A Siamese in every colour but points: the same slender body, the same chatterbox, but with green eyes.
The Oriental Shorthair is family of the Siamese. It has the same long, slender body, big ears and the same chatty nature. The difference is the colour: no dark points on a pale coat, but solid, striped, spotted or silver, in hundreds of colours. And its eyes are green instead of blue. It wants to be part of everything and tells you all day what it thinks.
Deeply attached to its people and wants to be part of everything.
Busy first, then happy to curl up on a lap or under the covers.
Plays all its life, and many bring back a toy again and again.
Lively and athletic. It climbs and jumps everywhere and needs play every day.
A real talker that tells you all about its day, only slightly quieter than a Siamese.
Clever and quick to learn tricks, fetching or walking on a harness.
Usually outgoing with visitors, though a few attach to one person.
Enjoys a busy family, best with children old enough to play gently.
Gets on with dogs and is not easily bossed around.
Happiest with another cat for company.
Hates being left alone. Not for a home that is empty all day.
Can live indoors if it gets climbing space, play and company.
The Oriental Shorthair is an old natural breed from Thailand.
No. It was bred in England from the 1950s by crossing Siamese with other cats. Only its Siamese ancestors came from Siam.
A Havana is the same as a Havana Brown.
Not any more. In Europe the solid chocolate Oriental is still called Havana. Cats that went to America became a separate breed, the Havana Brown, with a rounder head.
Its short coat makes it hypoallergenic.
No. It makes the same allergens as other cats. It sheds a little less, but no cat breed is free of allergens.
Long ago Siam also had solid-coloured cats of the Siamese type. British breeders later kept only blue-eyed, pointed Siamese. In the 1950s other breeders wanted the Siamese body in solid colours instead. They crossed Siamese with other cats and then bred back to Siamese. The kittens without points became the Oriental Shorthair.
The Siamese Cat Club of Britain chooses only blue-eyed, pointed Siamese. Solid-coloured cats vanish from shows.
In England, Baroness von Ullman starts breeding a solid brown cat of Siamese type.
Elmtower Bronze Idol is born, a solid chocolate male: the first Havana.
The European federation FIFe recognises the Oriental Shorthair.
British breeders also make lilac and white Orientals. Tabbies follow from crosses with tabby point Siamese.
The American couple Markstein see solid and tabby Siamese-type cats in England and start the breed in America.
The American registry CFA opens its register to the Oriental Shorthair.
The Oriental Shorthair gets championship status in CFA.
CFA also accepts the longhaired variety and from then on calls the breed simply Oriental.
CFA accepts the Oriental with white, the Oriental bicolour.
The Dutch breed club SIOK recognises the white Oriental Shorthair, with green, blue or odd eyes.
Long, slender and elegant, with fine bones but firm muscles. Exactly the Siamese body, just in a different coat.
The same cat with a medium-long, silky coat without a woolly undercoat, and a plumed tail.
Recognition: A separate breed in FIFe (since 1985), TICA, WCF and GCCF. In CFA a division of the Oriental since 1988.
The solid chocolate Oriental Shorthair, the very first colour of the breed. Not to be confused with the American Havana Brown, a separate breed.
Recognition: A colour of the Oriental Shorthair. FIFe also calls it Havana, and GCCF shows it under that name.
An Oriental with white: a little, about half, or nearly all white with colour only on the head and tail.
Recognition: Recognised by FIFe, CFA (since 1995) and WCF. GCCF has its own rules for it.
Two Oriental parents that both carry the point gene can have a pointed, blue-eyed kitten, just like a Siamese.
Recognition: In FIFe and TICA such a kitten is a Siamese. In CFA the point colours the Siamese does not have compete as Orientals.
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
Black (ebony)(n)
Blue(a)
Chocolate (havana)(b)
Lilac (lavender)(c)
Brown spotted tabby(n 24)
Black silver spotted tabby(ns 24)In Britain's GCCF white has only preliminary recognition, and a white cat needs a hearing test there.
In WCF van and harlequin can be registered but not shown. GCCF has its own rules for Orientals with white.
FIFe has no pointed, shaded, golden, caramel or apricot Orientals; a pointed kitten is a Siamese there. CFA and GCCF do allow shaded and golden, and CFA shows some point colours as Orientals.
In October 1952 the first Havana was born in England, a chocolate male called Elmtower Bronze Idol.
Few breeds come in so many colours. TICA counts 281, other counts reach more than 300.
Because of all those colours the Oriental Shorthair is nicknamed the 'Ornamental'.
Take the point gene away from a seal point Siamese and you get a black Oriental. It is called ebony.
Many Orientals bring back a thrown toy again and again, just like a dog.
Usually 12 to 15 years. There is no study of the Oriental Shorthair itself. For the closely related Siamese, a large British study found about 12 years, the same as the average cat.
The retina slowly wears out and the cat goes blind, usually between three and five. Blind cats cope well at home. A kitten only gets it when both parents are carriers.
How it is found: DNA test of the parents. Two carriers are not mated with each other.
A faulty protein builds up in the liver, which works less and less well. The cat gets thin, tired and thirsty. There is no treatment. In an old Dutch study about 1 in 16 Siamese and Oriental cats examined had it.
How it is found: There is no DNA test. Breeders do not use affected cats or their close relatives.
A kind of cancer in the chest of young cats that makes breathing hard. Siamese-type breeds get it more often than other cats. With treatment many cats live more than another year.
How it is found: There is no test. See a vet quickly if a young cat breathes fast or with effort.
Some Orientals suck or chew wool and fabric, or lick themselves bald. It is more common than in most breeds. It is usually mild, but swallowed fabric can block the gut.
How it is found: There is no test. A kitten that does not leave its mother too early and has plenty to do helps.
Very little work. A weekly brush or a rub with a rubber brush is enough, and most of them love it.
Play together every day, with places to climb and puzzle feeders. A bored Oriental gets noisy or starts wrecking things.
It does not like being alone. If you are out a lot, keep two cats, so it always has a friend.
On its slim body extra weight shows quickly, as a little belly. Give measured meals.
Not hypoallergenic. It makes the same allergens as other cats, even though it sheds little.
Checked on 21 October 2026
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