oriental Shorthair in an uncomplicated way.
- Shiimun Immun provides your quadruped with valuable nutrients to support the immune system.
Leave your comment